Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

10 reviews

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The translation from Korean to English is a bit off at times. However, that does not dim the bizarre beauty of this collection. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Pregnancy, Blood, Gore, Ableism, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Abortion, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Excrement, Sexism, Violence, Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Medical content, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Gaslighting, Bullying, Physical abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Miscarriage, Vomit, Stalking, and Suicide

Be aware that there is characters slowly dying, hunger, starvation, c-sections, blood clots, mob violence, financial struggles, mentions of Nazism, and destruction of cities and families.

cider_lover's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This collection of stories was simply too weird for me. I like to think that I enjoy things that are strange and off-putting but many of these stories just grossed me out with no (that I could tell) purpose. The suffering of the characters felt like it was pointless, which I know in some cases works to get a message across, but it didn't quite work because of the lack of connection with the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, Physical abuse, and Incest

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Rape

Minor: Murder

thomasdingemanse's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Body horror, Miscarriage, Blood, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexism, Abandonment, Medical content, and Car accident

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Animal death, Murder, Blood, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Death, Ableism, Body horror, and Confinement

Minor: Child death, War, Toxic relationship, Genocide, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Car accident

sauvageloup's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I whistled through these very disturbing little stories. 

pros:
- they're definitely gripping, and the writing style is sparse but clear and evocative, with the descriptions being vivid.
- the stories felt self contained and satisfying overall, even as many ended in tragedy.
- the last book of short stories I read, i struggled to jump from one story to another, maybe because they were so different and by different people. this one wasnt like that at all, and i had no problem reading straight through, pretty much.
- i liked the variety in length and themes of the stories, from birth horror, to supernatural, to fantasy fairy tale and modern criticisms on feminism and capitalism. i think i mainly read very on the surface and didnt look hard at metaphors and such, a reread might help me see this more.
- I liked the sheer imagination though and how Chung makes you care for characters who often arent even given a name.

cons: 
- the first two stories especially, but a lot of them overall, were pretty horrible and graphic. they did their job in making you feel things! but it reminded me too much of just horrible nightmares and intrusive thoughts and I wouldnt read those two again.
- I also felt there was generally a lack of hope in the stories, but that's personal taste I guess.

overall, well written and gripping but too horror for me and dont think I'll seek out more of her work, but I might reread this in time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infertility, Car accident, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Child death, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Bullying, Medical trauma, Sexism, Violence, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Torture, Pregnancy, Body horror, and Vomit

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

scifi_rat's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Medical content, Excrement, Slavery, Body horror, Grief, Violence, War, Abandonment, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Sexism, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Animal death, Alcohol, Abortion, Infertility, Animal cruelty, and Infidelity

lovelymisanthrope's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I received this in a book subscription box and was very excited to pick it up because it had already been on my radar.
"Cursed Bunny" is a collection of short stories that are both haunting and creepy. This was such an excellent way for me to kick off October.
Overall, I was really captivated by most of the stories, and I was impressed with the writing. The first short story, "The Head", has haunted me since I read it. In this tale, a woman is haunted by her own waste. The story is told in graphic detail, and it left me slightly concerned about what I may be flushing down the toilet. This was also such a bold choice for the first short story. "The Head" really set the tone for the weird horror that was about to follow.
I really appreciated that each story had its moment, and each story was fleshed out enough that I felt like I was reading a collection of novellas. Additionally, I appreciated that all of the stories were different, but equally unsettling. I had the same feeling of "what the hell am I reading" throughout the entire book, all while I got to enjoy different stories.
Overall, I really enjoyed these stories and I look forward to trying to find something similar in tone to read in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood

brilokuloj's review

I really did like it but the depictions of misogyny were just too triggering for where I am in my life right now. That's not the book's fault and I'd like to come back to it when I'm feeling better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Abortion, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship

paziicrm's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

You gotta like and be open to a lot of genres to truly enjoy this book, magic realism, fantasy, fables. You have to be okay to not have all the answers cause if you don't, you'll end up like me disappointed. Wanting more or feeling like there was space for a few more pages to give a more concise closure.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Incest, Infertility, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexism, Torture, Body horror, Car accident, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Excrement, and Blood

Moderate: Child abuse, Body horror, Confinement, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Vomit, Torture, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Child death, Physical abuse, Murder, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

Minor: Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infidelity, War, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Infertility, Incest, and Rape