A review by savvystory
The Cabinet by Un-su Kim

4.0

Now this is a weird book! I thought it was going to be about all the stories of symptomers in the cabinet. It was more about the narrator, existential dread, and how life is kind of pointless. My favorite parts were when they showed that the symptomers aren’t the weird ones, people living in late stage capitalism are.

“The following is a piece taken from the Center for a Leisurely Life: Statistically, there are probably 800 times as many time skippers as there are normal people. So don't work so hard. Don't make so many plans. Don't struggle so hard just to be more successful than others. Otherwise, you'll lose so much time. And wouldn't that be unfair? Like dying-in-a-car-accident-the-day-you-paid-off-your-house-loan kind of unfair?
The only way to save up time is to take it easy. Take menstrual leave. Take it every month. Miss a deadline once in a while! And if your boss asks you if you're going to take a bonus in exchange for less holiday, just say, "Fuck you." And on days you feel down, why not just take an absence without calling in?”