Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

57 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.

v_verdesoto's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Excrement, Infertility, Pregnancy, Death, Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content

shewouldstay's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Excrement, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Car accident

niamphoone's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Miscarriage, Gore, Grief, Child death, Blood, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Medical content, and Self harm

kaimju's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

Opisem tej książki powinna być długa lista trigger warnings. A tak poza tym, Bora Chung zdecydowanie umie w opowiadania.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Miscarriage, Body horror, Excrement, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: 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

dalstellar's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

3.0

so fucked up... memorable tho!

impossible to rate altogether some real hits and misses

fav story: the embodiment
least fav: scars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Excrement, Gore, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Confinement, and Child abuse

Moderate: Ableism, Car accident, Incest, and Dementia

mondovertigo's review

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Excrement, and Animal death

Moderate: Child death and Death

sneakysophster's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Weird, violent, gross, fairy-tale-esque, existential representations of the patriarchy, relationships with parents, capitalism, and greed. One of my favorite short story collections probably ever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Mental illness, Car accident, Gore, Incest, Suicide, Rape, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Body horror, Excrement, Pregnancy, Ableism, Murder, Misogyny, and Child abuse

fe_lea's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

4.25

 
“If I could make one wish 
I want to be just a little bit happier 
If I’m too happy 
I will miss the sadness” 

Cursed Bunny by Chung Bora (translated by Anton Hur) is a solid collection of stories that blends horror, magical realism, and scifi to talk about the real horrors of society: misogyny, patriarchy, capitalism, and greed. 

“You birthed me even when I didn’t want it, and did you not try at every turn to destroy me out of hatred and disgust? What have you given me besides your feces trash? I had to bear all sorts of humiliations and degradations to get what I needed from you to complete a human-like body.” 

The stories ranged from disgusting to darkly funny to fable-like to creepy to sad and all with an unsettling undertone. I have to commend Anton Hur with the translation. The english prose was beautiful and I loved how the tone of the prose changed with each story. 

The book started off strong with The Head, which I nicknamed as the talking poop, and ended on a somber note with Reunion. Both of these were my top stories as well. The former was a grotesque and disgusting (literally) commentary about misogyny. I read this story twice, and I liked it better the second time when I realized the talking poop was representative of how women were treated in society more than the woman in the story - this made the ending more impactful for me. Reunion, on the other hand, had a very melancholic tone to it. It was a sad ghost story that touched on loneliness and existentialism. Stylistically, I think this was the best story of the bunch. 

Other favorites included the titular story Cursed Bunny, which basically had shapeshifting bunnies fighting capitalism; Snare, a disturbing story about greed; and Frozen Finger and Home Sweet Home, both of which got me confused but I loved the eerie undertones in them. 

While the book started strong, my enjoyment started to taper towards the middle to second half. Some were too long like Scars, and others just didn’t have the same impact as the other stories, like Goodbye My Love and Ruler of the Winds and Sands. 

Still, I consider this a solid collection and am looking forward to read the english translation of Chung’s new book that's coming out this year. 

“I could finally understand the horrific and cruel clarity of what he considered to be meaningful. The desperation and immense fear that your life, as well as the future to come, hinged on a moment. I could also understand how, in a situation where there was a single person who could kill you but also save you, all your survival instincts would be used toward satisfying that one person.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Child abuse, and Excrement

Moderate: Misogyny