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A review by shorshewitch
Your Utopia: Stories by Bora Chung
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Bora Chung's "Cursed Bunny" has been on my TBR since about 2 years now.
Reading 'Your Utopia' just pushes it way up and I am hoping to finish reading it sooner and definitely this year.
This is a fast paced, neatly written book that contains a collection of 8 stories. Each story has an element of science fiction. The stories become progressively science fiction-y as you read through. There is one where an elevator falls in love with a senior citizen, then another in which a robocar finds a friend in an android, and another where trees speak and disperse pollen at greedy humanoids. Those of you who know me a bit might guess which one is my fav and why is it the one where there is pollen. 🥲
I am super excited about the Q & A with the author on 24th feb that's being organized and hosted by @translatedgemsbookclub. They also picked the book for us.
Some of the quotes / excerpts I lourrveedd.
//There really is no such thing as discussion. We can give it fancier words like “negotiation” or “calibrating expectations” and such, but in the end, it’s just one side that wins and the other has to give in. Even when both sides agree to compromise, there is always a side that compromises more than the other. Which makes one think that “compromise” is not a thing that really exists, either. All discussions and all negotiations are wars, and the result is always that one side ends up being the intimidating, violent side. This is especially true when the other side stubbornly insists on a perspective that one cannot compromise to. If the other side asks for an arm or a leg, or some other part of the body that can’t be regenerated, the only reasonable thing to do is refuse.//
//If God is a man, he could never understand the mundane threats women experience every single day of our lives.//
//We only need one of those seeds to sprout. Just one. One is enough.
Some of us suggest running away, but truth be told, there is nowhere left for us to run. The humans beyond the forest have conquered the world with their rapidly moving, intelligent machines. The only things we can lean on are our roots and two feet. When the large machines return, our roots will be pulled from the ground, and we will wither away in experimental labs and prisons.
But our seeds will survive. Of our countless seeds, surely at least one will survive. And somewhere, it will take root.
And we will start over again.
For the sake of that one, we wait. For the day they return over the horizon, not via a large, dirty machine but in the form of a pollen message. For the day the seeds we spread return, dancing in the wind.
If such a day truly comes, that will be the day humanity, the whole world, will be reborn. The earth and oceans will no longer be wounded, and humans and nature will both stretch their arms toward the sun.
We are still waiting.//
Reading 'Your Utopia' just pushes it way up and I am hoping to finish reading it sooner and definitely this year.
This is a fast paced, neatly written book that contains a collection of 8 stories. Each story has an element of science fiction. The stories become progressively science fiction-y as you read through. There is one where an elevator falls in love with a senior citizen, then another in which a robocar finds a friend in an android, and another where trees speak and disperse pollen at greedy humanoids. Those of you who know me a bit might guess which one is my fav and why is it the one where there is pollen. 🥲
I am super excited about the Q & A with the author on 24th feb that's being organized and hosted by @translatedgemsbookclub. They also picked the book for us.
Some of the quotes / excerpts I lourrveedd.
//There really is no such thing as discussion. We can give it fancier words like “negotiation” or “calibrating expectations” and such, but in the end, it’s just one side that wins and the other has to give in. Even when both sides agree to compromise, there is always a side that compromises more than the other. Which makes one think that “compromise” is not a thing that really exists, either. All discussions and all negotiations are wars, and the result is always that one side ends up being the intimidating, violent side. This is especially true when the other side stubbornly insists on a perspective that one cannot compromise to. If the other side asks for an arm or a leg, or some other part of the body that can’t be regenerated, the only reasonable thing to do is refuse.//
//If God is a man, he could never understand the mundane threats women experience every single day of our lives.//
//We only need one of those seeds to sprout. Just one. One is enough.
Some of us suggest running away, but truth be told, there is nowhere left for us to run. The humans beyond the forest have conquered the world with their rapidly moving, intelligent machines. The only things we can lean on are our roots and two feet. When the large machines return, our roots will be pulled from the ground, and we will wither away in experimental labs and prisons.
But our seeds will survive. Of our countless seeds, surely at least one will survive. And somewhere, it will take root.
And we will start over again.
For the sake of that one, we wait. For the day they return over the horizon, not via a large, dirty machine but in the form of a pollen message. For the day the seeds we spread return, dancing in the wind.
If such a day truly comes, that will be the day humanity, the whole world, will be reborn. The earth and oceans will no longer be wounded, and humans and nature will both stretch their arms toward the sun.
We are still waiting.//