Scan barcode
A review by josh_caporale
Evening Proposal by Park Youngsuk, Pyun Hye-young, Gloria Cosgrove Smith
2.0
2.5 stars
With the Winter Olympics being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, I thought it would be fitting to read a work of Korean literature during the month of February and a collection of short stories from an author that is advertised as a modern Franz Kafka definitely sounded appealing. I am very much fond of works that are outside of the box and absurdist as well, so for its face value, this collection looked like it was just what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I felt that this collection was mediocre at best. While the concepts were great, the characters were zero dimensional. While giving little depth to these characters could be a strategy, there was nothing that these characters had to offer that gave me, the reader, any interest to want to continue reading forward.
The stories in this collection were:
Rabbit's Tomb- A man takes in an abandoned rabbit and cares for it all while he is neglecting what he has found to be an insignificant job. There was an interesting snippet about how and why rabbit's are frequently abandoned as pets and how children are known for getting bored of what ever animal it is they get as a pet, but specifically rabbits.
Evening Proposal- Kim and his friend are preparing a funeral for a dying man, all while he is preparing to turn down a commitment to someone he is dating.
Monotonous Lunch- A man is stuck in his routine of eating the same lunch, taking the same train, and fulfilling the same kind of job in a copy room day after day. Will a sudden death that happens right before this man's eyes change that routine?
Would You Like to Take a Tour Bus?- S and K work with storage compartments as movers. What happens when they find themselves on a tour bus?
Out for a Walk- A man and his pregnant wife move into new living quarters in order to fulfill his job, but there is a guard dog within the quarters that is bound to be a handful for this couple.
Jungle Gym- A man's confidence is tested through a business trip.
Room with a Beige Sofa- Jin, his wife Seo, and their baby adjust to living in a new house.
Canning Factory- The strict, but punctual plant manager of a canning factory does not show up one day, drawing suspicion on his disappearance.
A lot of these concepts were interesting and I feel that this material will be subject to rereading and studying for its use of absurdism at some point in time. As works that exercise your mind and are meant to be thought about critically, this did a good job. As stories, though, they were difficult to get through with uninteresting characters and a vague ability to set the scene. I feel that with a writer like Franz Kafka, the information we learned about him and his ability to not limit his boundaries had an impact on how we saw his writing. I would even say that George Saunders writes in a similar manner and with a work like The Semplica-Girl Diaries, it explores an outlandish idea, but it connects to a very logical argument. These stories do not engage in this practice. They are very dull.
I may return to looking over some of these works at some point in time, but for now, I did not enjoy this and would not encourage others to check this out. There are so many other better absurdist writers, like Franz Kafka, George Saunders, and Lewis Carroll.
With the Winter Olympics being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, I thought it would be fitting to read a work of Korean literature during the month of February and a collection of short stories from an author that is advertised as a modern Franz Kafka definitely sounded appealing. I am very much fond of works that are outside of the box and absurdist as well, so for its face value, this collection looked like it was just what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I felt that this collection was mediocre at best. While the concepts were great, the characters were zero dimensional. While giving little depth to these characters could be a strategy, there was nothing that these characters had to offer that gave me, the reader, any interest to want to continue reading forward.
The stories in this collection were:
Rabbit's Tomb- A man takes in an abandoned rabbit and cares for it all while he is neglecting what he has found to be an insignificant job. There was an interesting snippet about how and why rabbit's are frequently abandoned as pets and how children are known for getting bored of what ever animal it is they get as a pet, but specifically rabbits.
Evening Proposal- Kim and his friend are preparing a funeral for a dying man, all while he is preparing to turn down a commitment to someone he is dating.
Monotonous Lunch- A man is stuck in his routine of eating the same lunch, taking the same train, and fulfilling the same kind of job in a copy room day after day. Will a sudden death that happens right before this man's eyes change that routine?
Would You Like to Take a Tour Bus?- S and K work with storage compartments as movers. What happens when they find themselves on a tour bus?
Out for a Walk- A man and his pregnant wife move into new living quarters in order to fulfill his job, but there is a guard dog within the quarters that is bound to be a handful for this couple.
Jungle Gym- A man's confidence is tested through a business trip.
Room with a Beige Sofa- Jin, his wife Seo, and their baby adjust to living in a new house.
Canning Factory- The strict, but punctual plant manager of a canning factory does not show up one day, drawing suspicion on his disappearance.
A lot of these concepts were interesting and I feel that this material will be subject to rereading and studying for its use of absurdism at some point in time. As works that exercise your mind and are meant to be thought about critically, this did a good job. As stories, though, they were difficult to get through with uninteresting characters and a vague ability to set the scene. I feel that with a writer like Franz Kafka, the information we learned about him and his ability to not limit his boundaries had an impact on how we saw his writing. I would even say that George Saunders writes in a similar manner and with a work like The Semplica-Girl Diaries, it explores an outlandish idea, but it connects to a very logical argument. These stories do not engage in this practice. They are very dull.
I may return to looking over some of these works at some point in time, but for now, I did not enjoy this and would not encourage others to check this out. There are so many other better absurdist writers, like Franz Kafka, George Saunders, and Lewis Carroll.