Reviews with content warning for War - Lapin Maudit

(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

micasa's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

buku ini berisi 10 cerpen dengan topik yg berbeda-beda dan beberapa di antaranya mengkritik isu sosial. mungkin Bora Chung tidak bermaksud utk memberi kritik pada hal spesifik yg terjadi di masyarakat, namun menurutku tulisannya berhasil menjadi ‘warning’ untuk pembaca.

sebagai pembaca juga, aku akan menuliskan review disini :

1. ‘Kelinci Terkutuk’ adalah pembalasan dendam akan suatu hal di masa lalu yg sulit utk dilawan. jadi, dipilihnya cerpen ini sbg judul buku memang cocok utk menarik perhatian pembaca. aku suka dg konsep cerita bahwa pembalasan dendam jg akan menyakiti diri sendiri.
2. buatku, ‘Si Kepala’ menjadi cerpen dg tema kritik sosial kpd orang² dg kuasa lebih atas seseorang. selama membaca, aku agak ngeri membayangkan sosok kepala & meski aku sempat memprediksi ending cerita, kisah ini ‘ngeri’ dg pertanyaan sosok tsb.
3. ‘Menstruasi’ tidak semengerikan yg aku kira krn fenomena ini pernah tjd kepadaku sbg perempuan, tapi tentu saja tanpa drama & akhir cerita yg mengejutkan semua orang. aku rasa, isu menstruasi wanita tdk menjadi hal yg tabu agar tdk terjadi miskonsepsi spt yg disampaikan cerpen ini.
4. ‘Jari-Jari yang Dingin’ membawaku ke tempat yg cukup horror sekalipun aku baca cerpen ini di siang hari. all about the feels, i must said. this is straight up giving you chills.
5. ‘Perangkap’ membuatku marah-marah seharian dan mengutuk perilaku tokoh fiksi yg minim akhlak, wah pokoknya silahkan baca sendiri & petik moral value-nya.
6. ‘Selamat Tinggal Cintaku’ adalah kisah fiksi ttg robot & manusia yg aku yakin beberapa dari kalian tahu ini akan berakhir dimana tapi krn ini horror, iya ini cerita cinta yg seram.
7. ‘Bekas Luka’ adl satu-satunya cerita yg membuatku merasakan mixed feeling. sejujurnya, saat membaca aku agak bosan krn cerpen ini lbh panjang dr yg lain & kisah ini juga mengingatkanku dg novela 'The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas' dr Ursula K. Le Guin, sangat mengerikan juga menyedihkan.
8. ‘Rumahku Istanaku’ bikin emosi dan aku bersimpati dg tokoh wanita disini, selamat berjuang utk kehidupan yg lbh baik. semoga kamu kuat sampai akhir.
9. ‘Penguasa Angin dan Pasir’ terkesan seperti dongeng tapi dg tokoh² & plot yg lebih realistis. tokoh wanita disini, juga hebat.
10. ‘Reuni’ adalah cerpen yg menjadi favoritku dan tiap² perenungannya terasa dekat dg rumah, karena senyatanya yg mengerikan adalah hidup & kita masih harus bertahan sampai akhir.

Content Warnings

paperbackacademie's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

Content Warnings

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

ghast's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Content Warnings

hedsek's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

It's difficult to rate this book, as some of the stories were hard for me to understand without understanding their cultural context. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't able to get at any deeper meaning to some of the more gory stories, which left me with the feeling that things were just done for shock value (which is probably wrong). The concepts and ideas in this bundle are really intriguing and some of the stories do get stuck in your head quite a bit because they are so unique and make you uncomfortable for quite some time after reading them.

The first two stories are very gory, and I don't think they give a very good impression of the rest of the bundle so don't stop reading if you dislike those two. The other stories can be gory as well, but I feel like they have more to offer aside from that. 'Snare' (definitely horrifying in its own way) was my favourite, and the last three stories are a good read as well.

I'm personally not really a fan of the writing style as it can get a bit repetitive, but it's also not offensive and it reads pretty easily.

Content Warnings

More...