Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

59 reviews

morganpearcy's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.0

Phew. This collection of short stories was really enjoyable, but trippy. It’s not going to be for everyone. The sheer creativity involved in coming up with these particular body horror themes really blows my mind. Some of the stories were home runs, others not so much. The stories can be a little slow, but generally work in terms of pacing. The characters are enjoyable and the author does a great job of writing shorts that feel complete. I appreciated that these horror pieces didn’t hinge on tropes and were each very unique. The translation from Korean to English was a bit wobbly in spots, but was overall decent. Worth a read, especially if you need short stories in your life. If you’re easily grossed out, might not be the right fit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Medical content, Excrement, and Gore

whosjessanyway's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Gore, Body horror, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Slavery, Animal cruelty, and Miscarriage

savvylit's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

A lamp that looks like a rabbit. A boy sacrificed to a giant bird monster. Sentient shit. A ship floating above a desert. Ghosts. All of these elements make up the world within Cursed Bunny. Bora Chung utilizes horror and exaggeration to reveal the ills of modern culture. Spanning from horror to satire to fable, Chung's stories read like warnings against the worst impulses of humankind. Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Excrement, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Incest, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

julianh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Pregnancy, Suicide, Gore, Body horror, Child death, Excrement, Confinement, and Torture

ellinda's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.5

It might be harsh, but the stories in this book al felt like they could have been written by your average literature student who wanted to write something edgy and shocking. None of the stories stood out to me in the "genre-defying" way they had been described everywhere. 

It was very difficult for me to get through the stories and after the first 2 I wanted to give up, but I felt like I needed to give the other stories a chance because in a short story bundle you're always bound to have ones you like and ones you dislike. 

For me, the only two redeeming stories in this book were the ones titled "Goodbye, my love" and "Reunion". But ever the former of those two felt very predictable without bringing anything new to the table. 

It seems a lot of people liked this book just fine, but to me personally it delivered on none of the promises people had made about the book. The stories are not "sick and twisted" and they don't bring anything new to the types of stories they are telling. It had poor prose and some of the writing just felt immature. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Confinement, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Excrement, Death of parent, Child abuse, Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide

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

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

laurenvoice's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.0

Cursed Bunny is a short story collection that somewhat resembles the Twilight Zone.

The Head ⭐⭐.5 - I was not quite sure what to make of this story. I neither liked nor disliked this story; I left it feeling indifferent. However, I have questions about how unconcerned the family was about this head randomly appearing.

The Embodiment ⭐⭐⭐.5 - okay, wow that ending! This story was full of judgmental people judging a situation that had nothing to do with them. Also, whilst reading this story, I realised that no one in this Twilight Zone themed book questions anything!

Cursed Bunny ⭐⭐⭐ - this one had quite a slow start. However, it picked up the pace during the curse part, although the ending to the curse part was quite rushed. The ending to the story seemed meh.

The Frozen Finger ⭐⭐⭐ - this story was a mix of being predictable yet having no clue what was happening. There are a lot of questions.

Snare ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I liked this one a lot. It was gory and weird, which is right up my street.

Goodbye, My Love ⭐⭐ - stories about AI aren't really my sort of thing.

Scars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 - this is my favourite story in this short story collection. I found this story engrossing and sad. However, I did find the ending a bit weird; nonetheless, I loved the rest of the story.

Home Sweet Home ⭐⭐.5 - not sure what was going on here; it felt like a haunted house story.

Ruler of the Winds and Sands ⭐⭐⭐ - again, this was not really my type of story. However, the imagery used in this story was good.

Reunion ⭐⭐⭐ - this was a ghost story with quite the ending.

Overall, I did enjoy this collection of short stories. Bora Chung tackled the darker themes of her story well and included some beautiful imagery that set the scenes in some of these stories.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Excrement