Przeklęty królik

When the first story introduces us to a formless mass made of fallen out hair, feces and toilet paper that utters the word “Mother!” before being flushed down the toilet — you're not exactly sure what you're in for. This collection of short stories / modern day fairytales benefit from the stellar translation of Anton Sur and are by turns hilarious, horrifying and more than a little absurd. Bora Chung walks a fine line that balances all these elements and arrives at something unexpected — not always mind you, one of the stories fell completely flat for me — but there's always going to be hits and misses with a collection like this. Chung is otherwise throwing twist upon twist and I love her bent toward horror, the very Korean theme of revenge, and the price of human greed.