Among non-Korean writers, Polish writers Bruno Schulz (1892-1942), Bruno Jasienski (1901-1938 or 1940), and Russian writers Andrei Platonov (1899-1951) and Lyudmila Petrushevskaya (1938-). Jasienski and Platonov were both revolutionaries, in reality and in art, who focused on the human experience of pain, suffering and loss. Bruno Schulz is magical; he paints delicate and dream-like pictures in words and his stories read like a beautiful labyrinth. Petrushevskaya shows how women struggle in an unjust society, how women are human beings with all our strength and weakness and flaws and hopes and despairs, and how women live and survive. Her stories are breathtaking. If you were the kind of child who was enthralled by Scary Stories to Read in the Dark, Bora Chung writes for you. Like the work of Carmen Maria Machado and Aoko Matsuda, Chung’s stories are so wonderfully, blisteringly strange and powerful that it's almost impossible to put Cursed Bunnydown. In short, this collection may, in fact, be a cursed object in the best possible way.” Bora Chung's writing style and ingenuity add to the mystique and intrigue of this collection. Her style of writing short stories is unique and engrossing. There are a couple of Grimm-like fables, Snare being a most disquieting effort about a fox that bleeds gold. Unfortunately, the longest story in the book Scars is also the most tedious one, an M. Night Shyamalan type thing about a boy sacrificed to a monster to save a village.

These ten stories by South Korean author Bora Chung started off with somewhat lighter, surreal, yet meaningful horror - the opening stories were just breathtaking: “The Head”, the story of a woman whose remains of all sorts, hair, skin, nails, feces assemble to form a new being; “The Embodiment”, in which a woman falls pregnant mysteriously to an even more mysterious “child”; and the titular “Cursed Bunny” in which karma finds its place through cursed objects. I liked the kind of sharp critique creeping through this intro, along with a very visual kind of storytelling. Alas, this intro was also the highlight for me. And as her life proceeds, to parenthood and middle age, the Head constantly haunts her, finishing body all the time, until one day … It is published by Honford Star whose mission is to publish the best literature from East Asia, be it classic or contemporary ... By working with talented translators and exciting local artists, we hope to see more bookshelves containing beautiful editions of the East Asian literature we love. i don't know if that makes sense, but it has to add up at least a little, because i didn't like this one much. BRIANNA HIRAMI WRITES — You may have been able to guess by the eerie-looking bunny presented in inverted colors on the cover that this tale is anything but light and happy. Bora Chung’s fascinating and unique short story collection, Cursed Bunny , displays the most disturbing truths about the nature of mankind through a fantastical yet realistic narrative. By including ten short stories, Chung is easily able to capture the reader’s full attention by making her audience feel disgusted and uncomfortable, yet highly intrigued and captivated. This slender beast of a book contains many themes that leave a lasting impression on the reader that may cause them to need a deep breath – and maybe even a drink – between stories.A powerful novel about the saving grace of language and human connection, from the author of the International Booker Prize winner The Vegetarian

Extremely surprised this made the Man Booker International shortlist. I honestly have no idea how it managed it. The blurb informs that this is a 'genre-defying collection of short stories' that blur the lines between 'magical realism, horror and science-fiction,' which sounded instantly like something I would love. Not the case. Firstly, the prose is bland, so horribly bland. By the third story I was questioning the talent of the writer. I've read an Anton Hur translation before and enjoyed it so that's why I exclude them. The stories themselves, despite sounding fantastic, were on the most part just simply terrible.Goodbye My Love (안녕, 내 사랑) has a designer of artificial companions deciding it’s time to replace her first robot, and her one true love, although the androids have other ideas. The story is also noticeable for a reference to the uncanny valley concept - one that neatly summarises the collection. The Head” follows a woman haunted by her own bodily waste. “The Embodiment” takes us into a dystopian gynecology office where a pregnant woman is told that she must find a father for her baby or face horrific consequences. Another story follows a young monster, forced into underground fight rings without knowing his own power. The titular fable centers on a cursed lamp in the shape of a rabbit, fit for a child’s bedroom but for its sinister capabilities. We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly did, didn't we?

Bora Chung is quite impressive. The South Korean author has a PhD in Slavic literature and teaches Russian language and literature and science fiction studies at Yonsei University. She also translates Russian and Polish into Korean while having written three novels and story collections. Anton Hur is always great, having been awarded a PEN/Heim grant. The love of language from both of them certainly comes through in this collection. Bora Chung's Cursed Bunnymines those places where what we fear is true and what is true meet and separate and re-meet. The resulting stories are indelible. Haunting, funny, gross, terrifying—and yet when we reach the end, we just want more." Now there are ten stories in this collection, but I’m not going to discuss all of them in this review—that’s something for another time. I’m going to focus in and pinpoint the stories I found most interesting and had values I could take away with, so let us delve a bit deeper, shall we? I shall take this opportunity to be ridiculously ambitious and say: Octavia Butler. A girl can dream.

I don't generally enjoy short story collections as I like to spend a lot of time with fictional characters and get to know and love (or despise) them. Bora Chung was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022. She was born in Seoul in 1976. She has written three novels and three collections of short stories. Sylas K Barrett The Secret of the Sul’Dam: Subtle Changes to the Way the One Power Works in The Wheel of Time TV Series 9 mins ago the only two times i've felt patriotic this year are when i saw kim soo hyun on the street and also when i read frozen finger from this collection.