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A review by migratorycrab
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
4.25
A collection of ten short stories representing a continuum of bizarre and surreal. The opening story-- "The Head"-- is about a toilet creature slowly building its body out of a woman's waste, and every subsequent story maintains about the same level of uniqueness (although not always so grotesque). Stories range from everyday life with a supernatural twist to more fairy tale-like, and thematically they're tied together by exploring some aspect of the inherent cruelness of mankind. I found the pacing of the stories to be pretty good across the board, with each one having its own unique flare, so I was content reading even the stories I didn't like as much. However, on several occasions, I felt frustrated that I wasn't extracting the "meaning" of the stories, and I'm unsure if this is a cultural difference (or a translation problem?), a me-as-a-reader problem, a writing problem, or perhaps that I was simply looking for additional meaning where there was none. Even with that small frustration, no story overstays it's welcome, and I found the collection to be an easy and fun read. If you're a fan of weird short stories, I would recommend this book.
Some brief notes/mini reviews on the stories:
1. The Head - The toilet creature story. An interesting pick for the first story, as I had the thought, "I don't really want to read this whole book if it's all about human excrement?" But serves as a good introduction to the tone of these stories and has a satisfying end.
Some brief notes/mini reviews on the stories:
1. The Head - The toilet creature story. An interesting pick for the first story, as I had the thought, "I don't really want to read this whole book if it's all about human excrement?" But serves as a good introduction to the tone of these stories and has a satisfying end.
2. The Embodiment - A woman is diagnosed as pregnant after "taking too much birth control," and must find a father or else her baby will be born "wrong." Really exemplifies a certain feeling of frustration, as the main character is continuously berated for not understanding she doesn't live in a world that follows real-world logic. Has both humor and tragedy. I was iffy on this one at first, as stories about pregnancy often go off the rails, but ultimately I liked it.
3. Cursed Bunny - The narrator retells the story of a curse his grandfather placed upon another family. One part modern horror and one part fairy tale. I liked the actual story told here, but the vehicle for telling it (it's a dialogue between the narrator and their grandfather, about a very complex set of events which happen to a third party) felt more experimental than fully realized, making the actual writing feel a bit weak. It's definitely not bad writing, but it's not a "stand out" from the other stories, so I wonder why the collection is named after this one.
4. The Frozen Finger - A woman wakes up confused after a car crash. I liked the actual style of writing for this one, but upon finishing it, I was left with the distinct impression that I had not understood what happened here. I considered rereading it to figure it out, but then I simply didn't bother.
5. Snare - A man finds a fox caught in a snare. This one also reads like a dark fairy tale, and includes cannibalism and incest. While I understood the letter of the story, I felt like I was missing whatever point it was trying to convey to me, leaving me to wonder if the darker aspects were just for shock value. I liked the fairy tale tone, but otherwise seemed like one of the weaker stories.
6. Goodbye, My Love - I thought this was the weakest story in the book. A human grapples with grief over the slow death of their beloved android who can no longer charge or boot up properly. The concept felt a bit trite to me, and I don't particularly like sci-fi.
7. Scars - The longest story, which is broken up into mini chapters. A young boy is chained up in a cave, so his body can continuously feed a monster. One part horror fantasy, one part adventure story, with a sprinkle of coming of age vibes. This one meanders a bit and, like many of the stories on the list, left me thinking I didn't quite grasp the point the writer was trying to make. Is it a cultural difference that alludes me? Was the writer simply writing a story, with no major take-home message I'm supposed to get? It doesn't really matter. This story was both relaxing in its familiar fairy tale tone, but also bizarre and new enough that I stayed immersed and interested in what would happen next.
8. Home Sweet Home - Magical realism/urban fantasy. A woman and her husband buy a building and immediately encounter problems. I liked this one a lot. A good mix of everyday problems (debt, marital problems) and bizarre supernatural occurrences, with an ending that will make you go "oooooh!"
9. Ruler of the Winds and Sands - This one is basically just a fairy tale. It's quaint. Not mind-blowing and less bizarre than other stories in this collection, but I enjoyed it.
10. Reunion - A woman is doing research for her degree in Poland and sees a strange man in the town square. A ghost story about intergenerational trauma. This one had a bit more pontificating than the other stories, which I wasn't a fan of, but I liked the supernatural aspect.
3. Cursed Bunny - The narrator retells the story of a curse his grandfather placed upon another family. One part modern horror and one part fairy tale. I liked the actual story told here, but the vehicle for telling it (it's a dialogue between the narrator and their grandfather, about a very complex set of events which happen to a third party) felt more experimental than fully realized, making the actual writing feel a bit weak. It's definitely not bad writing, but it's not a "stand out" from the other stories, so I wonder why the collection is named after this one.
4. The Frozen Finger - A woman wakes up confused after a car crash. I liked the actual style of writing for this one, but upon finishing it, I was left with the distinct impression that I had not understood what happened here. I considered rereading it to figure it out, but then I simply didn't bother.
5. Snare - A man finds a fox caught in a snare. This one also reads like a dark fairy tale, and includes cannibalism and incest. While I understood the letter of the story, I felt like I was missing whatever point it was trying to convey to me, leaving me to wonder if the darker aspects were just for shock value. I liked the fairy tale tone, but otherwise seemed like one of the weaker stories.
6. Goodbye, My Love - I thought this was the weakest story in the book. A human grapples with grief over the slow death of their beloved android who can no longer charge or boot up properly. The concept felt a bit trite to me, and I don't particularly like sci-fi.
7. Scars - The longest story, which is broken up into mini chapters. A young boy is chained up in a cave, so his body can continuously feed a monster. One part horror fantasy, one part adventure story, with a sprinkle of coming of age vibes. This one meanders a bit and, like many of the stories on the list, left me thinking I didn't quite grasp the point the writer was trying to make. Is it a cultural difference that alludes me? Was the writer simply writing a story, with no major take-home message I'm supposed to get? It doesn't really matter. This story was both relaxing in its familiar fairy tale tone, but also bizarre and new enough that I stayed immersed and interested in what would happen next.
8. Home Sweet Home - Magical realism/urban fantasy. A woman and her husband buy a building and immediately encounter problems. I liked this one a lot. A good mix of everyday problems (debt, marital problems) and bizarre supernatural occurrences, with an ending that will make you go "oooooh!"
9. Ruler of the Winds and Sands - This one is basically just a fairy tale. It's quaint. Not mind-blowing and less bizarre than other stories in this collection, but I enjoyed it.
10. Reunion - A woman is doing research for her degree in Poland and sees a strange man in the town square. A ghost story about intergenerational trauma. This one had a bit more pontificating than the other stories, which I wasn't a fan of, but I liked the supernatural aspect.