Author: Kim Ewhan
Translated by: Sean Lin Halbert
Publisher: Serpent's Tail, 2024
Original title: 절망의 구, 2009
Link to online store *
A piercingly dark, surreal satire on mass panic, disaster response and modern masculinity
One evening in downtown Seoul, Jeong-su is smoking a cigarette outside when he sees something impossible: a huge black orb appears out of nowhere and sucks his neighbour inside.
The orb soon begins consuming other people and no one knows how to stop it. Impervious to bullets and tanks, the orb splits and multiplies, chasing the hapless residents of Seoul out into the country and sparking a global crisis with widespread violence and looting. Jeong-su must rely upon his wits as he makes the arduous journey in search of his elderly parents. But the strangest phases of this ever-expanding disaster are yet to come and Jeong-su will be forced to question everything he has taken for granted.
Dryly funny, propulsive and absurd, The Black Orb is terrifyingly prescient about the fragility of human civilisation.
Source: publisher’s website
LKL says:
At times the pacing of this book is rather slow, but as a study of how individuals and humanity as a whole might react to an incomprehensible unfolding calamity is well observed.
LKL rating: 
External links:
- Review by Paul Fulcher (PF rating:
). - Entry on Goodreads.com.
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