Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

80 reviews

skitch41's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

One of the creepiest boos I’ve ever read with quite a few problematic plot devices. However, this is one of the best short story collections I’ve ever read. The quality of the stories never dipped and they always had a unique twist.

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bugle's review against another edition

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dark tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0


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linalina's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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jesshindes's review against another edition

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

4.0

We read Cursed Bunny for book group; it's a selection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur. This is the first short story collection we'd read for group and I think it was a good innovation - I probably wouldn't have picked up the book otherwise as I tend to go for novels but I'm glad I read this.

There were a few groups of stories in this book, for me: the first two in particular are body horror tied to femininity. A woman who gets pregnant by taking too many birth control pills and has to find a father for her unborn child. A woman haunted by a head made from her own excrement. There's also a haunted house story about a woman whose husband gets them into debt that I might put in the same bracket. The stories are weird - like bad dreams - but they get at some of the pressures and anxieties to which women are subject, in the UK as well as in Korea. I have been reading more and more horror and speculative fiction recently and I really enjoy and admire the way that it can be used to set everyday fears in a new light by refiguring them into something strange and less familiar - I think that's exactly what Chung does here.

There are also a number of stories that have a less nightmarish and more fairytale sort of quality - not any less dark, but still tonally different, with a strong moral throughline and often involving magical animals (the titular story is one of these). For me it felt like lots of these were about human cruelty (usually but not exclusively masculine cruelty) - the horrible things people will do to others in order to protect or advance themselves and their interests. Some of these have a kind of Pillowman vibe, if that helps to place them. Again, they made a strong impression on me even though they were often pretty bleak. Chung's vision of the world is a fairly dark one although she does usually leave a chink of (more or less ambiguous) hope.

Overall I thought each of these stories was strong and the collection itself expressed a distinctive voice and a distinctive take on human experience. I have enjoyed reading books from Japan and Korea for giving me insight into societies that feel in some respects quite different from mine and I actually thought this did the same thing even though it wasn't telling a realist narrative. It also confirmed my continuing appetite for the speculative. More weird books to come, no doubt!


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serotonone's review against another edition

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dark mysterious relaxing sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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miniatureghosts's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The head: 4.5/5⭐️ disgusting but weirdly entertaining, I can’t believe I was low-key agreeing and sympathising with the talking shit head at the end, well written mummy issues™️
The embodiment: 4/5⭐️
Cursed bunny: 4.5/5⭐️ one of the stand outs, love a good revenge story
The frozen finger: 3/5⭐️ I didn’t fully get it
Snare: 3/5⭐️ definitely the most horrifying story of the bunch and it put me off reading for about a month, did what it came to do but it drags on for too long
Goodbye my love: 3.5/5⭐️
Scars: 2/5⭐️ drags on for way too long
Home sweet home: 2.5/5⭐️ this was the most forgettable story of the lot
Ruler of the winds and sands: 4.5/5⭐️ this is like a dark fairytale but with non typical gender roles
Reunion: 2.5/5⭐️ again I don’t think I fully understood this one, somewhat forgettable

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demonxore's review against another edition

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3.5

The final story, titled "Reunion," was the crown jewel of this collection. The rest are also pretty good! I would recommend this set of stories to those who like offbeat contemporary short fiction.

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lillieslibraryy's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.0


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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0


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sakisreads's review against another edition

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

4.0

✨ Thrifted ✨

What a series of short stories! I’m skeptical of BookTok recommendations, so it took me a little while to buy this, but when I saw a pristine copy at the secondhand bookshop I knew I had to at least try. I’m so glad I did! 😳 

I’m squeamish at the best of times, but the imagery in this didn’t make me squirm (most of the time). I thought the ways in which the stories were written were so crystal clear. I kept putting it down, to absorb each story, then picking it back up almost immediately after because I was excited to keep going and was keen to get onto the next ✨

Here are my personal opinions:
Favourite: Cursed Bunny (the image of bunnies chewing everything and shitting everywhere made me laugh 😂)
Least favourite: Snare (the imagery in this one was a bit too intense for me)

Honourable mentions:
Goodbye, My Love (I love an AI/Klara and the Sun moment 😦)

I’ve already recommended this surreal and wonderful short story collection to my friend 🥰 I can’t wait to read more reviews 👏🏼

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