This is a spoiler-free review!
Cursed Bunny was on my TBR shelf for nearly a year-and-a-half, and I had been looking forward to finally diving into these short stories. Considering many described these stories as grotesque and horror-filled, I was excited to see what Chung had in store for readers. However, I felt unsatisfied with the cohesiveness of the collection, as well as mislead in the sense that only a few of the stories truly held onto the horror genre as advertised. The science fiction and magical realism were certainly present, but did not hold my attention as much as the other stories, and I found myself bored by the end of the collection. Only a few stories stood out to me, while the rest had no impact on my subconscious after finishing this book - once again, the magical realism and fairytale stories did little for me.
While I do have my issues with the collection as a whole, Cursed Bunny does an excellent job at gaining the reader's attention from the very first page. Constructively, I would have put the stores in a different order, as the current order tends to fall off by the end. Chung is a champion at truly harnessing the horror she wishes to convey, and I did genuinely feel a sense of unease during those particular short stories. The Head takes first place as most memorable and has sat with me since reading this book. It felt surreal yet entirely plausible in the sense that women are often haunted by what comes from them and how their bodies speak to them in ways that may not be understood by society. Chung's ability to really get into body horror and the grotesque realism of life is appreciated, and is clearly elevated off the page and into the reader's mind.
In no way am I stating that Chung's works are overrated, but rather this anthology of short stories felt lackluster when looking back at them as a whole, singular piece of art. She is able to touch upon a number of important topics throughout these stories, but their connection to each other felt weak, and I had to push myself to find interest in order to see this through to the end. I found that a majority of these stories did not leave a large impact on me as a reader, and I would have loved to see a cohesiveness to her stories that would have allowed readers to come to a major realization at the end that tied everything together. Instead, the stories ended, and so did my interest in her tales.
Overall, the prose in a number of these stories truly wraps the reader up in the tale, while others felt more like filler chapters that became easily forgettable as you move on to the next story. I would certainly have enjoyed a more structured set of stories that did not genre-jump as much - while horror, science fiction, and magical realism can be interesting avenues to connect, Chung's stories did not flow into each other to warrant a breakthrough. I am definitely open to exploring more of her work in the future, but perhaps rather when it is a single title rather than a collection of short stories.
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