Your Utopia
Stories
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
From the acclaimed author and translator of the National Book Award Finalist, Cursed Bunny, a fresh, uncanny, and utterly profound collection of stories set in near and distant futures that reflect our deepest fears—and deepest desires.
Bora Chung’s inimitable blend of horror, absurdity, and dark humor reaches its peak in these tales of loss and discovery, dystopia and idealism, death and immortality. In a thrilling translation by the acclaimed Anton Hur, readers will experience a variety of possible fates for humanity, from total demise via a disease whose only symptom is casual cannibalism to a world in which even dreams can be monitored and used to convict people of crimes.
In “The Center for Immortality Research,” a low-level employee runs herself ragged planning a fancy gala for donors only to be blamed for the chaos that ensues during the event in front of the mysterious celebrity benefactors hoping to live forever. In “A Song for Sleep,” an AI elevator in an apartment complex develops a tender, one-sided love for an elderly resident. “Seed” traverses the final frontier of capitalism’s destruction of the planet—but nature always creeps back to life.
If you haven’t yet experienced the fruits of Chung’s singular imagination, Your Utopia is waiting.
One of TIME Magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2024, and Kirkus Reviews' Best Fiction of 2024
"Chung builds out her stories with imagination, absurdity and a dry sense of humor, all applied with X-Acto knife precision." ―Alexandra Kleeman, The New York Times Book Review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Booker Prize–shortlisted Chung (Cursed Bunny) makes a dazzling return with these eight inventive tales. The collection opens with "The Center for Immortality Research," which imagines bureaucracy, hierarchy, and capitalism continuing on for eternity. In "A Very Ordinary Marriage," a man's suspicions about his wife's late night phone calls leads him down an uncanny rabbit hole. The standout title story examines a future in which artificial intelligence is all that remains on Earth. An autonomous vehicle travels aimlessly through this landscape, carrying a flawed humanoid robot that endlessly repeats variations of the same question—until a new variation of the question becomes a warning. Hur's skillful translation feels authentic to Chung's voice without an ounce of pandering to a potentially unaware Western audience. The author has an impressive ability to balance emotional and psychological depth with a touch of the surreal, creating a collection that resonates long after the final page is turned. A literary force to be reckoned with, Chung makes another splash.
