When Mona Awad published her sophomore novel, 鈥淏耻苍苍测,鈥 in 2019, it wasn鈥檛 immediately apparent that she had a phenomenon on her hands.
Like her debut, the Giller-nominated 鈥13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl,鈥 critics adored it. But initial sales were what you鈥檇 expect for literary fiction in a market that was about to make Colleen Hoover a household name.
Then, a full two years after its release, Awad鈥檚 fever dream of a dark comedy about a lonely MFA student drawn into a toxically enmeshed quartet of peers who call each other Bunny went viral on BookTok.
鈥淚 started getting word from my publisher that the sales from 鈥楤unny鈥 were really going up. I started noticing that I was getting tagged in posts online, and readers were starting to get tattoos of Bunny, and making art,鈥 said Awad. 鈥淭hey were starting to post about it while wearing bunny ears, and doing these really playful, theatrical collages. Years after the fact, it was just taking off.鈥
Mona Awad, photographed on the rooftop of The Broadview Hotel, noticed fans of her second novel, 鈥淏耻苍苍测,鈥 were posting tribute videos in a bunny masks.聽
Sophie Bouquillon/海角社区官网StarAwad, who only created a TikTok account for herself earlier this year and has posted just once, sees 鈥楤unny鈥檚 online fame as something separate from herself. 鈥淎s a writer, I don鈥檛 have anything to do with it,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t belongs to readers, as it should.鈥
She does have a few theories as to why the book resonated so strongly with people, primarily that it speaks to almost anyone who feels alienated in the world. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a very isolating, dark time,鈥 said Awad. 鈥淓verybody knows that feeling of not belonging, and I think Bunny gives expression to that.鈥
But also, she thinks that a lot of people just really enjoy the Bunnies, who are like a quasi-coven of 鈥淢ean Girls鈥 鈥 if Regina et. al. were into experimental short fiction 鈥 with a penchant for emojis and a little light kidnapping.
The fans are in for a treat with Awad鈥檚 just-published sequel, 鈥淲e Love You, Bunny.鈥 It鈥檚 a retelling of the story from the first book, but this time from the perspective of the Bunnies.
鈥淚 had so much fun writing this. It was such a joy to be with these characters again and finally be in the heads of the actual Bunnies individually, and to get to know them better,鈥 said Awad. 鈥淭hey surprised me, and they did delight me, even in their awfulness.鈥
For instance, she found the dynamic between the young women to be an unexpectedly nuanced blend of love and jealousy, and their collective internal world much more delicate and fraught than the menacing front they projected as a group.
鈥淎s a writer, as a creator, there are surprising moments that can happen if you let yourself be in the scene, in the mind and the body of the character,鈥 Awad explained. 鈥淚f you can make that leap, you can be surprised in the moment and have revelations like that.鈥
While Awad had missed the world of 鈥淏耻苍苍测,鈥 she credits the groundswell of reader enthusiasm with spurring the sequel. 鈥淭hey were keeping it alive in my head, and their response to it was so creative that I was thinking about it more and more,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 do think it led me down the path of starting to imagine what might happen before 鈥 and after.鈥
Mona Awad on the rooftop of The Broadview Hotel ahead of her “I Love You, Bunny” launch at Queen Books.
Sophie Bouquillon/海角社区官网StarAwad was born in Montreal and spent her teens in Mississauga (or 鈥淢isery Saga,鈥 as it became in her debut novel), though she now lives in Boston and teaches creative writing at Syracuse University in New York. She nodded to the country she left over 15 years ago when naming the actual rabbit the Bunnies animate using magic and their own repressed desires, Frankenstein-meets-Ouija-meets-manifestation-gone-awry-style: Aerius, a Canadian allergy medication.
鈥淚t was a total hat tip to the Canadians, and my Canadian heritage, but also I wanted something that would be both mythic and mundane,鈥 says Awad of naming the object of her characters鈥 obsession. 鈥淚 wanted it to be something you could find in the real world, but I wanted it to feel otherworldly.鈥
That description applies to Awad鈥檚 work generally 鈥 her dark fairy tales are firmly rooted in the familiar. They shock us into questioning common assumptions we may not have examined as critically as we should, whether she鈥檚 writing about a theatre professor living with chronic pain and attempting to stage a Shakespeare play that does not end well in 鈥淎ll鈥檚 Well,鈥 or a grieving daughter鈥檚 journey into the dark side of beauty at the health spa her dead mother frequented in 鈥淩ouge.鈥 Margaret Atwood is a fan; she鈥檚 called 鈥淏unny鈥 鈥渟ooo genius.鈥
While things frequently turn capital-G-Gothic and can be baroquely gory at times, Awad鈥檚 writing is also a delight to read: Chatty, gossipy, light as spun sugar. At least until, say, a rabbit the Bunnies turned into the young man of their collective dreams murders a frat boy at a Halloween party. That鈥檚 not a major spoiler, but it was another surprise for Awad, who didn鈥檛 see it coming until she was writing the scene.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e truly in someone鈥檚 consciousness, reporting from that place deep inside of them, you can get to the surreal so quickly,鈥 Awad says. 鈥淏oth the dreamy places, and the frightening places.鈥
“I Love You, Bunny” by Mona Awad ().
Simon & SchusterMona Awad鈥檚 Toronto
Favourite place to buy books: , 914 Queen. St. E.
鈥淚 love that bookstore. The booksellers are so great, and I love that neighbourhood.鈥
Favourite place to read: , 1156 Queen St. E.
鈥淚 remember reading Jesus鈥 Son by Denis Johnson there, and having such a revelation about how great it was. I still remember the way the light was falling on the book, and sitting in that wing chair.鈥
Favourite late night spot: , 537 Queen St. W.
鈥淚t was such a hangout post-going dancing. I would always go there with my best friend and we would recap the evening.鈥
Favourite restaurant: , multiple locations
鈥淚 do love Terroni, mostly because my father loves it and we go there to celebrate things.鈥
Favourite neighbourhood to stroll: Trinity Bellwoods
鈥淲hen the cherry blossoms are out, my favourite thing is to wander around there and just dream.鈥
Best people watching in the city: Queen West
鈥淭his is definitely dating me, because my heyday in 海角社区官网was in the ‘90s. My best friend and I would get a pizza slice and we would just watch people and guess their lives.鈥
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