Book Review: Your Utopia by Bora Chung

Earlier this week, I published my review of Cursed Bunny by Korean author Bora Chung. If you read that post, you’ll know I loved this varied collection of short stories from the bottom of my heart. In fact, I was so enamored with Cursed Bunny, that I immediately reserved her next book of short stories from my local library. Your Utopia contains another set of breathtaking pieces, but this time the emphasis is science fiction, perhaps making this a more cohesive collection.  Where Cursed Bunny jumped around a little (fantasy, horror, science-fiction), the eight stories comprising Your Utopia are thematically linked.  There’s a shift here to speculative fiction, providing the reader with views into the future with a few technological twists. Translated once again by Anton Hur, this book is another phenomenal achievement from Bora Chung.

Your Utopia (2024) by Bora Chung and translated by Anton Hur; Photo Credit: Natalie Getter (Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars)

At first, I was a little concerned after reading the first story. “The Center for Immortality Research” is a light-hearted work about an anniversary event that turns into a complete comedy of errors. As this is Bora Chung, expect her to shock her readers at the very end of this story. While this was an entertaining piece, it was far from being a favorite for me. I actually began to fear that I wouldn’t enjoy this collection as much as Cursed Bunny. My feelings completely changed with the second story. “The End of the Voyage” focuses on a group sent into space after a global pandemic that turns people into cannibals. When the virus gets aboard the spaceship, this story turns into a terrifying fight for survival. The last sentence of this one gave me the chills and will be remembered for quite some time.

Most of the stories feature the darker side of technological advancement and the effect it does (and will) have on our lives. “Maria, Gratia Plena” is about a technician who is scanning the brain of a criminal in a coma in order to piece together how a crime actually happened. The title story, “Your Utopia,” is told from the point-of-view of an intelligent car fighting to survive after humanity has been wiped out. This one turned out to be another favorite and served as another nightmare version of the future.

My favorite from this book has to be “A Song for Sleep.” The narrator for this one is a sentient elevator who becomes curious and then slowly falls in love with an elderly resident. It’s so heartbreaking (and so GOOD) as this artificial intelligence works so hard to understand life and the eternal question of why humans must age and die. If this story fails to move you, then you don’t have a soul!

As I write out my thoughts on here, I’ve come to the realization that the stories on here are just as varied as they were in Cursed Bunny. While all eight of the pieces in Your Utopia are science fiction, you’ll find some that are emotionally evocative and some that are lighter in tone, such as “A Very Ordinary Marriage”, in which a husband discovers that his wife is an extraterrestrial. Suffice to say, there’s something to enjoy for every taste. The final author’s note titled “The Art of Mourning” provides some great insight into Bora Chung and her work as an activist. I’m so thankful to have discovered her stories and now eagerly wait for the next ones.

“For the first time since my activation, I do not want to operate. I want to keep the traces of her fingertips close to me and to remain here with my doors open, playing this single song for her forever.”-“A Song for Sleep”

 

Have you read this book? I’d love to know your thoughts! Let me know with a comment below.