Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

저주토끼 by Bora Chung

75 reviews

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

anka_not_anchor's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

A strange, strange, and unsettling set of short stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, Child abuse, Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

bumble_abi's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Weird as hell, horrifying but strangely kind about it, with roots in some very human desires and fears and neuroses. 

There are a lot of weird horror short story collections out there and I think it's possible for books like this to subsist on an immaculate vibe and nothing more, which puts a lot of them very squarely middle of the road, achieving that immaculate vibe but predictably nothing more. I think this one does inch over the line into 'something more', but maybe it's just a case of what each individual reader is able to connect with the most. A few stories in here are really smart explorations of trauma, especially when we build lives on a foundation of trauma, and I loved them for that. Others don't slap quite so hard, but they all felt complete to me, they all finished their narrative sentence, which is a big tick and something short stories don't always do. On balance a very solid collection, and one I will probably revisit in future.

Faves: The Head, The Embodiment, Scars, Snare, Reunion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Abandonment, Violence, Suicide, and Child abuse

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

patsybarker's review against another edition

made me feel sick 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Body horror, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, and Emotional abuse

good but yukky

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.

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.

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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

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