I write my first thoughts on this novel while looking at my stack of campus novels, out of which Bunny, with its hot and neon electric pink cover, immediately stands out. Others, bound in hues of black, packaged with the promise of delivering dark academia, help it stand out. Bunny, a hyper-feminine tale of a protagonist in an all-girls cohort at Writing School deserves just the treatment. It deserves to have a facade, to be distinguished from its more masculine peers, to be made to look unlike and feel hypnotising. But upon completion, it has the resounding sentiments of its masculine peers. It is indeed a satire on academia, of its unrelenting demands from students, the general surface-level pretentiousness, the social class in action, and the feelings of isolation that it can exacerbate in a person. However, in this tale, there are no attempts to aggrandise the various sybarite personalities of the people in and outside the cohort or pedagogy. It leaves no room for the reader to romanticise the experience in any way as the other campus novels do. In this way, Awad begins a genre of her own, a neon-pink academia of sorts, so bright and blinding that it cannot feed the fancies of pedantic connoisseurs of campus novels. It is so current in its setting and characters that it leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth. There is much exploration of reality and fiction, with magic and imagination, laced with the terror of hyper-femininity. And this is a good thing because in the past, even when the Tartts and Rios of the world have sought to write an acerbic account of passion in academia, their love for classics and Shakespeare respectively has sent mixed signals to the readers. While their tales have been nuanced and complicated, they do little to deliver any real and resounding message. Awad, on the other hand, cleverly presents to us a tale both interesting and resonant with satire on pretentious intellectuals and class problems. The conclusion to Bunny is enjoyable because there is much room for people to take what they need from it. With the boom in the publication of campus novels, I would be interested to see what more can be made of it.

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

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adventurous challenging reflective fast-paced

4.0

What started as an effort to guard oneself against manipulators ended in a satisfactory read. I didn’t expect that this book would be so interesting to read. Neurodivergent people like me should especially read this book to guard ourselves better and even use some of its principles to our advantage. We often move through the society innocently and naively, get hurt in the process, why shouldn’t we build an armor, learn ways of the successful and powerful? For myself- I found that some of these laws were actually interesting and could be applied in my life.

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

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challenging dark fast-paced

I will not be rating this memoir. I find that I cannot rate non fiction. I will say this- Mcurdy has a voice and a dark sense of humor and a realism that packages this book up well and presents a unique yet relatable life before the rest of us.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong

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reflective fast-paced

4.75

I am just a mortal, existing in a confusing world with the confusing Vuong. Even when my atypical mind doesn't understand what he is trying to convey, it somehow understands everything. Vuong's distinct voice is just his—not borrowed, not ill-formed. He is a master of form; he plays with sentence grammar, structures, and enjambments. He slips into a billion people and narrates their inner tales so poetically. He does that so well. It is so cool that he talks about the american dream from the perspective of Jackie Kennedy or when he talks about how it feels to obsessively hold on to people from the perspective of Jeffrey Dahmer. He takes metaphorizing to grand and new levels.

Vuong hero worship is inevitable. Maybe it has already started. I will do my due diligence by becoming insufferable and quoting his iconic verses every now and then. Here are some:

"& you want to tell him it's okay
that the night is also a grave we climb out of" and

"For in the body, where everything has a price,
I was alive. I didn’t know
there was a better reason." and

"Water whittled down to intention.
Intention into nourishment.
Everyone can forget us—as long as
you remember." and

"If you must know anything,
know that you were born because no one else was coming." and

"I hold the gun
& wonder if an entry wound in the night
would make a hole wide as morning." and

"there’s a lighthouse /
some nights you are the lighthouse / some nights the sea / what this
means is that I don’t know / desire other than the need / to be shattered &
rebuilt / the mind forgetting / the body’s crime of living" and

"I am ready. I am ready to be every animal you leave behind."

Okay, now read some Ocean Vuong for yourself!

The Outsider by Albert Camus

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tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

No one can convince me that there isn’t some mysterious divinity at play- one that is constantly challenging or teaching us. Just as I am trying to work on the subject of obsessive passion and it’s relationship with morality, this book finds it way to my bookshelf. It teaches me- even if it wasn’t intentionally woven into the fabric of its narrative, that if too much passion is faux pas then so is impassivity. Because impassivity is also a kind of repression. The type where a person constantly holds their true nature back. And it can too- breath forth from the subconscious and cause grave harm.
And of course, there is also the subject of the delicate thread of life. It is only when the main character is deprived of his right to continue living, that he finally allows himself an outburst of emotion. After which he feels at peace. He accepts that there is a tender indifference to the world. And that his life had been happy, even if it was going to be short one. But I’m not entirely convinced.
I often felt that the main character did not feel too many emotions and that was why he had arrived at a unique standstill. But who knows? Who knows what Camus was trying to convey through this story? There are no facts, only interpretations. And so I think my many interpretations of its meaning/lessness are valid.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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challenging reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

How does one rate life? Because that is what this book is. It’s been a while since I read something so prosaic, so deeply embedded into the core of what existing in this world is like. I suppose the frustration that we feel is what we were meant to feel. The characters accept their fate and it like that in our world too. We have grown to accept of the flaws of our society. Vocalization for changes only come with trends and leave when their time under the sun is over. When I started this book, based on the precedence, I thought I would be horrified and devastated. But the chapters being narrated by Kathy in their childhood are actually quite tranquil and relatable. Like something from Enid Blyton’s boarding school books. What devastated me more than the horrifying cloning practice, mind you, it wasn’t discussed much, was the utter realism with which moments that most of us live through are presented. This book just about life and existing and holding on to the golden days of childhood. For Kathy, these were her days in Hailsham. One thing that the writer known how to do brilliantly is to tell a captivating story. He knows how much, when to, and in what order to tell. He knows how reading this tale in first person perspective makes its realism even more poignant. And he knows how to devastate a reader without trying to do it intentionally, or cheaply. I don’t know what more to say, how to articulate what I am feeling about this book. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will think about it often over the next few days.

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rheasdaydream's reviews 123 reviews

rheasdaydream's reviews
123 reviews