I enjoyed this collection of horror stories and the notes from the editor after each. It was enlightening to hear what she thought was good or intriguing about each plot, setting, or the characters - all that context was helpful to understand the cultural context. 

The stories that stuck with me the most were:

“Have You Heard of Ancient Glory?” In which a couple moves into a newly built apartment building to find that nobody else seems to be living there despite being told all the units have been sold. Apparently the cost of buying an apartment to house the cremated remains of dead relatives made it so people would fill these buildings with remains - it’s bad luck to live with the remains of the dead in one’s own home. 

“Forbidden Rooms” was very Saw. Two people wake up locked in an apartment and have to do whatever this voice on the other end of a cellphone says. The voice gives them institutions on things they can do to try to get rescued but it’s always just out of reach. The way the two people are linked is that there’s a man who leaves his father and 3yr old son in an apartment and when the old man dies abruptly, there’s no one around to take care of the child. The child cries but nobody checks on him because they feel like it’s none of their business so the kid dies too. The woman in the story shared an apartment with them - though it’s separated by a door or something similar. Both of them are being held responsible by an unknown person and being tortured into playing a “game” for their survival. The moral of people “minding their own business” could result in people not caring enough about each other. 

And “Death of Nala” where a kid kills a kitten that his mom had brought home. It’s being recalled from her perspective. She keeps having nightmares about the kid putting a plastic bag over the kittens head because it keeps meowing and he wanted to dampen the sound with the bag. At least that’s what he says. She can’t forget it and she eventually goes to see a psychiatrist. She overhears the doctor and her husband talking about how “she’s still” thinking about this, like it’s been so long. Eventually her husband reminds her that it wasn’t a kitten. She remembers that they had a baby girl named Cindy and they nicknamed her Nala (after the Lion King) and her son did indeed kill the baby the first time the mom left the kids with a nanny. Fucking horrifying and gut-wrenching.