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jcnstntn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Blood, and Vomit
ginbat's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Fatphobia, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, and Excrement
Torture at the very end but it’s pretty hardcore:ancestrallizard's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Minor: Misogyny
scifi_rat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Prose: 4★
Pace: 4★
Concept/Execution: 4★/4.5★
Characters: 4★
Worldbuilding: 4★
Ending: 3.75★
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol
flamesocks's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body shaming, Cursing, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
roytoo's review against another edition
- 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
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
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, and Eating disorder
mikarala's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gore, and Torture
_kathill's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, and Fatphobia
jaimeeslitlife's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
“These things are recorded simply because they just are. Not because they are magnificent or beautiful, but because they exist beside us.”
In THE CABINET, stories of symptomers (people who have biologically metamorphosed in surreal ways) are juxtaposed against the story of Kong Deok-geun, an office worker whose life is full of I-would-rather-eat-dog-treats-than-suffer-this-boredom boredom. Deok-geun is a passive, unenthusiastic narrator who seems to be swept along by his story instead of writing it himself. What starts as a boredom-fueled break-in to an exceedingly ordinary cabinet that holds the symptomers' files turns into a bizarre and potentially lethal ride from which Deok-geun makes no real attempt to escape. There was something so intensely human about the way Deok-geun ignored the absurdities happening in the world around him, pushing them away and minimizing them until they forced him to pay attention. Instead of putting off a dentist appointment, however, Deok-geun puts off thinking about the potential consequences of his interactions with the symptomers.
THE CABINET defies convention just as much as the symptomers do. It is darkly humorous and upbeat, but also disturbing on a visceral level. Dry humor and a touch of whimsy mingle with body horror and intense satire of capitalist office culture. Absurd science fiction vignettes meet the absurdity of reality. THE CABINET is a fascinatingly weird little book that deserves its own special place in the world of fiction.
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Torture, Violence, and Alcohol
Moderate: Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Vomit and Medical content
thehutonfowlslegs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Torture