Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

저주토끼 by 정보라, Bora Chung

23 reviews

paziicrm's review against another edition

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

linalina's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicide, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Violence, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Antisemitism, Dementia, Incest, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Excrement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Abortion, Grief, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, War, Kidnapping, and Vomit

keejaymarie02'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I liked some stories more than others.. some were really slow and tough to get through, which could be due to the translation. Most, if not all, had a message behind the story and were very thought provoking. Some of the stories definitely felt like there were some loose ends that could've been tied up better, but I guess that adds to the mystery of it. Overall, a pretty decent book and I can see myself reading it again, maybe just skipping over my least favorite stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Vomit, Violence, Incest, Gore, Mental illness, Excrement, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Confinement, Body horror, Grief, Death, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

_rowan_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Blood, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Vomit, Gore, Torture, and Violence

kay_ne's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

Stars listed is the overall rating rounded down... below are individual ratings for each short story.

Spoiler for each reading is just so this review isn't a long block of text. 

Don't worry, spoilers are nested in the spoilers.

Overall: 4.375 stars

Note: I tried to list the content warnings but I can't remember all that happened in the short stories. So read when you're in a good place to. 

The Head | 3.75 stars

Really was not expecting how it ended

with the new self shoving the old self into the toilet like what the heck

and it was an interesting read for the first story of the book. It was also sort of humorous(?)- was not feeling any creepy or horror sort of vibe through it until the end. I was also not vibing with the concept since it's waste and the woman's family not taking her seriously like it's normal, but story as a whole was okay.

The Embodiment | 5 stars

This was a sad read. The ending really hit when

the driver (who was her first date) came to the room too late. If they kept in contact then maybe the baby could have been saved and she cried. But it wasn't his fault nor hers either, it's the weird dystopian world they're in needing a father instead of being able to raise the child on their own. :(

Cursed Bunny | 4.25 stars

The short story that the book is titled after! Beginning was very interesting with how families have their own profession that they specialize in. The main character's family's specialty is in the

occult- they call the objects they make as cursed fetishes, which I found weirdly worded. I assume it is because of translation. I'm not sure what would I could describe it.

The story does create tension/suspense on what would happen next to

the CEO's grandson after taking the cursed bunny lamp and once finding out about the symptoms this would've happened to the CEO himself and no one would've batted an eye because they would blame it on his old age.

The ending was interesting, sort of confusing as well since the grandfather (storyteller's not the CEO's)

is dead and would reappear to the storyteller. I think it has to do with not making the cursed objects for personal reasons which the grandfather did.

It was also sad with what happened to the

CEO's family (his son and his grandson), their lives been taken because of the lamp.

The Frozen Finger | 5 stars

The story was really good in my opinion. I am assuming that the protagonist is

the teacher that had an affair with Teacher Choi's ex-husband and then that lead Choi to commit suicide

. And the story is about

the weight of her guilt in causing it. There was also the ring, so I guess Lee marries Choi's ex-husband after they divorced and then something happened. It is sadly a cycle that happens to Lee.

Snare | 5 stars

This was a good read- really had me on the edge of my seat in what was happening and the way it was written reminded me of Grimm fairytales because of the subjects that the story has which can be upsetting to some. Much greed on the father's side and his children and wife were victims.

Goodbye, My Love | 5 stars

This made me tear up ;-; 

Scars | 4.75 stars

The story was much longer than the previous ones, about 50 or so pages. It was sad

the the village's fate lied in the hands of a crow monster and when reading it I thought it would be like the village's fate did not actually depend on the crow, but it did. I feel for the protagonist and wish him luck and hope he can find a place of his own in that world.

Home Sweet Home | 3.25 stars

The story was okay and there was a creepy factor with the

deaths of the people that wronged the landlord. Sad that her husband was cheating on her and threw away all of her hard work in the past seven years. She probably knows that the child was the one that caused the deaths though, and I think the child is a ghost? Or some being that the woman had decided to take care of as her own.

Ruler of the Winds and Sands | 4.75 stars

This was a cute story and I liked the ending. The

sorcerer is such a nice dude and the princess (grass plains) tried her best in doing what she thought was right. The prince (desert) really was a dick in the end :( glad she didn't end up with him.

Reunion | 3 stars

It was an okay read and it was sad. For me I did not understand or know how I felt about it when reading but it was an okay story to end the book. Though,

the bondage thing was a quick turn in the story. I was not expecting that but his reason for getting tied up was to feel like his been given permission to stay alive and that was heartbreaking to me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Child death, Child abuse, Animal death, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Death

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, Mental illness, Excrement, Suicide, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: War, Death of parent, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Incest, Sexual content, Vomit, Gun violence, and Genocide

madyoda's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Excrement, Mental illness, Body horror, Car accident, Confinement, Death, Dysphoria, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent

If you don't like open endings or ambiguity, this book is not for you.

mommarex1221's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Death, Excrement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Suicide, Vomit, Miscarriage, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

honeyvoiced's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Torture

Moderate: Vomit, Ableism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Confinement, Mental illness, Incest, and Suicide

chocolate_pondue's review against another edition

I'm not a general fan of horror so I don't think I was the right audience for this book. A lot of the stories seem gratuitous and a few of them I didn't truly understand. There were a couple that hit me emotionally (

The one with the blood-clot baby, the one with the boy and the crow monster, and the one with the androids

), but other than that, I just became uninterested in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Torture, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Animal death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Excrement, Death, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Grief, and Child abuse