Thank you so much for sending me down the rabbit hole of this book. It has jumped straight onto my list of favorites, and I am already looking forward to reading it again, as Gwen has done, with a more educated eye. Here are a few of my thoughts after the first reading. First, as soon as I saw the word “drafts” in reference to the creations of the Bunnies, I realized this story was an allegory of the writing process. Suddenly many descriptive details of the environment made sense-the featurelessness of the Cave, the lack of streetlights in the city-Sam’s imagination hadn’t yet filled in detail, so the environment was left fuzzy and in shadow-like the edges of a dream. Second, Sam is BETTER at creating strong characters than the Bunnies. She creates Ava who passes for most of the book as a “real” person and Max who is more real than any of the boys conjured by the Bunnies. Her characters are inspired by a swan and a stag, not soft little bunnies. Is Sam a stand-in for Awad herself? Is she making a point about herself and her writing program cohort? Third, I did not read it that Max killed Ava. I thought the Bunnies in revenge set up a meeting in the Cave (as Max had done previously) for Sam with Bunny Fosco and Bunny Lion in order to get Sam away from Ava so that the Bunnies could axe her. Max says that Ava sent him away and he went. He returned as Sam did to discover Ava with the axe in her back. Finally, I was confused about Jonah. Was he also an imaginative construct? The lines near the end: “He smiles at me. His eyes don’t shift shades. His eyes are one color.” indicate that he is not a construct. (The constructs all have some shiftiness about them or features like mismatched eye color.) However the very last line of the book has Sam talking to Jonah and “the mud” replying. Perhaps he is her very best construct? I don’t know, and I was happy to hear Gwen’s alternative reading. It is perhaps more satisfying than mine. I could go on and on, but this is long enough. Thanks again.

It’s not satirical but listening you talk about this book reminded me of “If We Were Villains” by M.L. Rio. One of those great murder-y books set in a prestigious academic setting. Highly recommend - especially if you live Shakespeare, whose plays and characters feature heavily.

I read and loved Bunny. Thank you for recommending I wish Los Angeles librarians were as awesome as both of you.

I'm a relatively new listener, and I *loved* the unexpected virtual book club of this episode. Thanks for giving me an outlet to discuss this book, as I talked back to the podcast. "YES, I totally saw that, too!" "Gasp! I never thought of that!" Who needs a book club IRL when I've got you guys? Please do this again!