Your Utopia: Stories

Like most books of short stories this one is hit and miss, with some stories resonating a lot more than others for me. Some quick thoughts on them, without spoiling anything:The Center for Immortality Research - I quite enjoyed the premise and writing of this. I did not enjoy the translation. A lot of Korean terms were left in Korean, which made the story lose some of the impact as I had to mentally translate all throughout.The End of the Voyage - This one was pretty fun, though I think the ending didn't quite land, as it left a few questions open that shouldn't have been left open.A Very Ordinary Marriage - This story was almost there for me. It was interesting, but it didn't quite have enough depth. I think it probably just needed to be a little more punchy.Maria, Gratia Plena - This was my favorite of the bunch. It has an interesting premise, and it built up in a very satisfying way. It went deep enough to be thoughtful and interesting while not overstaying its welcome.Your Utopia - I thought this story had a lot of promise but it didn't quite make it there. I think it may be some of the descriptions - it got a bit hectic at times, and was a little hard to visualize. Maybe it was a translation thing?A Song for Sleep - This was poignant, but also came on a little heavy handed at the end. I thought a little more nuance would have been good.Seed - This was one of those short stories that has a really interesting premise that could be built out into a longer story, but didn't quite hit the mark as a short story. As a short story it didn't really go deep enough, and was a bit heavy handed with the message.To Meet Her - This one to me is unfortunate because its both good and very culturally localized. I had no idea what the impact should've been until reading the author's note afterwards and then looking up some news articles. This will likely be very impactful for some, but won't hit at all for most.

I had not heard about this author before, but had the option to request this book. On the topic of the physical book, it has one of my favorite things in paperbacks, where it has the ends that can act as bookmarks (how you can do with dust jackets on hardbacks).Now to the stories, a lot of these focus on humanity of the future and the different issues we may face. Including leaving intelligent technology abandoned on planets, and the fear those robots and machines can feel without people to keep them in order or shut them off. People who defy corporatization of nature, and conjoin with nature and plants. AI elevators love and care for patients in a care facility, and mourn them. So many ways that our future could go, the implications of our actions, and how we progress technology. Some of the stories tore apart my soul, and some left me shaking with a sense of horror.I love Bora Chung's voice because it is not flowery. It is straight and easy to comprehend, it gives detail without causing me to lose track of where the story is going. It is the sign of a good storyteller who can say what they mean without any extra fluff and still immensely entertain the audience. The translator did an amazing job as well bring Chung's words into English for the West to enjoy in full gusto.

Your Utopia: Stories is a collection of short stories written by Bora Chung, and translated by Anton Hur. I was unfamiliar with both the author and the translator, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into this book. What I found was a solid collection of interesting stories, covering topics that are all at least partially related to topics most comfortable in the science-fiction genre, though there are healthy doses of horror as well. Some of the stories are ridiculously mundane, and others quite fanciful.I was most taken in when there was an emotional core to the story. By far my favorite story, as weird as this explanation will sound, is called A Song For Sleep. It's about an AI residing in an elevator, and the connection this AI feels for a particular human who resides in the building. It's beautiful, and poignant, and melancholy, and ends up being a meditation on what it means to be a human and alive.There are some stories that are steeped in horror. The End of the Voyage is one of these, and it seems to be inspired by the angst that riddled the world during the initial quarantine period of the Covid pandemic.I've really enjoyed the stories in this anthology, and the writing itself is pretty good at quickly drawing you in. If there's one thing that bothers me, it's a few of the idiosyncrasies that I'm unsure if they're a quirk of the author or the translator. For instance, by and large, no names are used for any of the characters. There are exceptions of course, though sometimes they go too far in the other direction (for instance, in Seed, so many characters are named that it's difficult to even tell who's who, which may be part of the point). But it can definitely make for some confusing reading at times. The biggest offender, by far, was The End of the Voyage, where one character was referred to as "this guy" literally every time he was referenced. It was very stilted and awkward and threatened to pull me out of the story entirely.But overall, these stories are well-written, thought-provoking, and entertaining. I can recommend checking this out if you like short stories that are very quick reads.

This is a collection of short stories centered around tales of technology and what it could mean for humanity. This was a really easy read and I finished it in one sitting, which is rare for anthologies for me as I enjoy leaving each story for between other books but I couldn't seem to put this one down. I did find a few of the stories a bit on the boring side, but most were very interesting and fun to read. Would definitely recommend and I can't wait to enjoy more by this author!

Picture this…An apocalyptic world where people turn into innocent cannibals.A sentient elevator which grieves a dead resident.A man who discovers his wife is an alien after many years of marriage.Have I piqued your interest yet? Or do you want more?Bora Chung, in her distinctive style has yet again dared to challenge our sensibilities, and turned the world upside down. I thought her previous anthology, ‘Cursed Bunny’, was clever but this one takes the cake. With its shrewd analogy of how AI can be incorporated into our lives and progressive thinking, this book breaks all barriers.Chung has mastered the ability to adeptly unlock our darkest demons, and she knows how to play with it. Questioning the impossible is her favourite thing to do, pushing the boundaries of speculative fiction and tweaking a story such that we think out of the box.Where Cursed Bunny is immersed in horror, Your Utopia embraces AI in such horrific proportions that it is chilling. An empathetic robot which has the power to make decisions is something meant to remain in nightmares. Chung plays with social structures, addresses subjects of identity, belonging, capitalism by using metaphors and surrealism.As i progressed through the book, each story became my new favorite. The stories have a surreal quality that etches them into memory. “The Song for Sleep” which embodies an elevator unintentionally leading to the demise of an aged apartment resident, and then grieving for her, particularly resonated with me. Such a soulful, sensitive tale which made me perceive life with a different light.Having said that, each short story left me with much to ponder, and I look forward to having a conversation with Bora, thanks to @andsoiread ‘s initiative.And thank you to @antonhur for doing such a wonderful job of translating this book which would have been otherwise unreadable to Anglophones.