A review by kay_ne
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

Stars listed is the overall rating rounded down... below are individual ratings for each short story.
Spoiler for each reading is just so this review isn't a long block of text. 
Don't worry, spoilers are nested in the spoilers.

Overall: 4.375 stars

Note: I tried to list the content warnings but I can't remember all that happened in the short stories. So read when you're in a good place to. 

The Head | 3.75 stars
Really was not expecting how it ended
with the new self shoving the old self into the toilet like what the heck
and it was an interesting read for the first story of the book. It was also sort of humorous(?)- was not feeling any creepy or horror sort of vibe through it until the end. I was also not vibing with the concept since it's waste and the woman's family not taking her seriously like it's normal, but story as a whole was okay.

The Embodiment | 5 stars
This was a sad read. The ending really hit when
the driver (who was her first date) came to the room too late. If they kept in contact then maybe the baby could have been saved and she cried. But it wasn't his fault nor hers either, it's the weird dystopian world they're in needing a father instead of being able to raise the child on their own. :(

Cursed Bunny | 4.25 stars
The short story that the book is titled after! Beginning was very interesting with how families have their own profession that they specialize in. The main character's family's specialty is in the
occult- they call the objects they make as cursed fetishes, which I found weirdly worded. I assume it is because of translation. I'm not sure what would I could describe it.
The story does create tension/suspense on what would happen next to
the CEO's grandson after taking the cursed bunny lamp and once finding out about the symptoms this would've happened to the CEO himself and no one would've batted an eye because they would blame it on his old age.
The ending was interesting, sort of confusing as well since the grandfather (storyteller's not the CEO's)
is dead and would reappear to the storyteller. I think it has to do with not making the cursed objects for personal reasons which the grandfather did.
It was also sad with what happened to the
CEO's family (his son and his grandson), their lives been taken because of the lamp.

The Frozen Finger | 5 stars
The story was really good in my opinion. I am assuming that the protagonist is
the teacher that had an affair with Teacher Choi's ex-husband and then that lead Choi to commit suicide
. And the story is about
the weight of her guilt in causing it. There was also the ring, so I guess Lee marries Choi's ex-husband after they divorced and then something happened. It is sadly a cycle that happens to Lee.

Snare | 5 stars
This was a good read- really had me on the edge of my seat in what was happening and the way it was written reminded me of Grimm fairytales because of the subjects that the story has which can be upsetting to some. Much greed on the father's side and his children and wife were victims.

Goodbye, My Love | 5 stars
This made me tear up ;-; 

Scars | 4.75 stars
The story was much longer than the previous ones, about 50 or so pages. It was sad
the the village's fate lied in the hands of a crow monster and when reading it I thought it would be like the village's fate did not actually depend on the crow, but it did. I feel for the protagonist and wish him luck and hope he can find a place of his own in that world.

Home Sweet Home | 3.25 stars
The story was okay and there was a creepy factor with the
deaths of the people that wronged the landlord. Sad that her husband was cheating on her and threw away all of her hard work in the past seven years. She probably knows that the child was the one that caused the deaths though, and I think the child is a ghost? Or some being that the woman had decided to take care of as her own.

Ruler of the Winds and Sands | 4.75 stars
This was a cute story and I liked the ending. The
sorcerer is such a nice dude and the princess (grass plains) tried her best in doing what she thought was right. The prince (desert) really was a dick in the end :( glad she didn't end up with him.

Reunion | 3 stars
It was an okay read and it was sad. For me I did not understand or know how I felt about it when reading but it was an okay story to end the book. Though,
the bondage thing was a quick turn in the story. I was not expecting that but his reason for getting tied up was to feel like his been given permission to stay alive and that was heartbreaking to me.
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