Book Club: Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung

Today is the second Sweating Blood book club at In a Land gallery. I can’t make it, but once again I have read the book. One of the great things about book clubs is reading things you wouldn’t normally pick up. Sometimes, they don’t work for you and this is a Good Thing. While I didn’t love Midnight Timetable, I don’t think it’s a bad book, just not one for me. I’m glad I tried it. I’ll be brief about the things I didn’t like. The first couple of stories felt unengaging and a little obvious, particularly given Chung’s slight characterisation. The book identified characters by role rather than name, which I found alienating. Chung writes with telegraphic brevity. An example: “She took her to the most popular shopping mall in the city. Chatting endlessly, they ate snacks together and looked at all the clothes and appliances.” There’s a lack of detail here, a smoothness, that doesn’t work for me. The horror elements were not as strong as I’d hoped and for much of the book it felt like a…