‘Chung's work can be defined as a fascinating amalgam of absurd, unreal stories that emanate from science fiction, horror and fantasy. In a strange sense, they are addictive tales that provoke anxiety in readers, who always want to know what is going to happen, but at the same time are afraid to reach the end.’ - The Korea Times
‘The stories in Cursed Rabbit blend elements of horror, fantasy and surrealism, and each is viscerally rooted in real fears and the pressures of everyday life.’ International Booker Prize Jury Justification
‘Terrifying, fantastic, and strangely funny...a horror that tends toward the absurd and with a distinctly feminist bent.’ PEN America
‘In the ten chilling stories that make up this book, creepy fetishes and human cast-offs proliferate as metaphors for the female condition.’ Violet Kupersmith, The New York Times
‘It's a mind-bending journey into the back of the mind of a fascinating author with much to contribute to horror literature, and makes for one of the most stimulating literary discoveries of the season.’ Juan P Holguera, Rockdelux
The ten stories that make up this book present an eerie scenario in which the supernatural bursts into everyday life and takes over the domestic space.
In the first story, a rabbit-shaped lamp brings misfortune to anyone who possesses it. In another, a woman is tormented daily by a strange creature that emerges from the toilet. Birth control pills that impregnate; a robot that awakens feelings in its creator; kings, princesses and monsters, ghosts, scars and all kinds of curses fill the pages of this collection of unclassifiable genre, halfway between magical realism and horror; science fiction and literature of the absurd.
Korean author Bora Chung uses fantastic and surreal elements to unravel the effects of patriarchy and capitalism on modern society, more specifically on women and their role in today’s world. Using the illogical and the chilling, and drawing on elements of traditional Korean legends, these stories slip, in the form of a sinister fable, a cruel teaching about the darkness of human nature. , Bora Chung emerges as a new voice in fantasy fiction that pushes the boundaries of any genre with an overwhelming personality.