3.5 ⭐ 

a collection of speculative fiction and horror short stories exploring the dangerous evolution of technology and the deployment of surveillance, with stories set in the past and near future, including themes of humanity, loneliness, survival, absurdity, and the unavoidable search for hope and belonging. The narrators differ from story to story, ranging from old ladies and low-position corporate workers to artificial intelligence robots and elevators (yes, an elevator). 

The first story in the collection, "The Center for Immortality Research," introduces us to an assistant tasked with organising a 98th anniversary for the company. The story is obtruded with chaos and humour that satirises the absurdity of the corporate workplace and its existence. 

Next is my favourite, “The End of the Voyage," a pandemic-inspired story in which a group of uncontaminated individuals are put onto a spaceship and flown into space with the goal of discovering a cure for the Disease and restoring the world to what it once was before the catastrophe hit. However, as is common in these kinds of scenarios, the virus quickly infects the ship, causing havoc. This is the most horror-oriented story, with vivid but often humorous descriptions of body horror, yet still palatable to an audience that isn’t inclined to horror stories. It is an excellent and sarcastic commentary on humanity's proclivity for self-destruction. 

The titular story and “A Song for Sleep” are both concerned with and narrated by AI creations. The unsettling feeling these stories give is not just strengthened by the narration being in the first person, where the person is actually AI, a robot, and an elevator, respectively, but also by the fact that both creations show more humanity and compassion than humans. 

“Seed” is an impactful and brilliant story about human greed and their endless exploitation of nature. There are also “Maria, Gratia Plena” an exploration of technology being used in medical procedures and police investigations, in which a medical technician is tasked with reading and exploring the memories of a overdosed and comatose woman to investigate her involvement in certain crimes but rather finds out about her dark past, “A Very Ordinary Marriage” is about a newly married couple where the man is suspecting his wife of having an affair because of her many secret and unintelligible phone calls, but the real state of things is never as it seems and “To Meet Her” is strongly politically oriented with the narrator being an 120 year old lady who was injured in a terrorist attack while waiting in queue to meet her favourite author who is transgender. 

Very enjoyable, but I still prefer Cursed Bunny. 

This was a surprisingly reflective collection and a significant departure in tone (and perhaps even style) from Chung’s previous short story collection, Cursed Bunny. While Cursed Bunny leaned into the weird and classic horror, the horror of Your Utopia is more insidious and reminiscent of what I would say is a reflection of our world today and the possible direction it’s heading towards. This short story collection puts utopia and dystopia in conversation with each other with technology in mind. Each story grapples with the meaning of a “better” world as a result of technological advancements, if that actually is the case or not. Relatedly, “hope” and “empathy” are contentious concepts in this collection as each story switches between perspectives of the human and nonhuman, often resulting in a different emotional response, depending on who is speaking and what the theme happens to be. I also found the afterword from the author particularly illuminating, as it went into some of her inspirations and reflections on real-world circumstances, ultimately, adding layers to already complex stories.

I enjoyed most of the stories for different reasons, but I was especially taken to “A Song for Sleep,” which was told from the perspective of a highly advanced elevator who is drawn to an elderly resident of the building it operates in. I was really taken to how emotionally impactful this story was in how it reflected on what it means to be human from the perspective of a nonhuman.

While I did find that I wanted some of these stories to be a bit more fleshed out, they weren’t unsatisfying by any means. I’m really impressed by the depth of this collection and the questions it poses about the world we are (and could be) living in.