When I finished reading Bunny, I had only one question: what on earth just happened? This is a twisted, creepy tale that warps the reader's sense of reality, leaving you wondering what (or who) was real and what wasn't. The truth is completely open to creative interpretation, which is appropriate since the main characters are students in an experimental writing program. It gets very experimental, indeed.
This book also introduced me to a new term, which I'll definitely be using in the future.
"Gossip Glow: the flushed look that comes from throwing another woman under the bus.”
The story follows Samantha, a scholarship student at the prestigious Warren University. Samantha has a complicated home life and a dark, vivid imagination. She is involved in a collaborative writing workshop with four other girls, who are primarily referred to as the Bunnies.
Caroline, Kira, Victoria, and Eleanor are their real names, but Samantha prefers to think of them as Cupcake, Creepy Doll, Vignette, and The Duchess. They seem to move, breathe, and think as one collective being, and all address each other as 'Bunny.'
You may have guessed already, but Samantha is not a fan. She can't stand their constant hugging, squealing, and giggling, and even begged their workshop leader to move her into a different group. This request is denied, owing to the desire to create, "Warren's first all-female cohort."
Samantha is under the impression that the Bunnies don't like her any more than she likes them, and she constantly feels excluded and inferior. So, imagine her surprise when she finds a swan-shaped invite in her mailbox, adorned with smiley faces and hearts. She has been cordially invited to Smut Salon, the Bunnies' top secret gathering.
After discussing it with her best friend, Ava, Samantha decides to make an appearance. She feels guilty for ditching Ava for the evening, but is hoping this might make Workshop more bearable for the coming semester. So, she finds herself ringing Cupcake's doorbell that night and is greeted with almost overwhelming hospitality. They've even created a special cocktail in her honor.
Smut Salon starts off with the lights being lowered, and Cupcake recites a certain Ondaatje poem involving a cinnamon peeler, while ceremonially shaving a cinnamon stick. The girls then take turns sharing some sort of erotic literature, until they reach Samantha. Being unprepared and several cocktails in at this point, Samantha isn't sure what to do. She decides to share her tale of dying with Rob Valencia.
In high school, Samantha starred in a murder mystery play as Rob's wife. During the play, their characters are electrocuted, leaving Samantha and Rob lying in a heap for the remainder of the play. She exaggerates this story a bit, adding in the detail that after the final performance, Rob whisked her away so they could finally give into the desire that had been building between them both for months. That part wasn't true, but the Bunnies don't need to know that.
“But I wasn't listening. I wasn't stopping. Because we were already running away again, me and my imagination.”
Samantha wakes up the next morning in her grimy apartment, having no memory of how she got there. This is especially strange since she's been staying with Ava for months, ever since Ava deemed her apartment uninhabitable and insisted she come home with her. Even stranger is the bunny outside her window, staring directly at her.
Events of the night before start drifting back, of Smut Salon ending with Samantha being given a dare: go outside and catch a bunny.
For the next week, Ava is nowhere to be found. Samantha thinks she must be mad at her for abandoning her to hang out with the Bunnies, or as Ava refers to them the Bonobos.
Ava isn't actually a student at Warren; in fact, she despises it. She finds it pretentious and is convinced that it's stifling Samantha's creativity. Ava is a stark contrast to the average Warren student, and only spends time on campus to raid the dumpsters, crash campus tours, and hang out with Samantha, even though she complains about it the entire time.
“And here’s what I realize: she would never wear mittens shaped like kittens or a dress with a Peter Pan collar. She would never say, Love your dress, if she fucking hated your dress. She would never say, How are you? if she didn’t care how you were. She would never eat a lavender cupcake that tasted like perfume or wear a perfume that made her smell like a cupcake. She would never wear lip balm for cosmetic purposes. She would never wear it unless her lips were seriously, seriously cracked. And even if they were, she’d still put Lady Danger on them, which is the name of her lipstick, this bright blue-red that looks surreally beautiful on her but when I tried it on once made me look insane. Her perfume smells like rain and smoke and her eye makeup scares small children and she wears pumps even though she’s at least two inches taller than I am and I’m a freak.”
In the absence of Ava, Samantha starts to notice something else: bunnies, everywhere. Has the campus always been crawling with them? And why are they so drawn to her? A small huddle has formed around her at this point, and she has to ask them not to follow her.
Speaking of Bunnies, they've invited her to another party.
Samantha arrives at what she soon discovers as Prom Night, where the Bunnies have a dress, corsage, and a surprise waiting for her. The steamy Rob Valencia, looking like he hasn't aged a day since high school, dressed in a dark suit and black leather gloves. The Bunnies have their own dates, all in identical suits and gloves, and after a brief explanation of how they tracked Rob down and invited him, everyone starts to dance.
The night goes off without a hitch until Samantha hears an odd noise: Cupcake's date is chewing on the strap of her dress, and as she looks around, she discovers all the dates are doing something similar. Chewing on the Bunnies' hair, their pearls, their dress, and then Rob starts to chew on her corsage.
When Samantha smacks him away, things take an abrupt and rather explosive turn.
The next day, Samantha wakes in a strange bed, trying to piece together the events of the night before. Kira gives her pills to help calm her down, and they head to Workshop, where they all huddle together and fawn over each other's work.
Afterwards, the Bunnies tell Samantha they think it's time she attends a different kind of Workshop. This is a collaborative project where they challenge the concept of genre, language, and the entire writing medium.
“It makes us feel a little like God. No, we can’t go that far. In fact, we are a little fearful of God right now, if he’s out there. She, Bunny. If She’s out there. Or It. We like to think of It more as an energy. And don’t worry, It would approve. So approve. Of us. Because look at what we just did.”
In Kira's attic, dressed in bunny masks and aprons, the Bunnies take Samantha into their dark world of experiments. They all begin to think as a hive mind, as most of the dialogue disappears at this point in the book, and communication is done telepathically. It's also impossible to determine who is who, they're all just Bunny.
From here, we go down the literal rabbit hole where reality is turned on its head, friendships are tested, and all concept of time is lost.
This story creeped me out more than I care to admit, and I do want to include a fair warning that it may be a little upsetting to animal lovers.
As someone who spent most of my life feeling left out and is always convinced that everyone hates me, some of the themes also hit a little close to home for me.
It gets a little confusing towards the end, and like I mentioned earlier, you may have some questions about who actually existed or not, and how much of the story took place outside of Samantha's mind. I'd be curious to know your thoughts on it, as I think the author intended for the ending to be open to interpretation.
Overall, I enjoyed it! It was unique, creepy, witty, and a great example of how powerful our imaginations truly are.
"I’ve never really not written, never not had another world of my own making to escape to, never known how to be in this world without most of my soul dreaming up and living in another”