Cursed Bunny: A deep dive into modern myths and Storytelling

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

Ahoy fellow readers, fasten your seatbelts because we are about to take a deep dive into the book titled Cursed Bunny written by Bora Chung. We came across this book while surviving autumn blues and winter might be the perfect time to pick this rare gem up.

Cursed Bunny is a collection of short, twisted, grotesque, and symbolic stories that expose the irony of motherhood, capitalism, greed, and revenge. Shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize this book is bound to make you think and reflect on life and what is to come. Blending speculative fiction, magical realism, horror, and science fiction into one unforgettable cocktail of a read, this book utilizes the concept of modern myths and monstrosities. While at that, describing them amazingly with no filter on.

Inspired by writers like Park Wan-Suh (best known for her book Who Ate Up All the Shinga), Bruno Schulz (best known for his book The Street of Crocodiles), Bruno Jasienski (known for his work I Burn Paris), Andrei Platonov ( best known for his work The Foundation pit ), and Lyudmila Petrushevskaya ( known for her book The Night Time). Bora drew her book’s world around womanhood in modern-day society, incorporating an exploration of pain, grief, and loss while at the same time crafting a labyrinth with no escape at disposal.

With a length of mere 247 pages, this book manages to comment on things less known as well, immigration, unplanned pregnancies, the insecurities carried down the line of inheritance and liberation.

Spoilers ahead.

While reading the first story titled “The Head.” I was instantly reminded of this modern myth of a toilet-bound ghost or a ghoul, this myth has been utilized by many mangakas in their work (eg. Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun). Given that the myth has lived its life, the author took a challenge. The story wipes the ghoul part off and starts with a different entity of The Head, composed of feces, menstrual discharges, and literally whatever goes within the toilet. Not harmful, just bothersome, this entity disturbed the woman who first discovered it. Just like the secrecy around menstruation in an Asian household or any household in general, this story in a passive tone manages to comment on how women keep secrets for survival. Also on the border, the theme of unplanned pregnancy, which the young women, given the societal hoax surrounding the concern, do not know how to deal with.

Almost like many horror movies, this story picks up the idea of an imaginary twin. Our character, who is unnamed on purpose, leaves behind her paternal home to her husband’s abode and gives birth to a daughter. The daughter discovers The Head and the trope is fulfilled. I think I will keep the ending to myself, it is worth the experience, trust me.

Since it would be unfair for us to talk and spoil each story, we will shorten the list down to our three favorite ones. The Second story that is worth mentioning is The Embodiment, because holy moly, this one would hurt.

The Embodiment is a story about a woman who is told that she is pregnant but in the supernatural array of things, she has to find a husband so that her kid can have a proper birth. In the story, the pregnancy has nothing to do with intimacy but a societal construct as to how it’s treated. At points, it reflects the struggle of a single mother. Moreover, this trope has widely been seen in various RPGs (Role Playing Games) when the protagonist, in this case female, has to undergo an unwanted pregnancy as a sacrifice to give birth to a higher entity. Games like BloodBorne, and Silent Hill Two deal with the same trope. This book takes that video game trope and implements it with a similar struggle for the woman but reversing the outcome. Hence, it gives us a strong commentary on the lack of education on the female body, improper medical care, and major lack of empathy with the mother, making this story all the more important in recent times.

Visceral horror and simplistic narration are a plus point of this book, but this book also works well on emotions like the story called Reunion. But the story Snare has us gripped. The core of this story is greed and how greed runs deep and ruins more than it helps gain. A story about a man who discovers a fox which bleeds in gold. Tormenting the fox for his gain and building on his fortune, the man realizes that his son bleeds gold as well. Down goes the spiral.

Mimicking the madness of an antagonist, the man starts feeding his daughter’s blood to his son for his sustenance and, in return bleeding his son for wealth. Producing a commentary on Patriarchy and its model from one perspective. It isn’t supposed to benefit the upcoming generation of men or women, but the system. The son is made to suffer physically and deprived of growth in mental aspects, made alien to empathy while the daughter plays the nursemaid, the caretaker, emotionally and physically draining herself to death. The mother in an attempt to prevent the exploitation of her kids at their father’s hand, but she ends up dying. Leaving nothing but the man and his depleted resources in the end.

This book was a wild ride and each turn was worth it. Hence, recommend this book if you like various genres blended and have a taste for horror elements in stories, I think you will like this book which keeps it short and unfiltered.

Till next time, Happy reading.