Table for one Stories

The title story in Ko-Eun's (The Disaster Tourist, 2020) short-story collection features a motivated office worker who enrolls in a formal training course so she can master the art of eating lunch by herself. "Sweet Escape" is about a man who valiantly offers himself up as a host for bedbugs to get rid of the infestation in his apartment building. "Invader Graphic" shows a struggling writer's ingenious ways of taking advantage of free amenities in a department store. "Hyeonmong Park's Hall of Dreams" stars a man who wears other people's pajamas and conjures and interprets their dreams for a fee. "Piercing" focuses on a househusband obsessed with whale-shaped piercings and a young prostitute. "Don't Cry Hongdo'' follows the adventures of a wily fourth-grader who tries to matchmake her Leslie Cheung look-alike homeroom teacher with her thirtysomething mom. Each of these strange, spare, cleverly imagined, and compelling tales has a strong sense of place and portrays everyday folks living in South Korea who are just trying their best to fit in, get by, and pursue a slice of happiness

Nine tales illustrate the absurdities of modern life. Korean author Yun explores themes of anxiety and alienation in this wide-ranging collection. Some entries are a bit woolly and take surreal turns to underscore their messages. "Hyeonmong Park's Hall of Dreams," for example, is about a struggling businessman who finally makes his fortune charging customers to wear their pajamas and dream their dreams, ostensibly to save them time and stress. Meanwhile, "Roadkill," a Kafkaesque commentary on capitalism, is set during an extended blizzard at a remote, unstaffed motel where vending machines roll through the halls, selling seemingly everything and allowing guests to temporarily revoke their identities in exchange for cash. Other entries rely on a strong, distinct voice and subtle satire to get their points across. Such is the case with the incisive, empowering title story, wherein a woman tires of being excluded from her co-workers' lunch plans and enrolls in a three-month course to learn how to comfortably, confidently, dine out alone. "Invader Graphic," a wryly funny standout, intercuts narration from a young writer who uses a department store powder room as her office with excerpts from her novel-in-progress about a depressed banker who finds joy in guerrilla street art. And the paranoia-fueled "Sweet Escape" sees a man join a travel club in preparation for a European vacation only to develop a pathological fear of bedbugs. Repeated elements appear throughout, amplifying the collection's resonance. Boldly drawn characters abound, but Yun renders women, in particular, with an empathy and complexity that enrich the entries in which they are the focus. Weirdly wonderful and wonderfully weird. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.