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.
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