Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

19 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.

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.

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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

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

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

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. 

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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

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

poempelnator's review

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Dark and twisted short stories with some fiction, some feminism, some feces, some torture and a lot more.
And (for me) lots of horror (like really body horror right on the first short story) and that's not fully my jam. 
I found some story's amazing and others really not, but overall interesting. So 3.5 is the middle ground for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Abortion, Medical content, Miscarriage, Body shaming, Cursing, Sexism, Murder, Violence, Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Car accident, Death, Pregnancy, Excrement, and Animal death

zeegy's review against another edition

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

3.0

I can tell part of this book has a bit of a cultural wall I can't break through. Some stories shined regardless of that but others felt like a story told to me in passing. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Excrement, Blood, Incest, Sexism, Medical trauma, Body horror, Vomit, War, Rape, Murder, Violence, Suicide, Medical content, Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

siobhanward's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

I saw another reviewer describe this book as "grotesque" and like honestly that's pretty accurate. It was a fun and definitely disturbing read. The stories were interesting and well-written, although I found that some dragged more than I would have liked them to. The commentary on the role of women that wove through so many of the stories was interesting and will definitely be something that I sit with for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Violence, and Blood