A curious cabinet of chimera.

Lowly lab assistant, Kong Deok-geun, happens across the secret files belonging to his employer, Professor Kwon. The files are housed in Cabinet 13, and hold details on symptomers, that is, individuals who exhibit bizarre developmental symptoms which might be a sign of evolutionary ‘punctuated equilibrium’.

Each chapter (short story) takes the form of one symptomer’s case and trips along in the detached whimsical voice of narrator Kong. The overarching story only starts to coalesce towards the end of Part 2, by which time the reader is up to the chimeral gills with odd for oddity’s sake.

The tone turns darker, much darker, with the introduction of a syndicate which believes Professor Kwon has hybridised humans.

With themes on the acceleration of technological development and unsustainable use of the planet.

Hugely imaginative, tonally lopsided and only partially captivating. Worth a read.

My thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the ARC.

What a super surreal read. I was fairly certain I was walking into a work of interconnected short stories about a group of oddities (the symptomers), but half way through my perspective changed. This was really about the person watching over the cabinet holding their information. Up until the last 25%, this feels like a dream you walk through almost in a daze. The last bit comes at you and gives you whiplash.

Very well done.

“The Cabinet” followed the story of a man looking after files in Cabinet 13. He reads these files and discovers the lives of people who try to turn into animals, start sprouting ginkgo trees from their fingers, or skip time. These people are referred to as “symptomers” and often feel unhappy or displaced with their lives.

I found the storyline to be disjointed at times. How the story started was not really part of the book, and I found it to be a bit random. The stories about the symptomers read more as short stories rather than one logical plot. I feel removing some characters from the main characters storyline would have helped the flow.

I did enjoy the stories of the various individuals, and they contained elements of magical realism. The translation was wonderfully done and overall, the book was well-written.

This book made me giddy. Summarizing it is quite difficult, but at its center, it’s about Mr. Kong. For the last seven years, it’s been his job it is to watch over the cabinet, which is filled with three hundred and seventy five files chronicling “symptomers” who include people who have evolved into humans with bizarre circumstances such as a man with a Gingko tree growing from his fingers and a woman with a lizard growing in her mouth. This novel is an often very funny look at life’s most bizarre corners, which often reads as a meditation on what it means to be alive at this particularly fraught moment of human existence. I loved every second of this book and didn’t want it to end. Looking forward to more from Un-Su Kim in the future.

Un-su Kim’s award-winning novel’s episodic and slightly surreal with a strange, fable-like quality. At its core’s Kong Deok-Geun, an ordinary, Seoul office worker who ends up as assistant to mysterious Professor Kwon. Kwon’s custodian of cabinet 13, a secret section of Deok-Geun’s company that coordinates research into a bizarre group, who may or may not be the product of covert experiments. Deok-Geun’s job’s to document and support these subjects: people who’ve reinvented themselves by surgically removing their memories; Rip-Van-Winkle type “torporers” who fall into deep, long-lasting sleep; men and women who find themselves losing time; a gay man who falls for his doppelganger; and those who swear a strict diet of gasoline or glass is the only way to survive. Deok-Geun’s work’s complicated by the string of cabinet 13 wannabes desperate for entry to this select circle, like the man looking for a spell to transform himself into one of the cats adored by the woman who rejected him.

Deok-Geun’s life experiences unfold alongside a series of anecdotes, and pseudo-scientific reports focused on members of cabinet 13. Kim grounds these sections in reality by mixing fact and fiction, giving equal weight to mythic and academic explanations. He even inserts real-life figures like Ludger Sylbaris the sole survivor of a catastrophic volcanic eruption - who became an attraction in Barnum’s circus sideshow - but then gives him a rather different history.

It’s not a very well-balanced piece but I think Kim compensates for that in his inventive, playful treatment of his material. This starts out as light, frequently amusing, fantasy but evolves into an oblique commentary on contemporary alienation, the absurdity of life in a frenzied, capitalist society. So that cabinet 13’s subjects seem less weird or monstrous distortions, more enviable, escape artists, evading the demands of an overwhelmingly stressful, conformist world. Kim avoids the pitfalls of standard, realist depictions of South Korea as “Hell Joseon” which can tend towards cliché; instead he uses Deok-Geun’s increasingly nightmarish situation to construct a refreshingly unconventional, convincing portrait of anomie and the unrelenting loneliness of urban existence. Kim's book's ably translated from the original Korean by Sean Lin Halbert.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Angry Robot for the arc.

Everything about The Cabinet makes it sound like the perfect kind of book for me: it sounds monumentally quirky, and seems to be told in short story-ish format. I mean, look at this line from the introduction:

"All the information contained in the novel has been manufactured, modified, or distorted in some way, and should not be used as evidence in any argument, be it in a respected academic journal or a heated bar fight."

That's fun! But what you get, is a book about the person looking after the Cabinet, and very few actually quirky stories. And the man looking after the Cabinet isn't a very interesting character.

"There’s Xin Tiandi who lives in Hong Kong and eats glass. In fact, not only does he eat glass, he eats nothing but glass. Xin Tiandi’s existence has led some scientists to claim that there are special calories in glass – calories humankind has yet to discover."

The few strange stories you do get, are inventive and interesting, and I wish there were more of them. There is an overarching story about the mysterious Cabinet, but it's not very thrilling.

The book teases the reader with possiblities, but ends up as a collection of missed opportunities.

Thank you to Angry Robot and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I was interested in this because I anticipated it to be vignette-style strange sci-fi storytelling. And it sure was strange! The novel takes you into the life of a man who seems to live in a version of our world where strange things are happening on a microscale to only a few people -- these people sprout mutations, experience psychosis, and are considered to be evolving faster than the rest of us. The vignettes cover some of these people, sure, but a lot of the story was the off-kilter background experiences of our narrator that range from an impossible bender to torture. I was really never sure what to expect with each chapter here, and I think that I was left a bit too uneasy to say that I enjoyed this,

3 stars.

Bizarre stories found in a cabinet, inspired by tales you may have heard in the real world.

It’s a bit dry when the narrator goes on and on in first person. I got lost in all the words.

For people who like the X-files

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of a review. All opinions my own.

I spent half of the book delightfully confused and it was so very worth it.

It is the first book I read from the author and it won’t be the last as I have absolutely adored the style. The whole book orbits around some characters that we know as “symptomers” humans that for a variety of reasons have something that makes them exceptional and unique. All of the notes of these group of people are contained in “the cabinet” which is being taken care off by the main character.

So it is very weird, and at times it look like the main plot line is fragmented or there is something that I have missed when reading, but I think it is all done purposely by the writer to create such effect. I imagine how the main character may feel been thrown into this job and their own feeling are what the style is also trying to convey.

It is what attracted me in a first instance to the book and why I read it so quickly. I found it extremely readable as I enjoy gathering hints from here and there. It was very satisfying when everything started to click together and felt the author had done a great job by leading the story this way.


As far as I have understood it, I think this is a very good translation.
Definitely recommended.

An eclectic collection of stories that on a scale, go from ingenious to quite baffling. Using a retrospective tone to end each story, the narration offers very little for connection but more on the "condition" of the person/human in question. There reported files (a.k.a stories) from cabinet is that of humans who have extraordinary conditions like a ginko tree growing from a finger or a person who drinks only petrol. It would seem like there is an underlying absurdness and madness to this but after every few stories, the author reiterates the point that the human evolution isn't that simple and some evolve different and this, perhaps, is the next stage.

I am glad to have read this interesting collection.

4.5 rounded up to 5 for Goodreads - this book was provided to me by Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion, there it is :

"Yesterday upon the stairs
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish that he would go away".

When I started reading this novel, these lines by Hughes Mearns came back to me instantly. If you don't like absurd, kafkaian, nonsense universes, pass your way. If your mind is open to it, enjoy !
But even if it isn't, please stick to reading some more because everything isn't about absurd situations, or possible weird human mutations, it's a reflection of how life can appear to people who wish for a different existence but are stuck with no possibility of escaping.

In this cabinet are files about symptomers, people who lose time, or grow things/animals inside their body, eat weird things, stuff like that, people who are misfits in this Korean society filled with pressure and find it hard to adapt. Is working in a firm that pays you for doing absolutely nothing all day such a nightmare - one of the favourite Korean expressions being "work hard" ! The stories in these files are centered around a professor researching those symptomers and hiring a new assistant whose boredom pushes him to read the files.

All this is told in a funny, inventive way even if the universe itself is really dark. I loved the craziness of this book but also the deeper meaning and I'm very glad I requested it and discovered this author.

"The Cabinet" and is basically a collection of stories that are grouped together in a closed filing cabinet. In the background is a frame story about a bored office worker, who breaks into the locked closet and reads the stories while at work to pass the time.

The Cabinet is a collection of stories about symptomers, some humans who experience weird symptoms and are deemed as the continuation of human’s evolution. Mr Kong, our narrator, ended up working in his job to handle the archiving of Cabinet 13 at a research centre due to his intense boredom. He was tired of not having enough workloads to do in his job, that one day he decided to try to open Cabinet 13 after trying more than 7000 lock combinations and read about the symptomers. He peered into the stories of people experiencing weird symptoms inside the Cabinet and caught off guard by Professor Kwon who gave him intense tasks as his assistant.

The book itself is a mix between facts and made-up stories. The first chapter opens with the story of Ludger Sylbaris, an Afro-Caribbean man who was one of the three survivors during the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée in the city of Saint-Pierre on the Caribbean island of Martinique. Sylbaris survived the catastrophe due to the fact that he was imprisoned in a tower prison which turned out to be one of the most sheltered places in the city. It was his bad luck to be imprisoned that allowed him to survive. What follows is the story of how humans are thought on the brink of their extinction as a species, much like the end of dinosaurs ended in the past.

Each symptomer’s story is far from boring, although at first, they might not seem related to each other. Mr Kong begins to narrate some weird stories of people who consume gasoline on a daily basis to replace water, people who eat glass as though it’s a nice cuisine, a guy called Mr Hwang who grew a ginkgo tree inside his hand, some time-skippers who frequently lost time, and many others. Initially, I was thinking if this is just a collection of random stories about symptomers without any plots whatsoever, but I turned out to be wrong as the conflict began to surface with the death of Professor Kwon and the task of guarding the data inside Cabinet 13 that befall to Mr Kong.

The story of the symptomers is absurd and highly original that I thought for a while that they might exist in our real world. Kim Un-su has the gift of mixing real scientific facts with made-up stories that it does not feel like reading a science-fiction, but rather a really curated research account told in the form of fiction. Not every story is equally good, however, they do seem to me like something between facts and fiction.

I do agree with some notions being pointed out by Kim Un-su through this book, that we as humans might be in our most advanced stage in evolution and there might be nothing further after this. We live in an age of anxiety, constantly worried by bad news and incoming notifications on our phones. As Kim Un-su highlights, insurance, stocks, real estate, investments, the things that drive the modern economy is based on the notion of anxiety, the fear to face the uncertainties of what lies ahead. We are no longer the calm hunter-gatherer who only thought about what they’re going to eat for the day, and leaving the uncertainties for tomorrow. In short, we are constantly being pursued by the clock that keeps ticking.

An interesting book. Collection of different life like stories.

I really enjoyed this book, in Japanese author works, there is always present a hint of life, true life. This book isn't exclusion.

I don’t believe I’ve ever read a book like The Cabinet, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Reading The Cabinet felt like sitting next to the most interesting person at a party and having them tell you stories about their life, their travels and all the people they’ve met along the way. Never dull, sometimes meandering, and occasionally philosophical. I really enjoyed the idea of human evolution and what the future holds for humanity. It’s definitely something I’ll be thinking about for awhile.

I received a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Months ago, I read a book named Strange Beasts of China and it felt off for me. I don't know which one of these was originally published first, but the Cabinet felt like the same story - this time engaging, human, and natural. The characters felt like people and the stories, though irrational and unusual, were both fun and thought provoking. The translation is also really good (though I have to say I have lived in Korea and all the mentions of jjajangmyeon and so on felt okay for me, I am not sure if everyone would be able to read the whole thing without having to stop and google).

The book was great - I'm giving it 4 stars because at the end of it, I didn't really care for any character. But I am sure some of these stories will stay for me for a bit (while others I'll forget).

Having read this, I am very excited to read The Plotters by Kim Un-su as well.

An imaginative collection of surreal people that I think are metaphors for types of personalities we see around us. Time skippers, memory mosaicers, people who (kind of) hibernate - they are all documented in the mysterious Cabinet 13.

I found interesting the idea of the book, but unfortunately it was not a captivating read for me. However, I can imagine a few situations when I would recommend this book for its originality.

A fascinating and weird story with unexpected turns and odd characters... genuinely still not sure what I made of this, but the stories of the ‘symptomers’ were interesting

The Cabinet is taking the literary world by storm as the new hot book of the fall. This strange story will astound you and mystify you and stay with you for a long long time.

The Cabinet, by Un-su Kim, is such a strange novel, I scarcely know how to review it.

Our wise-cracking narrator, Mr. Kong, works in a job where he is paid to do very little work. But not wanting to disturb the peace, and at the advice of his co-workers, he does not complain or bring any attention to his situation. One day, he stumbles on a cabinet, Cabinet 13, full of reports regarding Symptomers, humans with strange and unique gifts, such as slowly turning into gingko trees, missing years of their life in a second, and those who regularly drink gasoline and survive.

Cabinet 13 is owned by the mysterious and ailing Professor Kwon, and Kwon employs Kong to help him with his unique research. As the years go by, they encounter many Symptomers, and Kong grows increasingly attached to his work, and his subjects. However, there are dark forces wishing to use Professor Kwon’s findings for their own gain. When Kwon passes away, Kong finds himself in more trouble than he ever could have imagined.

The Cabinet is an award-winning novel in the author’s native South Korea, but I found Un-su Kim’s meandering style a little maddening. While there are some genuinely interesting and funny moments, there is also a lot of philosophizing, and possibly some political satire that went completely over my head.

I also took exception to the one female character in the novel, Jeong-eun, who is nothing more than an extended, unfunny riff on overweight, single women. There were at least two extended sections on Jeong-eun’s appearance and demeanor, and pretty much no detail about the narrator’s appearance. While I understand this is supposed to reflect on the character rather than the writer, it didn’t exactly endear me to either.

The climax of the book was pretty satisfying, and well-paced, but the middle of the book just seemed to drag. There are things to enjoy about this novel, but the whole reading experience was mostly disappointing.