Bunny

The theme of hybridity takes over the story. Samantha, the Bunnies, and the other characters and places combine different parts. The story’s structure is hybrid itself; Mona Awad mixes different elements—emails, texts, emojis, notebooks, music, experimental prose pieces, etc.—to propel the narrative. Without the dominance of hybridity, the story loses its mystery and magical realism. What makes the book puzzling and fantastical is its moving parts. Awad confronts the reader with a rush of sights, sounds, and cultural references, and the reader has to try to fit the components together.

Samantha is a hybrid with a combination of voices in her head. She lacks a solid sense of self, building an identity out of others’ desires and expectations instead. At Cheapo’s, she talks to Ava, reasoning, “Because even if she’s not here, I might as well talk to her all the same” (196). She also continually hears the Bunnies. They become a part of her—both in her head and in the material world. At the Smut Salon, referring to rumors about her and the Lion, Samantha tells them, “We never fucked, if that’s what you’re thinking” (44).