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  • Home
  • Year 7 and 8 Units
    • Year 7 - Saint Cuthbert
    • Year 7 - Discover New Zealand
    • Year 8 - Rites of Passage
    • Year 7 - Ancient Egypt
    • Poetry Writing Sessions
    • Year 7 - Early Māori Society and Auckland history
  • Useful Links
    • JSTOR
    • ClickView
    • Audiobooks
    • Auckland Libraries
    • Epic
    • Any Questions
  • Research Tools
    • JSTOR
    • APA Referencing
    • Google Highlights
    • Databases
      • Encyclopaedias & Dictionaries
    • Subject Help
      • Extended Essay - IB Students
      • Art & Design
        • Year 12 Visual Art - Endangered NZ flora and fauna
      • Classics
        • Year 12 Classics - Athenian Golden Age
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      • Health & Physical Education
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        • Year 11 History - WWI & NZ
        • Year 12 History - Protests
        • Year 13 History - early contact
      • Technology
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Student Book Review: Bunny by Mona Awad, as reviewed by Ava Dilly (Year 10)

9/20/2022

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Every week, Volumes will feature a new review from one of your St Cuthberts classmates. Want to write one of your own? It's easy! Email seniorlibrary@stcuthberts.co.nz with the subject line 'Book review request' to find out more.

This week, Ava Dilly (Year 10) reviews Bunny by Mona Awad.


When you think of a bunny, what comes to mind? Soft and cuddly? Cute and playful? Bunny by Mona Awad is the antonyms of all those adjectives embodied. Published in 2019 and the winner of the Ladies of Horror Fiction Award for Best Novel, Bunny sucks readers down a dark hole of isolation, desperation, and the dangers of imagination.
 
Samantha Mackey, an antisocial college student part of an exclusive writing program at Warren University in New England, despises the other four women (nicknamed ‘Bunnies’) in her cohort. Yet, when they unexpectedly invite her to one of their weekly workshops outside of school, Samantha can’t find it in herself to refuse and gets caught up in a whirlwind of supernatural rituals and axe decapitations.
 
Awad’s novel is reminiscent of others such as The Secret History and Frankenstein, with common themes of isolation, alienation, ambition, and the pursuit of perfection in their respective crafts. Through seeing ourselves in Samantha, Bunny helps us explore the idea of our desperation to belong and just how far that desire will take us. ‘And that’s when I realise that whatever pain I have, whatever true want I have that lives under all this greasy, spineless needing to please isn’t something I want to give them.’
 
I would compare reading this book to a rollercoaster ride, but that would imply the weirdness declined at some point. It did not. From the first line, I knew I was in for a read of a lifetime. Awad’s way of crafting words is so gruesome and masterful that I often found myself stuck between grimacing at the gore and grinning at the impeccably timed dark humour. I would definitely recommend paying attention to all the details while reading, because you’ll be rewarded with an unforgettable experience as the story draws to a close.
 
Bunny was a disturbing and surprisingly sad novel that has hopped up to first place in my top books so far this year. I gave this book 5 stars and would recommend it to anyone over the age of 12 who loves psychological fiction and wishes life was a little more supernatural.
 
Trigger Warnings: animal abuse, bullying, death of a parent (past), drugging, gore, manipulation, mental illness, murder, parental abandonment, self-harm, sex

Keen to read? You can pick up a copy of Bunny at the Frances Compton Library!
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Vera's View: Decision to Leave (Film Review)

9/14/2022

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Our new film critic Vera Wang is taking on the latest and most buzzed-about movie titles to hit the big and small screens. Check out her take on Decision to Leave.
​

Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, The Handmaiden, JSA. Not one to disappoint, the creation of Decision to Leave is only the latest in Park Chan-Wook's masterful filmography. Here, we follow the inception and aftermath of a murder investigation, during which straight-laced detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) begins developing feelings for the victim's mysterious wife, Seo Rae (Tang Wei), leading him to stray from his loyalties to both duty and marriage. 

To put it simply, the first half is nothing short of brilliant- it's tight, concise, and incredibly intelligent. Snappy and direct, the script wastes no time beating around the bush with elusive, abstract lines about love and death, opting instead for simplicity and unpretentiousness. The sequences have a clear-cut goal- something pertinent Park wants you to learn about the characters, or the mystery, and this goal is executed with the most ruthless of efficiencies. Hae-jun is effectively the audience insert, experiencing the steps of the investigation exactly as we do, and it's through the moments of revelation where Park Hae-il's acting shines through, where his mannerisms alone are enough for the audience to reach the same conclusions he does, with no exposition required. 

In the introduction to the second half, however, Park Chan-Wook unfortunately pulls his punches and falls short of the expectations he created in Acts One and Two. Where the direction was once laser-focused and clinical (though not passionless), it now begins to flounder with the establishment of the new plotline. The sloppy transition between the greatly contrasting halves feels like splicing two wildly different movies together- one serious psychological murder mystery, and one Jessica Chastain feminist spy movie. It's not inept, in any sense of the word, just disappointing considering the expertly executed first half. No matter- the script picks itself back up and regains its footing, this time to deliver a digestible, suspenseful, and poignant conclusion. The ending itself is fulfilling intellectually, because it provides a clean wrap-up to the themes foreshadowed by scenes before, but is slightly empty emotionally, as the viewer is left hanging by its abruptness and destruction of hope. Let's just say that it's a triumph of logic, and a loss for the romantics. 

Hand-in-hand with the masterful direction is its equally masterful soundtrack, of which frequent collaborator Jo Yeong-wook renders one of the most versatile I've ever heard; it manages to deliver a range of melodies at times whimsical, plucky, romantic, and at times melodramatic, sinister, and despairing. 

True-to-form, Park has crafted the perfect balance of mystery and romance, tension, and hopefulness; we desperately pray for Seo Rae to be innocent, because the romantic chemistry between the leading couple is infectiously radiant, but they seem to be at once both the best and worst things to happen in each other's lives, and all that's left to do is be left in true suspense, expectant and suspicious. Not enough can be said about Park Hae-il and Tang Wei's captivating performances as hopeless admirer and alluring femme fatale, because like most other aspects of the production, they're SPOT ON. Not a thing out of place, not a thing too excessive nor negligent. It's a profoundly purposeful film, where time flies by, and definitely because you're having fun.



Want to try your hand at writing a review? Seen a movie, listened to an album or read a book that you just have to talk about? Email us at seniorlibrary@stcuthberts.school.nz to find out more about contributing!

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    Stay Home and Stay Safe. We will use this blog to share ideas of what we can be doing at home. Let's have fun, read and get creative. Keep us posted on what you're up to. ​

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  • Home
  • Year 7 and 8 Units
    • Year 7 - Saint Cuthbert
    • Year 7 - Discover New Zealand
    • Year 8 - Rites of Passage
    • Year 7 - Ancient Egypt
    • Poetry Writing Sessions
    • Year 7 - Early Māori Society and Auckland history
  • Useful Links
    • JSTOR
    • ClickView
    • Audiobooks
    • Auckland Libraries
    • Epic
    • Any Questions
  • Research Tools
    • JSTOR
    • APA Referencing
    • Google Highlights
    • Databases
      • Encyclopaedias & Dictionaries
    • Subject Help
      • Extended Essay - IB Students
      • Art & Design
        • Year 12 Visual Art - Endangered NZ flora and fauna
      • Classics
        • Year 12 Classics - Athenian Golden Age
      • Commerce
      • Drama & Dance
      • Maori
      • English
      • Health & Physical Education
      • Information Technology
      • International Languages
      • Mathematics
      • Music
      • Religious Education
      • Science
      • Social Sciences
        • Year 11 History - WWI & NZ
        • Year 12 History - Protests
        • Year 13 History - early contact
      • Technology
      • Other Research Tools
  • Volumes
  • E-Books
  • Staff
  • Global Commons
  • Log in | Search the Library
  • Secret page for virtual storytimes!