Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

저주토끼 by Bora Chung

18 reviews

bugle's review against another edition

dark tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Abortion, Medical trauma, Body horror, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Incest, Sexual assault, and Infidelity

mfrisk's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Out of this collection I enjoyed Goodbye my love, cursed bunny, and the head. The rest of the stories fell flat for me. This collection felt like it didn’t know whether it wanted to go fully into the weird horror and science fiction depths or into a morality tale and therefore for me it didn’t get at either of these areas very well. The translation also I think made some of the stories feel a bit stilted in certain parts though you could usually get at the central themes. Overall I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did and it took me awhile to get through despite the short length. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Body horror, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Infidelity

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Murder, Gore, Violence, Animal cruelty, Medical content, Child abuse, Confinement, Pregnancy, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Car accident, Self harm, War, Excrement, Grief, Animal death, Gaslighting, Torture, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Incest, Vomit, Sexual content, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

Menstruation ("The Head," "The Embodiment").

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

mommarex1221's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

---

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

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is filled with some strange but interesting and entertaining stories. Some are horror, thriller, sci-fi, magical realism and pure fantasy — each one unique.
Definitely give this book a read if you enjoyed Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo or Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Blood, Animal cruelty, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: War, Sexism, Blood, Suicide, Murder, Infidelity, Death, Incest, Pregnancy, and Violence

Minor: Slavery and Animal death

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.