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isaworm's review
fast-paced
Kong's Garden was a great little read. I found the mysterious premise very intriguing and enjoyed how fleshed out it was with the story's short length. I look forward to picking up more books from the Stranger's Press chapbooks, especially the Korean ones. These books are brilliant gateways into different corners of translated literature.
belle_fiction's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
For such a short story, I quite enjoyed this. A stark and quite bleak portrayal of modern city life and a critique on zero hour working. The narrator seemed pretty passive throughout despite having some strong thoughts on certain issues and the missing girl scenario could have been explored a bit further imo; however, I do understand and appreciate that this is very ‘typical’ or urban living.
I’m not too sure why the story was called ‘Kong’s Garden’ as Kong had very little to do with the story :/ I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending which was far too abrupt for me…it kind of read like the author didn’t really have an ending in mind and so decided to stop it wherever they liked, although that final line gave me chills.
Overall a thought-provoking read.
For such a short story, I quite enjoyed this. A stark and quite bleak portrayal of modern city life and a critique on zero hour working. The narrator seemed pretty passive throughout despite having some strong thoughts on certain issues and the missing girl scenario could have been explored a bit further imo; however, I do understand and appreciate that this is very ‘typical’ or urban living.
I’m not too sure why the story was called ‘Kong’s Garden’ as Kong had very little to do with the story :/ I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending which was far too abrupt for me…it kind of read like the author didn’t really have an ending in mind and so decided to stop it wherever they liked, although that final line gave me chills.
Overall a thought-provoking read.
kirstenfindlay's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
vcods's review
3.0
This short story is quite typical of Hwang's style and has a haunting quality to its apathetic prose. Hwang uses the narrator to explore aspects of modern living in Korea. In a country where most people have at least one college degree, what sort of existence can a person unable to reach the working world's lofty standards look forward to having?
While I enjoyed the story itself, the reason I am giving it such a low rating is because of the terrible translation. The translation is painfully repetitive and awkward at times. The word choice is absurd at points and seems as if the translator was overusing their thesaurus to pick out the most high-brow word they could find. These moments are incongruous with the narrator's style and make me as a reader, confused and uncomfortable. The poor translation really distracted me from the story and it doesn't give me high hopes for the other stories in this series.
While I enjoyed the story itself, the reason I am giving it such a low rating is because of the terrible translation. The translation is painfully repetitive and awkward at times. The word choice is absurd at points and seems as if the translator was overusing their thesaurus to pick out the most high-brow word they could find. These moments are incongruous with the narrator's style and make me as a reader, confused and uncomfortable. The poor translation really distracted me from the story and it doesn't give me high hopes for the other stories in this series.
arirang's review
4.0
Part of the Yeoyu (여유) series from Strangers Press, eight chapbooks, each featuring a translated short story of around 30 pages, showcasing the best writing from the current generation of Korean authors. For my review of the overall series see: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2862365043
Here 양의 미래 by 황정은 (Hwang Jungeun) is translated as [b:Kong's Garden|46216168|Kong's Garden (Yeoyu, #5)|Hwang Jungeun|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1561123736s/46216168.jpg|45798458] by Jeon Seung-Hee (전승희), who has previously translated a number of stories for Asia Publisher's bilingual series (e.g. [b:The World's Most Expensive Novel|29846999|The World's Most Expensive Novel|Kim Min-Jung|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459989419s/29846999.jpg|50206934]).
This is the one previously translated book in the collection - having featured in another of the Asia Publisher's bilingual editions. The original Korean title translates as Yang’s future, which seems rather more appropriate than the English title (Kang is a cat who features in the story) - see Tony’s Reading List (https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/kongs-garden-by-hwang-jung-eun-review/) for an explanation of the original title - although Strangers Press presumably felt obliged to follow Asia Publishers choice.
Ostensibly a story about the disappearance of a schoolgirl near to a bookstore where the narrator (herself a young woman) works, more generally, as with Hwang’s other work in English, it is about social pressures in Korea for young people and the conflicting pressures on young people of an aspirational education system and an increasingly 'zero-hours' style casual work culture, similar to the social concerns in her [b:One Hundred Shadows|30967023|One Hundred Shadows|Hwang Jungeun|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469021712s/30967023.jpg|51582202].
See https://koreanliteraturenow.com/web-exclusives/kong’s-garden-hwang-jungeun for an extract.
A nice introduction to the author - and I would recommend following this with the two longer works from Tilted Axis Press. 3.5 stars
Here 양의 미래 by 황정은 (Hwang Jungeun) is translated as [b:Kong's Garden|46216168|Kong's Garden (Yeoyu, #5)|Hwang Jungeun|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1561123736s/46216168.jpg|45798458] by Jeon Seung-Hee (전승희), who has previously translated a number of stories for Asia Publisher's bilingual series (e.g. [b:The World's Most Expensive Novel|29846999|The World's Most Expensive Novel|Kim Min-Jung|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459989419s/29846999.jpg|50206934]).
This is the one previously translated book in the collection - having featured in another of the Asia Publisher's bilingual editions. The original Korean title translates as Yang’s future, which seems rather more appropriate than the English title (Kang is a cat who features in the story) - see Tony’s Reading List (https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/kongs-garden-by-hwang-jung-eun-review/) for an explanation of the original title - although Strangers Press presumably felt obliged to follow Asia Publishers choice.
Ostensibly a story about the disappearance of a schoolgirl near to a bookstore where the narrator (herself a young woman) works, more generally, as with Hwang’s other work in English, it is about social pressures in Korea for young people and the conflicting pressures on young people of an aspirational education system and an increasingly 'zero-hours' style casual work culture, similar to the social concerns in her [b:One Hundred Shadows|30967023|One Hundred Shadows|Hwang Jungeun|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469021712s/30967023.jpg|51582202].
See https://koreanliteraturenow.com/web-exclusives/kong’s-garden-hwang-jungeun for an extract.
A nice introduction to the author - and I would recommend following this with the two longer works from Tilted Axis Press. 3.5 stars
fallinh's review
5.0
sau khi đọc xong cuốn này (thực ra là một truyện ngắn | song ngữ Hàn-Anh) + một nửa cuốn tiểu thuyết khác (có thể coi là gần như nổi nhất ở Hàn) của Hwang Jung Eun thì dám nói chị là nữ tác giả Hàn Quốc mình thích nhất trong số các tác giả đã đọc quá :"
nữ tính, da diết nhưng thản nhiên và không đến mức ủy mị (ở nhiều chỗ) như Shin Kyung Sook, có chạm đến nhiều vấn đề xã hội nhưng gần gũi - cảm giác như chạm vào được/ như là chuyện của mình - chứ không to tát (đôi khi) lên gân và tạo cảm giác xa cách như Han Kang, cool nhưng không lạnh lùng như Jo Kyung Ran
cách viết ảo ảo cũng không khiến mình thấy khiên cưỡng nên mình rất thích :""
từng đọc được review đúng một câu về văn của chị trên một diễn đàn tạp nham nọ mà đến giờ vẫn nhớ và tâm đắc mãi, và cũng nghĩ có lẽ không thể viết về văn của chị đúng hơn, là: "cô độc nhưng rất ấm áp"
sự ấm áp có lẽ đến từ cách chị nghĩ về và "đối xử" với các nhân vật của mình, đặc biệt là các nhân vật nữ
như ở phần lời tác giả Kong's Garden chị có viết như thế này (dù lúc mới đọc ở bìa 4 mình đã không nghĩ nó quá đặc biệt, nhưng sau khi đọc xong câu cuối cùng của truyện rồi đọc lại thì mới thật là cảm động: I wrote this short story in the summer. I believe it was probably when summer was changing to fall. I still sometimes think about the narrator of this short story. How did she spend her day today? How will she spend it tomorrow?)
cuốn này là truyện ngắn nên cũng chẳng biết viết về nó thế nào để không spoil ha ha (liên quan?)
chỉ muốn nói là mình chọn cuốn này của chị để đọc đầu tiên chỉ bởi bạn nhân vật chính làm ở một hiệu sách tọa dưới tầng hầm của một tòa nhà buôn bán :"""
nữ tính, da diết nhưng thản nhiên và không đến mức ủy mị (ở nhiều chỗ) như Shin Kyung Sook, có chạm đến nhiều vấn đề xã hội nhưng gần gũi - cảm giác như chạm vào được/ như là chuyện của mình - chứ không to tát (đôi khi) lên gân và tạo cảm giác xa cách như Han Kang, cool nhưng không lạnh lùng như Jo Kyung Ran
cách viết ảo ảo cũng không khiến mình thấy khiên cưỡng nên mình rất thích :""
từng đọc được review đúng một câu về văn của chị trên một diễn đàn tạp nham nọ mà đến giờ vẫn nhớ và tâm đắc mãi, và cũng nghĩ có lẽ không thể viết về văn của chị đúng hơn, là: "cô độc nhưng rất ấm áp"
sự ấm áp có lẽ đến từ cách chị nghĩ về và "đối xử" với các nhân vật của mình, đặc biệt là các nhân vật nữ
như ở phần lời tác giả Kong's Garden chị có viết như thế này (dù lúc mới đọc ở bìa 4 mình đã không nghĩ nó quá đặc biệt, nhưng sau khi đọc xong câu cuối cùng của truyện rồi đọc lại thì mới thật là cảm động: I wrote this short story in the summer. I believe it was probably when summer was changing to fall. I still sometimes think about the narrator of this short story. How did she spend her day today? How will she spend it tomorrow?)
cuốn này là truyện ngắn nên cũng chẳng biết viết về nó thế nào để không spoil ha ha (liên quan?)
chỉ muốn nói là mình chọn cuốn này của chị để đọc đầu tiên chỉ bởi bạn nhân vật chính làm ở một hiệu sách tọa dưới tầng hầm của một tòa nhà buôn bán :"""
I'm still doing the same sort of things. I still work and experience things that embarrass me, although not to the degree that they would bother me too much. If I feel too embarrassed to stand it any longer, then I quit and never come back. Of course, this doesn't happen very often. I hope that if I have to move to another neighborhood there'll be a lot of acacia trees there too. Still even if I end up in a neighborhood without a single acacia tree, I'm sure I'll end up adjusting to it all pretty well.
How am I? I'm doing the same.
equalopportunityreader's review
4.0
The way I usually read dual-language books; Laboriously read the page in the language I'm learning. Think about it to see what I understood. Underline things I understood effortlessly, highlight things I think I can actually use in regular day to day conversation. Read the page in English to correct and refine my understanding(and/or just understand it, full stop.)
The way I read this dual language book; The usual way for the first 25 (story, not numeric) pages or so, at which point it takes a twist so sad and eerie and affecting that I quickly read the rest of it in English because I didn't want to have to wait until I worked through the Korean to see what happens.
It's a sad, lonely, and oh-so-literary piece of short fiction that (I think) shines a spotlight on a segment of society that often gets lost in the glitzy tourism promos of Korean culture. It's only flaw(and this may be a quirk of translation) is that there are NO bright spots in the narrator's life whatsoever, and some of the characters included in the first third or so of the story seem a bit superfluous and pretentiously drawn. Otherwise, read it--if you want to be depressed afterward.
The way I read this dual language book; The usual way for the first 25 (story, not numeric) pages or so, at which point it takes a twist so sad and eerie and affecting that I quickly read the rest of it in English because I didn't want to have to wait until I worked through the Korean to see what happens.
It's a sad, lonely, and oh-so-literary piece of short fiction that (I think) shines a spotlight on a segment of society that often gets lost in the glitzy tourism promos of Korean culture. It's only flaw(and this may be a quirk of translation) is that there are NO bright spots in the narrator's life whatsoever, and some of the characters included in the first third or so of the story seem a bit superfluous and pretentiously drawn. Otherwise, read it--if you want to be depressed afterward.
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