The Cabinet
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Description
Cabinet 13 looks exactly like any normal filing cabinet…Except this cabinet is filled with files on the ‘symptomers’, humans whose strange abilities and bizarre experiences might just mark the emergence of a new species.
But to Mr Kong, the harried office worker whose job it is to look after the cabinet, the symptomers are a headache; especially the one who won’t stop calling every day, asking to be turned into a cat.
A richly funny and fantastical novel about the strangeness at the heart of even the most everyday lives, from one of South Korea's most acclaimed novelists.
Translated by Sean Lin Halbert
File Under: Fiction [ 12,000 Cans of Beer | Memory Mosaicers | Will Execution Inc. | Monkey of All Bombs ]
Book Information
Posts
Wow, this was a crazy ride! We follow Mr. Kong, who's unhappy with his job because there's nothing to do, until one day he starts sneaking around and stumbling upon Cabinet 13. Cabinet 13 holds various files on "symptomers"—people with strange abilities and/or curious things happening to them, e.g. like a tree sprouting out of their finger. The story switches between cabinet files, stories about the symptomers meeting Mr. Kong, and Mr. Kong's daily life. While the symptomers' stories were pretty hit-or-miss—either you liked them or you didn't—I found the story around Mr. Kong and how he go into the whole thing utterly compelling and curiosity kept me reading on. BUT somehow, the book felt a bit too long with its 400 pages, and could've benefited from ~50 pages less. Other than this, I enjoyed "The Cabinet", as it was so different from Kim's previous released novel, "The Plotters".
I was fooled by the summary on the back of the book. A man who wants to turn into a cat? I'm all in. However, this book turned out so bad, that I wanted to throw it at the wall, multiple times. Misogynistic at times, extremely focused on body images, obsessed with genitals and sex. I didn't like it at all.
Description
Cabinet 13 looks exactly like any normal filing cabinet…Except this cabinet is filled with files on the ‘symptomers’, humans whose strange abilities and bizarre experiences might just mark the emergence of a new species.
But to Mr Kong, the harried office worker whose job it is to look after the cabinet, the symptomers are a headache; especially the one who won’t stop calling every day, asking to be turned into a cat.
A richly funny and fantastical novel about the strangeness at the heart of even the most everyday lives, from one of South Korea's most acclaimed novelists.
Translated by Sean Lin Halbert
File Under: Fiction [ 12,000 Cans of Beer | Memory Mosaicers | Will Execution Inc. | Monkey of All Bombs ]
Book Information
Posts
Wow, this was a crazy ride! We follow Mr. Kong, who's unhappy with his job because there's nothing to do, until one day he starts sneaking around and stumbling upon Cabinet 13. Cabinet 13 holds various files on "symptomers"—people with strange abilities and/or curious things happening to them, e.g. like a tree sprouting out of their finger. The story switches between cabinet files, stories about the symptomers meeting Mr. Kong, and Mr. Kong's daily life. While the symptomers' stories were pretty hit-or-miss—either you liked them or you didn't—I found the story around Mr. Kong and how he go into the whole thing utterly compelling and curiosity kept me reading on. BUT somehow, the book felt a bit too long with its 400 pages, and could've benefited from ~50 pages less. Other than this, I enjoyed "The Cabinet", as it was so different from Kim's previous released novel, "The Plotters".
I was fooled by the summary on the back of the book. A man who wants to turn into a cat? I'm all in. However, this book turned out so bad, that I wanted to throw it at the wall, multiple times. Misogynistic at times, extremely focused on body images, obsessed with genitals and sex. I didn't like it at all.