Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Lapin Maudit by Bora Chung

87 reviews

dreamy_demon's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Suicide

scifi_rat's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Medical content, Excrement, Slavery, Body horror, Grief, Violence, War, Abandonment, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Sexism, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Animal death, Alcohol, Abortion, Infertility, Animal cruelty, and Infidelity

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

I received this in a book subscription box and was very excited to pick it up because it had already been on my radar.
"Cursed Bunny" is a collection of short stories that are both haunting and creepy. This was such an excellent way for me to kick off October.
Overall, I was really captivated by most of the stories, and I was impressed with the writing. The first short story, "The Head", has haunted me since I read it. In this tale, a woman is haunted by her own waste. The story is told in graphic detail, and it left me slightly concerned about what I may be flushing down the toilet. This was also such a bold choice for the first short story. "The Head" really set the tone for the weird horror that was about to follow.
I really appreciated that each story had its moment, and each story was fleshed out enough that I felt like I was reading a collection of novellas. Additionally, I appreciated that all of the stories were different, but equally unsettling. I had the same feeling of "what the hell am I reading" throughout the entire book, all while I got to enjoy different stories.
Overall, I really enjoyed these stories and I look forward to trying to find something similar in tone to read in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Violence, Stalking, Murder, Torture, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood

_gayser's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

my favorite were scars, reunion and cursed bunny! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Gore

jcapati's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, and Death

woolgatherer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

This was an interesting short story collection to read, with the reader drifting from one unsettling story to the next, never quite knowing what's around the corner. Perhaps what made the horror of these stories come alive as well as they did—even if fantastical—was the everyday nature of them. The horror isn't the eerie or supernatural; it's the people around you and what they're capable of doing to others for their own benefit. 

Chung explores different styles and genres in this collection; I found this interesting, but it also added to the density of this collection. I have given him praise before, but I have to give it again: Anton Hur did a phenomenal job handling these changes with his translation. 

While I didn't think all the stories were particularly memorable, the ones that really stick with you, well, will stick.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Excrement, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Suicide

Minor: Incest

murmurations_x's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

Where to start with this collection of short stories? It seems like everyone either loves this collection or isn't a fan and then there is me, in the middle and I enjoyed it. I can see myself returning to re-read some stories but probably not the entire collection and that on reflection is because some are just too gross for me. Cursed Bunny is a mixing pot of horror, science fiction, magical realism, jumping from disgusting and grotesque to emotional to eerie it really does have a little bit of it all. Each of them being a nice length that you can finish a story(or two) in a sitting and not feel burnt out.

Where I think the difference between me enjoying it and loving it is really what I look for in a book, I picked this up because I love horror and I've really been enjoying translated fiction particularly from Asia and that's it. Those who love it seem to heavily discuss how these tales are used to address the greed/capitalism and the patriarchy in society and that's just not what I was looking for when I picked it up.

The body horror in this book is intense. I barely made it through the first two stories and I like to think I can handle my gore and body horror but this is the first book I've read where my stomach actually turned while reading so be sure to check the trigger warning before reading this book.

My favourite stories are Snare, Home Sweet Home, Goodbye My Lover and The Frozen Finger.

I just want to note the translation here from Anton Hur is excellent. At no point did any of this writing feel clunky or misplaced like it didn't transfer well into English, he did a fantastic job and reading other reviews of this book there seems to be a lot of praise for Anton which I'm delighted to see as a lot of time the work of the translator goes unnoticed by the reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Death, Blood, Violence, Sexual assault, Excrement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Rape

cocopeia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death of parent, Mental illness, Blood, Animal death, Grief, Incest, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide attempt

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really good short stories. Very complex, which is so impressive. Love the writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Ableism, and Body horror

year23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

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

4.0

Weird, uncomfortable stories - in the best kind of way. Relied maybe a little too much on a twist sort of format (which were sort of easy to guess and that took away a little of the startling surprise I think the author was going for). Apart from that though, incisive examination of themes like motherhood, responsibility, and exploitation. Highly recommend if you are okay with gore in your stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Miscarriage, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gore, Incest, Sexism, and Body horror