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flamesocks's review against another edition
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
kinddog2073's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
A bizarre book to be sure. There is some interesting and at times poignant commentary about capitalism and alienation as others have noted. There are also some very funny and human moments. Despite that, I think this would have been better as a collection of short stories with the narrator's personality and life filled subtly through the telling of those. Instead, we get weird moments of plot that feel like distractions from the stories of the symptomers, which are so often funny or touching.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Torture
Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, Kidnapping, Grief, and Alcohol
koboldskind's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
kartoffel_00's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
There were some amazing thought provoking moments that got punctuated with some extremely unnecessary details about the sensual. I kept questioning why it was there at all since it had no relationship with the topic being discussed. It could have saved itself with the ending but it didn't.
I hope lit fic authors realise that throwing around random scenes about porn, sex, rape, etc doesn't exactly make your book "mature" or "Avant Garde". It just looks like a child talking about something they have no idea of.
I hope lit fic authors realise that throwing around random scenes about porn, sex, rape, etc doesn't exactly make your book "mature" or "Avant Garde". It just looks like a child talking about something they have no idea of.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Pedophilia and Suicidal thoughts
Please take the graphic warnings seriously.zozitro's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
roytoo's review against another edition
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
An interesting read but it ended pretty abruptly which made the story feel unfinished to me.
The premise is:
'symptomers’, humans whose strange abilities and bizarre experiences might just mark the emergence of a new species.
The stories of symptomers were interesting and engaging, but they end about 2/3rds through.
To me it is well worth reading for the different (South Korean) cultural viewpoints on modern life and the idea that it could be causing evolution into a new species.
Content warning for eating disorders, body horror, body shaming, and torture.
I read this from the Digital Library of Korean Literature which permits anyone to make an account:
library.ltikorea.or.kr/aboutLibrary
The premise is:
'symptomers’, humans whose strange abilities and bizarre experiences might just mark the emergence of a new species.
The stories of symptomers were interesting and engaging, but they end about 2/3rds through.
To me it is well worth reading for the different (South Korean) cultural viewpoints on modern life and the idea that it could be causing evolution into a new species.
Content warning for eating disorders, body horror, body shaming, and torture.
I read this from the Digital Library of Korean Literature which permits anyone to make an account:
library.ltikorea.or.kr/aboutLibrary
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, and Eating disorder
exuberantlybuds's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexism, Torture, Blood, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail
mikarala's review against another edition
challenging
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
At times oblique, and others extremely unsubtle, The Cabinet is a very unique reading experience.
Basically, Mr. Kong is a bored office worker who stumbles across some top-secret files kept by a researcher at his company on "symptomers", or people experiencing weird mutations or beliefs or something. These range from people with trees growing from their fingers to people who believe they're aliens to people who simultaneously live in two bodies. Although there is the skeleton of a plot, it's not really the main focus. Many chapters in this book simply describe Mr. Kong's odd encounters with these symptomers, often as a sort of mini-parable within the larger work. Sometimes the author is kind of hitting you over the head with very obvious lessons for modern life, such as the torperers who sleep for months and years because they've realized the importance of dreaming or the time skippers who realize how much time they've wasted obsessing over tedious work problems. Other times I'm not sure what the fuck the message is supposed to be, but it definitely contributes to the overall weirdness of this book.
Needless to say, I enjoyed the mindfuck. I think I'm going to be reflecting on the abruptness of the ending for a long time. While there were some elements I didn't really enjoy (some of the symptomer cases kinda gross me out, there's a torture scene, and I feel like there's some odd and not really necessary thoughts about penises), overall I have a very positive opinion of these kind of offbeat fairy tales for coping with life in the 21st century.
Basically, Mr. Kong is a bored office worker who stumbles across some top-secret files kept by a researcher at his company on "symptomers", or people experiencing weird mutations or beliefs or something. These range from people with trees growing from their fingers to people who believe they're aliens to people who simultaneously live in two bodies. Although there is the skeleton of a plot, it's not really the main focus. Many chapters in this book simply describe Mr. Kong's odd encounters with these symptomers, often as a sort of mini-parable within the larger work. Sometimes the author is kind of hitting you over the head with very obvious lessons for modern life, such as the torperers who sleep for months and years because they've realized the importance of dreaming or the time skippers who realize how much time they've wasted obsessing over tedious work problems. Other times I'm not sure what the fuck the message is supposed to be, but it definitely contributes to the overall weirdness of this book.
Needless to say, I enjoyed the mindfuck. I think I'm going to be reflecting on the abruptness of the ending for a long time. While there were some elements I didn't really enjoy (some of the symptomer cases kinda gross me out, there's a torture scene, and I feel like there's some odd and not really necessary thoughts about penises), overall I have a very positive opinion of these kind of offbeat fairy tales for coping with life in the 21st century.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gore, and Torture
thewaffleymaker's review against another edition
4.75
ITS ALL FUN AND GAMES UNTIL FINGERS AND TOES START GETTING CUT OFF WHAT WAS THAT
no but this was so good and the last like 60 pages were so insane. VERY open ending which isnt for everyone but i kinda dug it. lots of lines that made me stare at a wall.
there was some fatphobia that was hard to read and some disordered eating that im not quite sure what the purpose of was ? but all the stories were so interesting i was very entertained
no but this was so good and the last like 60 pages were so insane. VERY open ending which isnt for everyone but i kinda dug it. lots of lines that made me stare at a wall.
there was some fatphobia that was hard to read and some disordered eating that im not quite sure what the purpose of was ? but all the stories were so interesting i was very entertained
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia and Torture
faeze's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture