Harrowing ... The Midnight Timetable lacks the verve and sophistication of her earlier work, and a few nuances are lost in English ... Still, several stories have a satisfying feminist edge, and Hur’s translation captures their eerie tone and quietly unsettling atmosphere.
Diffuses and dissipates its energy. There are as many tangents here as there are objects ... This book feels haunted by residual furies ... The Institute feels like a convenient container. It never fully holds Chung’s attention; her collection is most alive when it strays furthest in tone, time and geography (the folkloric Blue Bird is a standout; so is a tale about a bodysnatching sheep that can predict the lottery) ... The Institute [is] reduced to a vague and sinister backdrop, overseen by equally vague and sinister dude.
Thrillingly creepy ... Chung knows how to entertain and unnerve simultaneously, while tucking in commentary on the modern world ... A must-have socially aware horror novel.
Chilling ... With a bone-dry wit and biting allegorical edge, expertly captured in Hur’s translation, Chung turns the haunted-object trope into a vehicle for radical empathy and sharp critique. Part fable, part ghost story, and part social commentary, this is a beautiful and devastating excavation of how people make sense of the world’s violence and tragedies.
Inventive, layered, and deliciously weird ... One of Chung’s great strengths has always been social critique, and these tales cleverly examine the ways that vulnerable people...are society’s 'ghosts.'
