Reviews

Table for One: Stories by Yun Ko-eun

floatinthevoid's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 

Table for One is a collection short stories that aims to demonstrate contemporary society’s messiness that sometimes difficult to believe that it’s real. Yun Ko Eun managed to play with this blurring realism and fantasy in some of her stories in this book. There is so much to be said about the world we live in today. Right off the bat, the first story will strike one of the biggest concern people have: loneliness, individuality, and solitude; how they differ from each other but intrinsically linked. I enjoyed the first story a lot. To me, it’s a solid start that introduced me to what I’m dealing with. The first story is about a woman office worker that attends a course outside work that she hopes can help her overcome the uneasiness of being excluded. As to not spoil further, this story ends with a deconstruction of the beginning of the story. The world building was established really well along with an engaging narrative from the main character. The main character was also developed nicely. It’s such a neat little story with layers social commentary. 

Unfortunately, after that first story, the book started to drag for quite a while. I understand that the author is trying to write stories where the readers do not think that the curtains were not just blue. If anyone miss the humongous allegories presented in this book, then I’m at a loss of words. You don’t have to understand the true meaning of these stories that uses various symbolism, just that as long as you get the gist of it, this book isn’t so bad. But honestly, I wish the stories weren’t so convoluted with ideas and social commentaries that they lose touch in storytelling. A few of the stories feels like they are made after the author set a box containing the social commentaries she wanted to tell, so the worldbuilding is made to cross match those ideas rather than established to complement the plot and characters. 

I did enjoy some of them more than the others. Like the one where the world commercialized dreams, and the last one with the pov from a kid living in a world of “organic” craze. I noticed that the ones that I like are the ones with well-rounded main characters. Their point of view are interesting enough for me to go on with the story, they have their unique individuality and distinct from other characters in the story. And those are the things to me that made them different from other stories that are more formulaic. I don’t think formulaic stories are always bad, just that I think even with formula there’s gotta be something different about how you presented them. Most of these stories incite grim after thoughts; they’re showing the readers repeatedly, look at our society bro, we’re doomed bro, fr this is the world we live in, ya see? I really don’t mind reading a book that has disheartening tone from start to finish. But to me this book does not have a singular core, like what one specific theme that connected all of these stories, so I am overwhelmed. Because it wants to reach topics as broad as it possibly can while applying a lot of symbolism, it’s a bit of a train wreck.    

With that being said, I appreciate the amount of thoughts that must have been put into making this collection of short stories. After all Yun Ko Eun has created so many unique plots and worlds in this book that me as a reader may not encountered in any other place. The last story is probably one of the most nuanced and profound commentary on the complexities that children in the new generation faced while growing up in today’s world. It’s incredible. Here’s a great quote from that story: 

“I’d realized that there weren’t many opportunities to talk about family at school, since we mostly gossiped about celebrities and clothing trends and dance moves. Kids spent the school day as fellow prisoners, and after class, we passed through the gates together, briefly making sugar candy and eating it before parting ways to our respective after-school tutoring programs. The next day, we’d convene at school and talk once again about celebrities and clothing and dances and teachers and the weird kids. At school and at home, I didn’t have the chance to talk about my dead father.” 

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC to review this book.        

blossomjin's review

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 Thank you Netgalley for this ARC! 

In this collection Yun Ko-Eun creates a series of stories which all had their own whimsy and narrative which just kept me hooked. Reflecting on the stories I enjoyed every single one. I loved how each new short story focused on such mundane topics from new, almost obsessive angles. From a bedbug epidemic in 'Sweet Escape' to the obsession with different countries in 'Iceland' I couldn't get enough. 

The way Yun Ko-Eun really incorporated Korean culture and topics into the stories was done so well. The writing was clean, simple and effective. I'll definitely be picking up their other works. 

mcdavidson's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Thank you to Columbia University Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This one was okay. Some of the stories were really fantastic, but I dragged through several and found myself wanting to skim. I think it’s more of a me problem than the book though, as many others enjoyed it. The stories were also a bit too long for my taste.