WE LOVE YOU, BUNNY

Awad returns to the world of Bunny (2019), armed with her signature satirical and surrealist flair.

Samantha Heather Mackey has written a novel, and when she arrives on the dreamy and violent campus of Warren University, where she got her MFA, for her book tour, her fellow former students known as the Bunnies kidnap her and confront her about her thinly veiled autobiographical debut. Now the Bunnies are finally getting their say—and, boy, are they talkative. Offering a kaleidoscopic view of what went down before, during, and after the events chronicled in Bunny, the girls can’t contain their rage, disgust, jealousy, boredom, and hurt over Samantha and her novel. Eventually, Aerius, the Bunnies’ “First Boy. First Draft. First Darling.…First humiliation,” cuts in to offer his side of the story: How he came to be; his understanding (and misunderstanding) of the world; and how he causes, circumvents, and fits into the events of and beyond the first novel. Though he avoids the Bunnies (his “Keepers”) at all costs, they yearn and search for him, their finest work—even if you account for his bloody, violent streak. Considering whether Aerius was the town’s deranged murderer, they slyly say, “But ultimately, we simply did not think so, no. Because he’d come from us and we were lovely. As has already been stated.” This novel is at its best when musing about creativity, writing, and “the work”; skewering academia and elitism; and straddling the slippery border between reality and fantasy. Billed as a standalone, it is most successful as a companion to its predecessor, though at times it reveals too much about the mysterious lore and elusive dynamics of the first novel. Awad’s pacing is uneven, but she sticks the landing with a delightfully unexpected and unhinged ending. Her wit, humor, and metafictional prowess are on full display in this prequel, sequel, expanded upside-down revision, or whatever you want to call it.

Hilarious, grotesque, and standing slightly in the shadow of its sibling.