Review: New Seoul Park Jelly Vendor Massacre by Cho Yeeun

What if the only way to keep things together is a complete meltdown? When you want a situation to last forever so badly that that fact is more important than having feelings afterwards, it suggests a certain purity. Shall we understand it as a way out when all other options have failed, or as an alternative way to achieve what you want?

The end of the first chapter kills any assumption you might have had of reading a regular run-of-the-mill murder mystery. The title of the book suggests weirdness and it is definitely there, although I didn’t expect the book to be so deadly. I know it says massacre, but the more subtle deaths in this book seem harsher than a bloody massacre.

The narrator of the first (main) story, Yuji, is a child of a couple that argues all the time. Her voice is believable, befitting a young child. Each chapter describes the backstories of the characters going to the theme park and shows their role in the events. The stories aren’t long enough to get you invested in the character’s circumstances. With each new chapter I care less about the new narrators. Only the first chapter really piqued my interest, and that was because I was curious about the nature of the jelly vendor massacre. The author takes ample time to tell the story from multiple angles.

I like the surreal twists. There is definitely a fun story here, but the book was too long. In the afterword, the publisher and author explain that this book originated from a short story competition. While the story may have been more fleshed out in book form, I think the shorter version might have been more intense.The length of the book diminished the power of the surprising elements and the chapters felt like a repetition of the same thing over and over. I do like the concept: a jelly massacre embodying your heart’s desire.