Where do I start? The book starts telling us that all information has been modified and from there ...
The focus is a cabinet that houses files/documents listing the lives of symptomers - people who have evolved from being human in some way - people who may be on their way to becoming humans of the future. We meet a man who wants to be a cat, a man who had a ginko tree growing from his finger. We meet those who drink gasoline and eat steel. This cabinet is in the possession of Professor Kwon whose health is now failing who 'employs' out narrator - Mr Kong, a man totally bored with his job - as his assistant. The stories of these symptomers are humorous, bizarre and very slowly, you begin to almost care about them, as Mr Kong begins to.

However, there are those who believe that these files are of incredible value and there should be a trigger warning about the final few chapters of the book because the violence does come out of the blue and is quite shocking.

I'm not sure what to make of this book, I'm not even sure how to catergorise it which is why I gave it three stars. If you want to read something very different, then try this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Cabinet.

This is a quirky, fascinating, almost existential read about Symptomers, a select group of people who exhibit odd and bizarre symptoms and qualities that make them stand out from humanity.

The files are entrusted to a salaryman named Mr. Kong, who stumbled upon the cabinet of files accidentally when he was looking to escape the boredom and drudgery of his day job.

Mr. Kong is almost as interesting as the people detailed in the files; he's skeptical of these individuals with bizarre conditions but discovers they are not much different than the rest of us.

The fears and desires of these Symptomers echo the concerns of everyday people; to be someone else; to fit in, to be loved, to be someone better, to relive happy moments, to relive the past.

The writing is good; blunt and sometimes hilarious. A few passages made me smile, laugh and nod in agreement.

Others made me sad and I empathized with Mr. Kong's views on his life, his work, and what he wanted from it, which he wasn't sure about himself. Do any of us really know ourselves as well as we think we do?

I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

This is a bizarre, intriguing novel set in South Korea. Unpredictable, absurd, funny and horrifying, The Cabinet is definitely not for everyone but is worth a try if you want something unusual.

Narrated by Mr Kong, the story centres around a cabinet he finds in his workplace. The cabinet contains records of 'symptomers', people with very strange attributes, such as a man who nurtures a ginkgo tree growing from his finger, people who constantly erase and manipulate their own memories, a woman who involuntarily skips time, a girl with a lizard instead of a tongue and a man who is desperate to turn into a cat. Mr Kong becomes the custodian of the records and finds himself becoming a sort of counsellor. In between the stories of these people, he tells us about his life. You can see this novel as a collection of linked weird stories or you can look further into it, as philosophy and an exploration of capitalism and office culture in South Korea today. The ending is not for the fain-hearted.

Although I didn't love this book, I appreciated the oddness and I think it may be the first I've read by a South Korean author. I'd be interested to read more of his work.

Thank you to the publisher Angry Robot for the advance copy via NetGalley. The book was first published in 2006 as Kaebinit (캐비닛) - the English translation by Sean Lin Halbert will be published on 12th October.

[Note - this review will appear on my blog, 3rd October 2021]

I love the idea of this book, but I wasn’t crazy about the execution. I guess it all comes down to the fact that I was bored more often than not. It wasn’t weird enough, which is odd to say about a book like this. The stories are about symptomers, people "showing the symptoms of an evolving species", like the guy who had a gingko tree growing from his finger and people who eat inorganic substances like glass. But it felt like I was reading a Ripley’s Believe It or Not book, or the Guinness Book of World Records. My favorite story was actually the very first one about Ludger Sylbaris, which I really enjoyed. The book took a different turn though after that one. To be honest, after the 6th story (“Torporer”) I started to read the first page or so of a story, and if it sounded the same as the others but with a few things changed (like only the strange trait of the symptomer was different), I skipped it and moved on to the next. So there are some stories I never actually finished. I also found the stories about our narrator's life to be the toughest to get through.

Overall, the book just wasn't strange enough for me, and it seemed to meander, therefore I felt bored.

I will read more from this author (I actually bought Un-su Kim’s The Plotters already, which looks very different from this) even though this one wasn’t as big of a hit for me. I had such high expectations for this that I might’ve set it up for failure by that alone. The cover is my kind of style, so I was drawn to it for that reason first, then I read that it had new weird vibes, which is something I’m always looking for. And I somewhat recently read another Korean translation I got on Netgalley that is now among my favorite books of all time. I think I just hyped up The Cabinet too much because of those reasons and it couldn’t possibly live up to that.

"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. It is reminiscent of Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, via Borges, with touches of something else that I still have a hard time putting my finger on. The central theme is that humanity is evolving in new directions, and the stories present different symptoms, people sleeping for extremely long periods of time, people editing their memories, or merging with trees. This is a social commentary on the modern existence and office culture, reflecting workers who have to kowtow to an obnoxious boss who makes disparaging remarks against a female worker because of her looks.

The stories of these Sympotomers, or Chimeras, seem at first like fanciful anecdotes. However, as the reader advances in the story it appears that they might be creations or experiments done by the Professor. Things head towards a rather tumultuous ending when a crime syndicate takes an interest in those files and tries to buy them from the narrator.

An original imaginative read that begs for a slow reading, which builds into a rather complex tapestry which leaves the reader with food for thought.

Thank you Netgalley and Angry Robot for the digital ARC. #TheCabinet #NetGalley

Not the most memorable read, but quite well-written. I just didn't really click with the vignettes, as I wasn't expecting the book to be in the format of short stories.

3.5/5

The Cabinet is a highly imaginative, entertaining read. I love the tone of the first several chapters, as it's full of offbeat humor and some unsettling concepts. It slows down a little after that, and it doesn't culminate into really anything fantastic. I just wasn't really hooked by the concept of these files being sought after by some mysterious organization. It's not a bad route, just not the most memorable. The book as a whole, though, is quite good. And the translation is well done.

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" (except for the last parts).

I requested this one because it might be a 2021 title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book is not my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one rather than push myself to finish it only to give it a poor review.

The Cabinet is a fascinating read, as layered with curiosities as cabinet 13 itself. It shares a similar philosophical intent and double play in its approach to language, metaphor and narrative leap to a writer such as Italio Calvino and underwritten with deep humanity. Playful, heartfelt and truly thought-provoking. Loved it.

When I went into this book I had no idea what to expect but woah was it a surprise.. The plot is hard to explain but essentially, we follow Mr. Kong who mans the so called “Cabinet 13”, a cabinet filled with files about symptomers (people with abilities “normal” people don’t possess), as he tells us the life stories of these people and others who don’t necessarily have abilities but just chose to live life in other ways than the norm. As Mr. Kong tells us the reader these stories we follow his life story and the life experiences he has had in his life. With every chapter being told in almost short stories form with not that much plot that binds the chapters together I can see how this book might not be for everyone, but I loved it. Granted, not every chapter is as strong as the next, which is why it is not getting a 5-star rating, nonetheless it is a very engaging story that makes you think about life and the life choices we make and I would recommend everyone to check it out.

cw: graphic depiction of torture

Thank you to Netgalley and Angry Robot for sending me an advanced copy.

I struggled with this book a lot; its irreverent in a style tamer, but reminiscent of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that focuses its satire solely on the bureaucratic machinations of industry and government. The problem is I just did not find it funny or well-paced or particularly savage. What should have been at the start fun vignettes of Monster of the Weeks to ease you into this strange world were instead boring bestiary entries that thought mentioning perversion or poop once was a joke.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good perverted or poop joke. But there was no punch, no underlying theme, and no sense of progress in the first half of this book. I understand that the tedium was perhaps the point, but there is a thin line between satire that is boring and satire that is jabbing at tedium. This is very much solely the former.

Unfortunately, as the book ramps up as other reviewers will mention in its second half, the absolutely gut wrenching cloud of tedium that cost me two weeks of reading just wasn't going to go away.

I hope that this is a translation issue; that the unenviable job of translating humour was just too much. The style of the writing is a bit blunt. I hope if you pick this up you enjoy it, because it does have a much better second half, but I find it hard to recommend on its own merits.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of those books where I think I'm just not the audience for it. The novel consists of a series of almost comical vignettes of people with a variety of strange afflictions. Another reader might find this entertaining but I was just bored. It reminded me of the first season of the Magnus Archives so if you enjoyed that you might enjoy this book.

The only thing that kept me from putting down this book is my curiosity.
Following a bored office worker named Mr.Kong, his boredom led to him to Cabinet 13, where he flips through the various files on ‘symptomers.’ Out of all the stories, my favorite has to be the one about the man with the ginkgo tree growing from his finger. It’s an odd one that stood out to me, because of the man’s attitude towards the tiny shrub.
I will admit that this story is not one that can be chugged in one go, but devoured in chunks over a period of time. The characters’ complains about the stress of work, the boredom they face, the misery they feel due to the fast paced nature of modern office life are quite relatable. All of these contribute to the symptomers developing their strange symptoms.
This book is a mirror, and one you must look at carefully.

This book was incredibly confusing to me. The narrative order of the story was very unclear, which gave me a lot of trouble with following along and remembering all the characters. The book seemed to be trying to do three different things at once, and I don't think any of them really paid off. By the end of the book, I felt like the genre was completely different than the beginning, the story started getting interesting in a different way, and then the book ended. Unfortunately, I was just left confused and unfulfilled by this book.

Un-su Kim’s novel The Cabinet weaves the real and the unreal together in ways that both reflect and challenge certain assumptions of modern life. Its narrative engages both playfully and touchingly with the humanization of the unusual and the outlandish, the dehumanization suffered by people in capitalist work culture, and the complexity of being human at all in an ever-changing world.

At its finest, The Cabinet’s intricate structure and tragicomic commentary on 21st-century South Korean office culture manage the neat trick of portraying something universal through their very specificity. The boredom and alienation of people who do not feel that what they do has value is artfully juxtaposed with the desperation of people who want to be anything other than what they are, resulting in a narrative rich with empathy for many types of existential struggles.

Overall, this is a fascinating and rewarding read. I would recommend it for anyone who has ever felt alienated by work, relationships, or society at large, and for people who enjoy their absurdist literature spiked with the occasional genuine shock.

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

I enjoyed this quirky novel which tells the stories of “symptomers” — people who have odd habits or characteristics. Each story ends with a bit of a moral at the end.

The Cabinet was an absolutely fascinating read that captivated me from the very first page. At first it seems to be simply a collection of vignettes -- stories found in Cabinet 13. However, as we reach the second half of the book, one of those tales takes us into a stronger narrative thread, which then plays out until the story's end. The main theme of The Cabinet is a reflection on modern life and the speed of change that takes place these days. The 'symptomers' are people whose bodies have been so affected by this that they develop odd conditions, such as sleeping for months as a time or growing small trees on the tips of their fingers. The metaphors and social commentary are subtly handled, weaving effortlessly amid the stories, making it a book that is both fantastical and thought-provoking at the same time. I would definitely read more from this author in the future. This book gets 5 stars from me.

I found this sci-fi tale of queer abilities and what makes us different and unique to hit me right in the feelings. I laughed, cried, and fell in love with this world of weird abilities and understanding the differences that make us special. Thank you for the e-arc,

Prepare to meet people who drink gasoline, eat steel and chew newspapers, and a man who has a ginkgo tree growing on one of his fingers. They are known as “symptomers”; people who display the symptoms of a new evolution of the human species. Their records are stored in Cabinet 13, looked after by a Mr. Kong and his boss, Professor Kwon. The story introduces us to some of the colourful characters who are documented within the Cabinet and their singular situations. “Torporers” sleep for abnormally long periods, “memory mosaicers” can edit or delete unpleasant memories and “time skippers” lose long periods of their lives in an instant.
And then there are the troublesome, complaining daily phone calls from the symptomers. A persistent non-symptomer, Mr. Hwang, who wants to be turned into a cat to be with the woman he loves, calls everyday. Mr. Kong deals with these bizarre people everyday in a secret area of the lab where he works at a virtually non-existent job. Office politics and interpersonal relationships also play a major part in his daily working life. Eventually, Mr. Kong and the future of the Cabinet and the symptomers are threatened by sinister forces.
There is much to enjoy in the dry humour and bureaucratic silliness of this book but it has a serious side too, with an especially shocking yet darkly funny ending. Korean author Un-su Kim has crafted an absurdly wonderful world of unique individuals and characters. These people are usually greatly troubled, even tortured by their abilities. Beautifully written and translated, funny, tender and sometimes tragic, “The Cabinet” is an offbeat dose of Korean quirkiness and is one of the best books I’ve read all year.