In this campus-set novel, Harbach explores the messy, tangled lives of disparate best friends Pella and For Bossy reviews of more campus-set novels, please check out the titles at this link, and you'll find

Bunny begins with an outcast main protagonist in a MFA program who's infuriated by her twee fellow seminar students. It builds into an increasingly unhinged, intriguing phantasmagoria, equal parts dark nightmare and outrageously silly absurdity. I was intrigued by the sound of We Love You, Bunny , the sequel to Mona Awad's novel Bunny , so I went back to first read this book. Samantha is a scholarship MFA student at the progressive Warren University in New England. An outsider, a solitary type immersed in her own sometimes dark writing, she is disgusted by the rest of her cohort--childish women who call each other "Bunny," dress in twee outfits, speak in high voices, and, aside from their hilariously outrageous creations (one writes what she calls proems, “etched on panes of glass using a dagger-shaped diamond she wears around her neck; another presents "a series of unpunctuated vignettes about a woman named Z who pukes up soup while thinking nihilistic thoughts, then has anal sex in a trailer") , seem to be of one unimaginative mind and to operate in a mindless echo chamber of nonsense. But when the Bunnies invite Samantha to their "Smut Salon," and into their hive mind of dottiness. She becomes oddly entrenched in their circle, then increasingly unsure of herself and vulnerable. She ditches her few true friends, also outsiders, and feels at a loss to determine the line between reality and richly imagined dark, seemingly impossible developments. The Bunnies are vapid, petty, entitled, and aggressively manipulative. They feel shocking in their existence, partially because they managed to secure spots in a graduate writing program yet seemingly have almost nothing to say. When they draw Samantha into their circle, they are maddeningly underhanded and scheming as they work her over and force her into a cultlike assimilation--and Samantha is infuriating in her simpering, inexplicable, growing desire for their approval. But they are surprisingly powerful; their true "work" ("the work" is referenced ad nauseam in the seminar the Bunnies and Samantha share) is ambitious, outrageous, horrifying, and powerful, taking on a life of its own. Bunny feels like an excoriation of MFA programs and wealthy attendees; a harsh take on conformity; and a dark take on the consequences of wanting too much. But just as the novel felt as though it were lasting too long for me and began to teeter toward the tedious; just as I wondered if I could stand to listen to the Bunnies' perfectly horrible, put-on baby voices for another couple of hours (narrator Sophie Amoss deftly handles the voices in this novel to great effect), the story went in a truly unhinged direction that intrigued me. My friend Amy described this novel perfectly as a fever dream. Reality, dream, desire, memory, and guilt all become intertwined, and it's difficult for Samantha--and for the reader--to discern what is true, what occurred, what is allegory, what is the stuff of nightmares. A couple of scenes are horrifying, some are darkly hilarious, and Awad clearly delights in the absurd. It's difficult to describe how bonkers this story is. I was surprised by how hooked I became on it. This is not a book I would universally recommend, but for an audience that appreciates cutting satire and a bananas story, this one will fit the bill. I listened to Bunny  as a library audiobook. More from this Author and More Oddball Novels Mona Awad is also the author of Rouge , All's Well , and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl . You might also be interested in these Bossy reviews of oddball or offbeat novels.

the style of Agatha Christie, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel; and I'm listening to Chad Harbach's campus I'm listening to this novel as an audiobook. 03 The Brightness by Chad Harbach In this campus-set novel

their old friend (now called Bastian) has become one of the most feared, powerful, cold students on campus

and soon realizes that his old friend has become one of the most feared, powerful, cold students on campus

After pushing him to return home before heading to college, he headed to campus and died in a freak accident

missteps and cutthroat choices, pushing toward what feels like an inevitable, disastrous climax to the campy We can see what Jessamyn is unaware of in this campy story: her acting may be sound, but her singing

But her first night on campus, she witnesses the magical attack of a mythical creature on a student--

But her first night on campus, she witnesses the magical attack of a mythical creature on a student--

their old friend (now called Bastian) has become one of the most feared, powerful, cold students on campus

Finlay dips her toe into a criminal underworld in the second in Cosimano's campy mystery series. Cosimano struck a campy, playful tone in that book and offered a quirky setup for Finlay's complicated The story starts off with some silly, campy situations, and as with the first book, Finlay Donovan Knocks

specific name brands and even majors and worry more about acquiring skills and experiences once you're on campus

After pushing him to return home before heading to college, he headed to campus and died in a freak accident

Cash crafts a delightfully campy, oddball novel around a family of characters who for various reasons certainly be recruiting her to be a terrorist; and brilliant Harper is sent to a behavioral reform camp

Murder at a sleepaway camp. A serial killer. A final girl. Woods offers more of this excellent mix, with a playful and horrifying 1980s and 1990s slasher-movie campiness The story is set at a small-town summer camp (Nate repeatedly and entertainingly references Friday the true-crime podcasts to revisit a murder mystery surrounding decades-old events that took place at the camp up a premise in which a good number of Stevie's friends from Ellingham are reunited to work at the camp

I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two timelines, the privilege and working In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods .

menopausal women and the poignant strength of friendship; supplies satisfying revenge fantasies and camp The tone of The Change is largely campy, as middle-aged women heroines unite against the book's sometimes For purely campy mysteries, you might try Finlay Donovan Is Killing It and its sequel, Finlay Donovan

The cover design and title of Let's Not Do That Again felt playful and potentially campy, but I had trouble The tone was constant, and Ginder offers over-the-top camp with heart and complexity.

fantasy story, Long Live Evil ; I'm reading Liz Moore's newest mystery, set in a 1975 Adirondack summer camp The God of the Woods by Liz Moore In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adironack summer camp She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work.

This month my favorite reads were a missing-person camp story in two timelines; literary fiction set 01 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods .

01 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods .

The disappearance involves layers that feel poised draw in Mere and Frankie's husbands, who were camping

She settles into the peaceful patterns of nature and camping near where her grandmother once lived.

certainly be recruiting her to be a terrorist; and brilliant Harper is sent to a behavioral reform camp

menopausal women and the poignant strength of friendship; supplies satisfying revenge fantasies and camp

She settles into the peaceful patterns of nature and camping near where her grandmother once lived.

blaming of issues on immigrants; the betrayal of and by neighbors; the snatching of Jewish families for camps

This summer they head to Maine to camp, fish, and hike.

I was most intrigued by her young life with Jeffrey; camping in Europe on $5 a day; her early adventures

attention to a cold case in Wyoming: a man went missing in a national forest while on a pre-wedding camping Their hardscrabble stories intersect at a turpentine camp in Georgia. There, workers struggle to flip the pattern of owing more money to the camp than they can earn; try to

menopausal women and the poignant strength of friendship; supplies satisfying revenge fantasies and camp The tone of The Change is largely campy, as middle-aged women heroines unite against the book's sometimes

Their hardscrabble stories intersect at a turpentine camp in Georgia. There, workers struggle to flip the pattern of owing more money to the camp than they can earn; try to

Cash's The Last Ballad explores race relations and the fight for dignity in a 1929 North Carolina mill camp Cash provides rich details of life in a mill camp in 1929 North Carolina.

told through two timelines; the final book in a darkly playful young adult fantasy series; a quirky, campy background of Beirut, a city shaped by and "smoldering with the legacy of war," as well as the refugee camps Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano Cosimano's mystery has a wonderfully quirky setup and campy Cosimano's mystery has a wonderfully quirky setup and campy tone.

This summer they head to Maine to camp, fish, and hike.

here   for my full review of You Are Here . 10 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore I loved this summer-camp In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work. I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods .

menopausal women and the poignant strength of friendship; supplies satisfying revenge fantasies and camp The tone of The Change is largely campy, as middle-aged women heroines unite against the book's sometimes

menopausal women and the poignant strength of friendship; supplies satisfying revenge fantasies and camp The tone of The Change is largely campy, as middle-aged women heroines unite against the book's sometimes

Cosimano's mystery has a wonderfully quirky setup and campy tone, and Finlay's missteps add to the darkly Cosimano's mystery has a wonderfully quirky setup and campy tone.

young man doing standup and finding inspiration in his grandparents' antics; his pivotal Jewish summer camp

you might also enjoy a different book about aging women taking back their power, The Change, or other campy

I was hooked on the gritty details of mining camp life, particularly as contrasted with the excesses

Like Dust, a memoir about her Japanese-American grandparents and their experiences in an internment camp

attention to a cold case in Wyoming: a man who went missing in a national forest while on a pre-wedding camping

The details of running the Canadian river, traveling and camping, and Jack and Wynn's friendship itself

I love that the crew of the Wayfarer feels like a close-knit group of summer camp counselors somehow,

Murder at a sleepaway camp. A serial killer. A final girl. sets up a premise in which a number of Stevie's friends from Ellingham are reunited to work at the camp

Murder at a sleepaway camp. A serial killer. A final girl. sets up a premise in which a number of Stevie's friends from Ellingham are reunited to work at the camp

The danger is in chemicals and airports and refugee camps and war zones and regions known for sex tourism

Cosimano struck a campy, playful tone in that book and offered a quirky setup for Finlay's complicated