bookitbabe's Book Journey

So it's all fast approaching the end, but somehow it doesn't feel very satisfying if Sam herself isn't somehow more involved in the resolution of the story. As Fosco says, we have to be mindful of being "saved by a boy".

I expect some type of Tyler Dyrden-esque reveal that either Max, Ava or both are figments of her imagination or perhaps something she conjured up during the magic sessions with the bunnies? Who knows with Awad at this point 😅

Ok so I think that she did create Max and is a part of her inner self. The love and admiration for Ava, the words directly from her own journal he uses to her and then the hate and need to hurt the Bunnies like breaking up the group. It’s like her deepest and strongest emotions came out in Max.

hmm, much to think about in terms of magic realism. but i do have to say that being so lonely that you not only create a whole being but also fall in love with them is actually pretty devastating. also i really do adore that the bunnies did get beat in some way, because their faux-sympathy and condescension was getting on my nerves.

also at the end, are we wondering that jonah, too, was a creation of samantha's? or he was real and she made a creation inspired by him? i lean towards both, really.

Here is my theory, though I’m also floundering a bit:

We find out that early on Ava is seemingly “created” from a swan at a pond, and at the end of the story she’s again watching a swan in that same pond, and the last line is the mud responding to Sam as Jonah.

Because of this, I don’t think any of this is meant to be real, including the college or the town or the people. I think, especially based on her remembering her mother begging her to stop pretending, all of this is is contained in her mind while she sits at this pond, prompted by the swan swimming by. My guess is it all runs through her mind as she makes up a story over the course of a few hours.

Edit to add further proof: imaginary Providence being full of stabbings that no one else is talking about seems awfully telling.

I listened to this as an audiobook and I'm so annoyed that I can't write out my full theory with quotes to back up my theory, so I bought a copy of the ebook for an insta re-read. Tldr of the theory in case this hyperfocus leaves me and I never actually go back for the quotes.

Literally everything in this story is made up to help the author (not technically Mona Awad but stems from some of her own thoughts obviously) process the big things in life: authenticity vs performance, art vs. safety, identity vs. belonging, etc.

Every event did not really happen, they are her symbolically processing what is really happening in her life. The "beings" are called hybrids because their creation came from a shred of truth but she turned them into a hybrid with her own fantastical processing.

Every named character outside of Samantha (although this whole thing is her exploring her identity hence no one knowing her name and her and Ava doing the tango every Friday) do not exist. They might be based on a person/group, but they are aspects of society/the world that she is navigating. That's also why names are so flippantly used in this story, it's like an author trying to figure out what name best suits the character they created and the role they are designed to play in the story. Related Example: Ava calling the group of women bonobos consistently when Sam says they are bunnies and they literally call each other bunny. A group of bonobos has a very different symbolic meaning than a group of bunnies for the story, but Sam is trying to figure out what kind of society these women represent in her struggle to join them or not.

I'm a huuuuuge fan of symbolism (particularly animal symbolism) in stories and I feel like Mona Awad was subtle enough, but as someone who reads a lot about symbolism her choices were 'obvious' - I think the cleanest example is the Lion - an entity she made up who is brave enough to believe in her authentic talent. He goes away when she starts to succumb (or wants to succumb) to the bunnies that represent "shallow" art/artistry, but she doesn't understand why he is gone.