Your Utopia
 | |
| Author | Bora Chung |
|---|---|
| Translator | Anton Hur |
| Publisher | Algonquin Books |
Publication date | January 30, 2024 |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 978-1-643-75621-9 |
Your Utopia is a 2024 short story collection by Bora Chung. The collection was translated into English by Anton Hur.
Overview
[edit]The collection contains eight short stories:
- "The Center for Immortality Research"
- "The End of the Voyage"
- "A Very Ordinary Marriage"
- "Maria, Gratia Plena"
- "Your Utopia"
- "A Song for Sleep"
- "Seed"
- "To Meet Her"
Development history
[edit]Your Utopia is Chung's second short story collection to be translated into English, after her 2022 collection Cursed Bunny. Like her previous work, Your Utopia was translated by Anton Hur.[1]
Publication history
[edit]The book was published in the United States by Algonquin Books on January 30, 2024.[2][3] It was published in Australia by Scribe Publications on the same date.[4] It was published in the United Kingdom by Honford Star on February 13, 2024.[5]
Reception
[edit]Your Utopia received praise from critics upon release. Publishers Weekly praised Hur's translation for not containing any "pandering to a potentially unaware Western audience" and noted the title story as a highlight of the collection.[2] Kirkus Reviews directed praise at the individual stories for having unique premises.[3] The Hindu wrote positively about the translation and the "element of strangeness" in each story.[6] ArtReview directed praise at the collection's humor, while the Chicago Review of Books positively described Chung as being "a complex writer."[5][7] A lengthy review in Strange Horizons praised Chung for embracing more science-fiction elements than her previous work and concluded that Chung was a "formidable voice in global speculative fiction."[8]
The AU Review was more critical, describing the quality of the stories as being inconsistent but recommending the collection to fans of Cursed Bunny.[4] The Arts Fuse had a similar critique, specifically naming the stories "Seeds" and "To Meet Her" as weak points.[9] NPR published a negative review, writing that some stories were "underdeveloped," that others had plot twists "tacked on," and comparing Chung's prose to "something that might be churned out by ChatGPT."[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Feng, Rhona (2024-01-30). "'Your Utopia' considers surveillance and the perils of advanced technology". NPR. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ^ a b "Your Utopia". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ^ a b "Your Utopia". Kirkus Reviews. 2024-01-05. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ^ a b Mills, Annie (2024-04-10). "Book Review: Snapshots of strange worlds in Bora Chung's Your Utopia". The AU Review. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ^ a b Jiang, Yuwen (2024-05-30). "'Your Utopia' by Bora Chung Review: No Other Way". ArtReview. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ^ Kumar, Sheila (2024-04-19). "A dose of the strange | Review of 'Your Utopia' by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur". The Hindu. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ^ Macellen, Ian (2024-02-01). "Searching for Humanity's Future in Bora Chung's "Your Utopia"". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ^ Zhu, Tina S. (2024-05-13). "Your Utopia by Bora Chung". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ^ Mehegan, David (2024-02-22). "Book Review: Bora Chung's "Your Utopia" — A Deep, Rich Well of Imagination". The Arts Fuse. Retrieved 2024-07-13.