Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

저주토끼 by 정보라, Bora Chung

15 reviews

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious

4.25

---

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

caitlindoesntread's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

(Short story collection (10 stories): Horror, social commentary) Read this in four days. It possibly damaged me forever?? Some of the body horror descriptions are so grotesque that I literally felt sick. However, lots of the stories were written beautifully and at each twist I found myself pausing to think about the metaphorical implications or what real-life issue it could have been representing against the backdrop of a strange, scary, magical and suspenseful reality. Some of the stories I really enjoyed are "The Head, "The embodiment", The Frozen Finger" and "Snare". These were short, to the point and gripped me throughout the story. Some stories that I really did not enjoy were "Goodbye, my love", "Home sweet home" and "Ruler of the winds and sands. For the last two that I mentioned, I literally had no clue what was going on, especially in "Ruler of the winds and sands" and they were long, boring and repetitive. I neither liked nor disliked "Cursed bunny", "Scars" and "The reunion". Although "Scars" was WAY too long.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Drug use, Infidelity, and War

magnoliophyta's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This earth we’re currently living in is harsh for women, ya. Particularly for women who live in patriarchal countries with misogyny lingers around the society. 

Some of the stories were heavily themed, disturbing and dark. Not quite enjoyed it myself because of the graphic (gory) details but I wanted to assure you that the writing style itself was a little bit like folklore/myth and you’re going to like it if you like retelling/folklore/myth. Smoothly flowed plots that I couldn’t bring myself to stop despite the uneasiness and distress I’d felt while reading. 

Buddy reading this with Nabilla and well I could say that we’ve got so many interpretations of the stories (even one story had more than 3 interpretations!) we could turn it into a whole essay, a messy and long one at that lol. 

“There was nothing left for me to wait for.

But there I remained, standing in his bathroom, waiting for someone to miraculously find me, to release me from my ties to this life.”

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Incest

ghast's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Suicide, Child abuse, Grief, and Vomit

Minor: War and Incest

charleyroxy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Can a book be diabolically good? I am not sure but I will submit that it can be. Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung and translated from Korean by Anton Hur is an upcoming release from Honford Star (15 July) and is just that kind of good. This collection of ten stories ranges from fairytales to absolute horror and the gamut inbetween. I am in awe of Chung's talent as a short story author and look forward to reading more of her writing one day. With it's subtle and not so subtle critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, and humanity itself it really has so much to offer and the translation is flawless. While I enjoyed the titular Cursed Bunny, Reunion and Goodbye, My Love a lot, my favourite was The Frozen Finger. The story immediately thrusts you into the aftermath of a car crash and from start to finish it was everything I want from a short story. I felt the intensity, the panic, the confusion, everything! I would absolutely suggest pre-ordering this one and, if in the UK, directly from Honford Star. Don't miss this one.

As an important note, I will include a list of content warnings below because it is long. If you are squeamish about bodily fluids you won't make it past the first story. There is gore, abuse, animal cruelty, suicide, and more so be prepared. I loved finding this quote of Chung's from an interview about her writing to give you an idea:

"I don’t feel scared at all when writing horrific or gory scenes. I think it’s because my intention is more to imagine what an ordinary person wouldn’t do or wouldn’t react to, of that twist in the character’s behavior. Aside from making up a fun plot, you’ve got to make the unusual reactions of your characters believable if you want to convince your reader. I think the power of writing is in this ability to make the reader believe. I wanted to see how far I could push that in my writing. That’s all I was trying to do, and it’s amusing to me when people say my characters scare them."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gore, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Car accident, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, and Suicide

Minor: Incest, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual content

While there is not a miscarriage exactly, in The Embodiment there is a scene that would be quite triggering to those who have had the experience.