Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

79 reviews

harry_ballantyne7's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Body horror

Moderate: Violence, Torture, and Child abuse

issymaae's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Incest, and Suicide

librisaddictus's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Violence, Gore, and War

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. 

---

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.

bxnnny's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

2.0

what a strange little book. some of these stories had some interesting concepts that i wish could be expanded upon while others were just silly and weird. the writing style often felt very juvenile which also sometimes made it a little hard to take seriously. a lot of it felt like some kid writing an r/nosleep story, trying too hard to make it weird and unsettling/scary. still, some of them had potential. i just don't think this was really for me though.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit and Violence

Minor: Incest

the first short story is very heavily involved with fecal matter. all stories deal with dark subject matter. there is lots of death, abuse, and animal cruelty.

akj_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"Parents who destroy their children's lives, who suck the life out of their children's futures, not only for the sake of maintaining their own illusions but also to zealously expand them into the lives of their children - such parents can almost be understood from the perspective of obsession. Following the words 'Be grateful I raised you' is the implied clause 'instead of killing you or leaving you for dead.' They probably mean it, too." ("Reunion")
 
Story Ratings:
1. "The Head" 5/5 stars⭐️
 2. "The Embodiment" 5/5 stars⭐️
 3. "Cursed Bunny" 5/5 stars⭐️
 4. "The Frozen Finger" 3/5 stars⭐️
 5. "Snare" 4/5 stars⭐️
 6. "Goodbye, My Love" 4/5 stars⭐️
 7. "Scars" 5/5 stars⭐️
 8. "Home Sweet Home" 5/5 stars⭐️
 9. "Ruler of the Winds and Sands" 5/5 stars⭐️
 10. "Reunion" 5/5 stars⭐️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Sexual assault

fox_at_the_circus's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

The short stories in this book are a really nice mix of magical realism, fantasy, scifi, horror. I enjoyed how every story brought you to its own world with its own characteristics. 
The different stories all adress and discuss trauma each in their own way and metaphors and within their genre, it was a really good read. I also appreciate, that in "Reunion" the narrator actually mentions trauma and what it does/can do to people. I don't see this direct mention a lot in horror stories, and it was a nice surprise while fitting into that story well. It also was a nice conclusion to the book, summarising the theme of this book at the end.
My favourite stories of this collection are "The Frozen Finger" for it's pure horror vibes that unfold throught the story, and "Scars" for main character and the growth he goes through.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child death, Suicide, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, and Incest

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. 

---

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

---

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

astrangewind's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I finished this book in two sittings - one for the first story, and then the entire rest of the book in the second. It was truly unputdownable, but I truly cannot tell if this was out of genuine enjoyment, or out of the desire to get it over with as quickly as possible. 

The first two stories are the extremes of horror - the gross, the bloody, the fucked up. The rest of the stories are a bit more mellow, which is more suited to my tastes, but I found that I didn't really click with most of them, or understand the ending. (Although I have been known in the past to miss some crucial detail or other. Short stories aren't generally my thing.) Either way, it was a decently quick read, and I did enjoy it, although not to the extent that others have, although I don't think that's the fault of either the author or the translator. 

I dunno, I just feel like horror story collections feel the need to cram in every possible trigger they possibly can, every possible gross or bloody thing, to make a compelling story. And that is frankly untrue, and it feels a lot like shock value when it does happen. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Gore, and Suicide

Minor: Rape, War, Colonisation, and Incest