Bora Chung made a splash when her debut English-language collection Cursed Bunny (translated by Anton Hur) was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. Cursed Bunny’s use of body horror, fairy tales, and the strange to critique modern Korean society, and capitalism more broadly, has earned widespread acclaim—and Your Utopia, which has like its predecessor been translated into English by Anton Hur, builds on Cursed Bunny’s foundation. It does so by again utilizing speculative elements to highlight the oddities of modern life and to showcase the humanity present in even the most bleak of possible futures.

Unlike Cursed Bunny, in which fairytales and urban legends are the inspiration behind many of the stories, Your Utopia looks more towards science fiction tropes for inspiration. One major theme linking together the stories in this collection is how robots, aliens, and technology interact with humans in the far future. Oftentimes, these encounters beget only conflict in Chung’s stories. For example, in “Seed,” the protagonists are the descendants of plant-human hybrids from centuries prior, when industrial farming of seedless crops—and the removal of natural plants in favor of company-provided plants that ensured farmers’ dependence on large corporations—led to the last remaining seeds of natural plants on Earth becoming more aggressive and infecting people, creating the first plant-human hybrids. This story is told in the first-person plural by a group of plant-humans encountering corporate representatives for the first time. Their first impression of regular humans is downright negative, with the corporate humans emerging “single file from the monstrous machine they rode in on.” Misunderstandings arise as the plant-humans are questioned as to why they are illegally undertaking subsistence farming despite bans against any kind of agriculture using plants that are not company-made. Conflict is inevitable between the two groups, and the plant-humans’ resolve against outsiders hardens after this incident.

“The End of the Voyage” also features conflict between different groups of humans: those who have been infected by a zombie-like virus that is only referred to as “the Disease,” and those who have not. Chung’s versions of zombies are indistinguishable from uninfected people in every possible way, except that they gain the desire to eat human flesh.

A tabloid reported that [the eldest son and sole survivor of an Iowa family] spoke about his family and had a sad expression and cried, but when asked if he had eaten his family as well, he answered, “Of course,” like it was nothing. When asked how could he have done such a thing if he loved his family, he said, “Eating just an arm or a leg won’t kill them, right?” as if discussing the weather.
The dry, clinical reporting of the Disease outbreak contrasts with the desperation and high stakes experienced by the protagonist: they join a space mission with the goal of making sure the human race survives by sending uninfected people into outer space, but it quickly goes awry when the first helmsman takes a bite out of the second. The situation onboard the ship escalates to fighting and eventually total chaos, turning into an every-man-for-himself situation.

Both “The End of the Voyage” and “Seed” are concerned with the greater survival of a people or a species and how an individual sees their role in that mission. In “Seed,” the plant-human protagonists are most concerned that some of their seeds survive even if they do not (plant-humans have gained the ability to reproduce like plants in the world of this story); in “The End of the Voyage,” the space mission’s sole purpose is to maintain a population of humans that are uninfected so that, in the case a cure to the Disease is ever found, they can return to Earth. The protagonists each take different approaches, however. The first-person POV narrator in “The End of the Voyage” actively fights on the spaceship to make it out alive; but in the first-person plural POV “Seed,” the plant-humans decide on a less active approach:

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 … And we will start over again.
Chung therefore implies that there is more than one way to respond to existential threats in these two stories: the more collective approach of “Seed” and the more individualistic method of “The End of the Voyage.” Both illustrate how technology and the natural world collide in unpredictable, haphazard ways.

Still, in “A Very Ordinary Marriage,” Chung suggests that not all interactions between two different groups of people will lead to total annihilation of one group. In this story, the narrator, Seonhyuk, discovers he is married to an alien going by the name Jiyoung. She is on Earth to “study the ecology of human beings” and married him because she “was ordered to live among earthlings.” The story never outright confirms or denies whether Jiyoung’s claim of being an alien is true, though it strongly implies that she is most likely an extraterrestrial. After Seonhyuk sends her away—despite her begging him not to, because she will be punished if she fails in her mission—a replacement that appears identical to Jiyoung shows up. Seonhyuk can tell she isn’t the same person, but doesn’t bring the topic up because he doesn’t want to go through the experience of losing his wife again. This story is similar to “Seed” in that representatives of two separate groups collide. However, Seonhyuk never tells anyone else that he has met people who are most likely aliens, leaving him to live alone in fear of the woman who appears to be his wife but isn’t. Like “Seed,” “A Very Ordinary Marriage” suggests that peaceful, conflict-free coexistence between two groups is difficult-to-impossible when the groups in question have conflicting motivations, whether the antagonist is a race of aliens who are willing to resort to threats of violence to continue their mission of observing humans, or corporations looking to destroy natural plant life to maximize profits.

Not all interactions with futuristic technology are necessarily hostile or doomed to be disastrous in Your Utopia. In the title story of the collection, the narrator is an Asimov’s-Three-Laws-following self-driving car on a planet that has been abandoned by humans after widespread illness claimed many lives. The humans have taken their generators and power sources with them, dooming the robots and machines (which the narrator refers to as “inorganic intelligences”) to slowly die off as the planet runs out of power sources. Since there are no humans left for it to ferry around, the car’s only passenger is a small robot whose serial number has worn off except for the final digits, which happen to be 314. This becomes the narrator’s name for this robot. 314 keeps repeating, “Your utopia is, on a scale of one to ten, your utopia is.” The car responds back based on how much battery it has left, stating, “The lower my battery level gets, the lower my utopia level reaches.” Despite the bleak circumstances in which the car has found itself, however, it is still optimistic, telling the robot: “But it’ll get better … Today, we might come across some inorganic intelligence. No we will .” The car and 314 make for an odd friendship, but between the two of them they manage to eke out an existence on an inhospitable planet while facing dismal long-term prospects, with the car fearing that once its tires wear out or after it rusts, it will no longer be able to move.

Nevertheless, “Your Utopia” is one of the most optimistic in this collection despite the post-apocalyptic setting, ending on a positive note as the car determines to keep going and to find another power source for 314: “I dream of a future where [314 is] recharged once more,” it says, “and I will finally hear their voice saying those words again: Your utopia is.” Of course, the car’s optimism is probably futile, since eventually it will need repairs it can’t get; but the story itself ends on a hopeful note as the car resolves to keep going with 314. The car’s refusal to blame humans for leaving the machines to slowly die off, and its persistent hope that there will be a long-term solution to its power woes despite its bleak reality that is unlikely to change anytime soon, in this way nicely contrasts with the tone of other stories in this collection, thus rounding out Your Utopia as a whole.

Despite the elements of body horror running through many of the stories, Your Utopia is funny, strange, and touching, with its robots, aliens, and human characters digging into what it means to exist. I personally found Cursed Bunny more emotionally engaging, but someone more inclined towards science fictional elements, such as futuristic robots, would likely prefer Your Utopia. The collection reminds me of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century by Kim Fu (2022), which similarly highlights the strangeness of modern life by using speculative elements—and was also put together at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Where Fu puts her focus on how everyday people interact with Black Mirror-esque technology, however, Chung’s characters are more often not everyday humans. And unlike Fu, who focuses on the present moment, in Your Utopia Chung puts her focus on the future. Between Your Utopia and Cursed Bunny, Chung has established herself as a formidable voice in global speculative fiction.

Very interesting and odd science fiction short stories. I'm still not sure how I feel about these. Definitely an O. Henry vibe going on and I rarely give any short story collection a compliment like that (huge O. Henry fan here). I didn't really enjoy them as I was reading the book, but now that they've had some time to marinate, it's not a bad collection. It's just odd. And science fiction. But if that's what you're looking for, yeah, it's pretty decent.

Thanks to Bora Chung, Algonquin Books and Netgalley for this ARC in return for my honest review.

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
-Hotel California

Bora Chung's enchanting dystopias are equally fantastic and horrific. A young woman attempts to shield her boss from a stalker, only to be mistaken. Her continued mistakes become catastrophic, yet she cannot be fired and never leave. A bizarre zombie plague strikes suddenly with disturbing and surprising results. A sentient electric car finds a safe way to recharge in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, only to find a little robot who perpetually asks what state their utopia is in.

This was a fantastic collection, the best I have read in some time. The stories are surreal, but the ending has such a hook. It is my favorite book so far this year.

Favorite Passages:
“To be the lowest of the low and an accessory to the burglary of a board member’s precious possession—this bravery or stupidity was not enough to get me fired, because research centers being the kind of places that they are, it’s almost impossible to fire anyone, and aside from that I know a secret. Everyone at the Center knows the secret. The secret is that we really are immortal.”

Maybe hope exists just because we think it to existence, and meaning is
something you create on your own. But that’s just an individual’s subjective
experience of faith. There’s no guarantee that such subjective faith will be
supported by the objective situation. Why should the myriad ways of the universe conspire to realize the will of a mere individual?

“If God is a man, he could never understand the mundane threats women experience every single day of our lives.”

“Hate exists in our minds. That’s what the monitor before us was clearly showing: the things that existed in our minds, or more precisely, the abstractions we had created that existed in our minds. To watch the monitor meant looking into one’s own mind. And you know what, this mind of mine I had never seen before—I liked it well enough.”

🤖YOUR UTOPIA by Bora Chung🤖 is a collection of short stories where objects and ideas are given sentience and burgeoning personalities. These stories include nanobots, robots, sentient AI, nature fighting back, and deep fake technology wrapped up in absurdly imaginative yet ordinary situations in vaguely futuristic settings.

Thank you to the author, the translator, @antonhur, @netgalley, and the publisher @algonquinbooks for the e-ARC. And thank you to @nightworms for curating this title in their January package this year!

One of my favorite things about her stories is how adept she is at writing stories without actually naming anyone but instead nicknaming or describing them from the narrator's point of view. And yeah, the nicknames are always on point!

🤖🤖🤖

Whether it be her incisive portrayal of the absurdities and indignities of corporate life (Center for Immortality Research), her scathing commentary on colonialism and capitalism (Seed), the way she exposes our tepid understanding of disease and its ability to mutate and survive (The End of the Voyage), confronting our fear of the unknown (A Very Ordinary Marriage), or our dependence and obsession on technologies that we don't fully understand (To Meet Her, Your Utopia), she makes you think and chuckle the whole way through. These stories are weird and uncanny and also highly relatable.

This title came out all the way back in January and I am just getting around to posting this review which is a travesty.😭

🤖🤖🤖

This is definitely a cross-genre of science fiction and horror which is one of my favorite blended genres.

What are your favorite blended genres together?

💚SMASHBOT💚

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Blog Tour

1. The Center for Immortality Research ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As this began in a rather mundane office setting with too many job titles than I prefer, it very quickly evolved into something a bit more interesting. I hope the other stories keep on trend.

2. The End of the Voyage ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I will actively avoid zombie media. It’s just not my thing. I did watch the film with Gong Yoo, but I think we all know why I watched that. This is equal parts thriller, science fiction, and adventure, and I loved every second. I had a feeling I knew where this was headed, and it headed there, but I still had a blast. A man thinks he can trick you? One up him. Blessed.

3. A Very Ordinary Marriage ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lies and deceit. I would call this A Very Unordinary Marriage. I suppose marriages are made on less. Don’t mind me. I’m extra cynical right now.

4. Maria, Gratia Plena ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The drugs were fine. The hallucinations were fine. The Catholicism triggered me.

5. Your Utopia ⭐️⭐️

Robots and AI in dystopian worlds usually interest me, but this was a slog to get through. Pass.

6. A Song for Sleep ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Is this the elevator’s POV? I’m confused. I still enjoyed it, because it was rather sad, but I’m confused.

7. Seed ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Southern California is a deathtrap for dog poop, so the human poop as fertilizer, communing with nature, and overall disgustingness triggered me. If Zana is around, did this review remind you of anyone? It sucks that the first few stories are so much better written than these last few, but I suppose they wanted to suck us in. It worked.

8. To Meet Her ⭐️⭐️

I read this last night, and meant to review it immediately, and now I can't remember anything about it. Must've been great.

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books

An incredibly unsettling science-fiction collection of stories, I enjoyed this! I recommend, I feel like the writing style was really good too, very rich.

Your Utopia is a memorable collection of short stories written by Bora Chung and translated from Korean by Anton Hur. Chung brilliantly blends elements of speculative and science fiction to examine topics such as artificial intelligence, humanity, capitalism, and desire. The stories are bleak and unsettling, infused with dark humor, and leave the reader with a lot to ponder over. Chung’s note at the end explains the real-life inspiration for her stories and gave me an even deeper appreciation for her work. Thank you so much @algonquinbooks for my gifted copy. 🤖

3.5 stars

This is a fun science fiction story, but it was not where I was expecting it to be. We follow three main characters: Shizuka Satomi, a violinist who has sold her soul to the devil, who has in turn promised that if she gives him seven souls of very talented violinists, then she will get her soul back. She has sold seven of the six so far and now is on the lookout for the seventh. That seventh is Katrina, who is a runaway transgender violinist, who Shizuka finds one day when she unwittingly listens to her music and is taken in, and decides that Katrina is the student that she is going to train. Then there's Lan Tran, a Starship Captain who is running a donut shop. How all of these people's paths cross and what they will come to mean forms this entire story.

I enjoyed this book to a large extent. The first 100 pages had brilliant writing and so did the last 50 or 75 pages. But it drags in the middle and throughout the book there's a lot of musical jargon and violin technicalities that makes it difficult for you to absorb yourself into the story. I agree that the author shouldn't dumb down a story for the reader's sake, but turning it into such a technical storyline with technical details that the reader doesn't feel like getting absorbed into the story at all is also not a great idea, in my opinion.

What I'm saying is: The writing was beautiful before it got a little too purpley and a little too wannabe, before it turned into - again - that beautiful writing. The highlight, however, is the handling of the issues that Katrina faces, both in real life and online, her music, and how music changes her life. It is still a very interesting book if you do want to try it.

Your Utopia is an interesting collection of sci-fi stories on different topics, some of them humorous, some serious, and most speaking about culture and it's consequences for each of its characters. This was my first time reading Bora Chung and I'm honestly still trying to decide how I felt about this collection in some ways. I genuinely enjoyed some of the stories, particularly in the second half of the book, but others didn't quite click the way I had hoped. The first story was particularly frustrating for me, stilted and structured toward a bit of a run on narrative that didn't keep me engaged or strike me as funny, though that was clearly the idea. The ones I liked were more thoughtful stories about apocalyptic scenarios, memory retrieval, and things along these themes.

This collection felt like the sci fi baby of Black Mirror and the Twilight Zone. Which is high praise in my opinion. I read and enjoyed Cursed Bunny and this book was even better! Can't wait to read more from Bora Chung!

Bora Chung is a freak and I love it and mean it with the utmost respect and pleasure. This collection doesn't hit as well as Cursed Bunny did, but at this point I think we're all just waiting for Bora to venture into Full Length Novel territory. There were some real gems - A Song for Sleep, Seed - that grapple with existential questions we should all be asking in this day and age around climate change, capitalism, agency and AI, but overall the stories didn't shock me to my core as much (which might be a me probem).

Your Utopia is another great story collection from Bora Chung. I loved the odd, off-putting writing as well as the more sci-fi elements. I love this author's work!!

This collection of short stories gives readers a fresh take on immortality, zombies, aliens, consciousness scanning, inorganic intelligences, and more. I read this in two sittings and I’m definitely interested in reading more translated work of Bora Chung.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

Bora Chung just knows how to write short story collections I become completely immersed in. No doubt I had high expectations from reading Cursed Bunny over the summer, and I was pleasantly satisfied from this collection.

Your Utopia turns the world on its head, writing from futuristic worlds of AI, and examining how humanity lives within and around technology. Particular favorites of mine were "Your Utopia", "Seeds", and "The End of the Voyage". Although the stories are relatively easy to read and understand (even though they incorporate concepts WAY beyond our technology), I think the more thought that I give these in light of the recent attention and fear around AI, the deeper and more memorable they feel to me.

At this point, I'm most curious to see a novel from Bora Chung, her short-form stories are great, but I crave the length and depth you can get into with a lengthier book.

This settles with me overall as a 3.5, rounded up to 4 stars.

If you liked Bora Chung’s debut, Cursed Bunny, you will love her latest collection! It is brimming with the unique and kaleidoscopic voice you know and the weird and wonderful stories you want. Original and thought-provoking, it’s also haunting and entertaining. - included online at Ms. Magazine, Jan 2024 Reads for the Rest of Us

Love bora chung and her last book, and this book with her new collection of stories is what I came to expect. Highly recommend

A strong collection of sci-fi short stories. I haven't read CURSED BUNNY, so this was my first introduction to Bora Chung's work. The idea explored in YOUR UTOPIA—zombie stories, plant people, AI machines trying to understand grief—aren't particularly new, but Chung executes each concept cleanly and well. The standout stories for me were "A Song for Sleep" and "To Meet Her." The real star of this piece, in my opinion, is Anton Hur's translation, which is marvelously well-done in terms of preserving the stories' Korean narrative voice and cultural context while also providing a dynamic and artistic English translation. Looking forward to seeing what Chung and Hur do together next.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this short story collection but I ended up liking so many of the stories. There are some Black Mirror vibes throughout the book as these stories really made the reader pause and think. My favorite ones were the Maria, Gratia Plena, Your Utopia, and especially A Song for Sleep. The author's gift for interweaving elements of sci-fi with lessons of humanity allows for a thought-provoking read.

I loved reading from the POV of an elevator, this was my a favorite!!

Thought provoking short stories that left me wanting more. I love it all except the last.

I absolutely loved Cursed Bunny and I seem to always love Anton Hur’s translations! So I was incredibly excited to read the new short story collection from Bora Chung! In Your Utopia, Chung focuses on a dystopian future with robots and AI, questions humanity and the meaning of being human and AI and delves deeper into sci-fi topics like aliens and immortality.
Don’t let the title of the book deceive you, this collection was dark. I loved the way it pushed current concepts to strange pockets of dystopia and how they all left me a bit unsettled with their final paragraphs. I think my overall favorite from the collection was “A Song for Sleep'' where an elevator starts to care for en elderly resident.