Kim Yi-Hwan

BOOKS

Dessert World

Introduction:
Kim Ewhan’s Dessert World takes inspiration from Lewis Carrol’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Not only does it borrow many of the characters that Carrol imagined—including the Cheshire Cat, the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, the White Queen, and more—but it also plays with logic, rejecting and challenging the reader’s deep desire to understand, much like how Carrol’s works employed literary nonsense. Indeed, most of the time, the true nature of things are either unclear, nonsensical, or lost to bad memory. And like Carrol, Kim likes to use riddles to further confound his readers. The “fish-dark-thorn-cat” is probably the best representation of the novel’s nonsensical and riddle-like nature; as the Bunny Man explains, the “fish-dark-thorn-cat” is a thing but not an object, has a scent but no appearance, and can be felt but not touched. And when asked about from whom he first learned of this thing, the Bunny Man says, “I don’t quite remember.” But despite all of these nonsensical elements, the novel continues to invite the reader in through mystery and suspense. Who is the Bunny Man? Where does he come from? What is the fish-dark-thorn-cat? And will Mr. L be able to free himself from the Bunny Man’s grasp? These are only a few of the questions that continue to propel the reader through the story’s obscurities.

Review:
Dessert World is unlike any novel I have ever read. It is bizarre and mysterious and a real page-turner. The sentences are riddle-like: simple, but thought provoking, and sometimes a little paradoxical. And even though the book seems a little nonsensical at times, there is a good balance of mystery and suspense to keep the reader going. It’s the kind of book that begs to be analyzed and read a second time.

Summary:
One day, a man named Mr. L begins to see a large dark hole. Mr. L goes to see a doctor, but judging from the doctor’s expression, he infers there is no medicine to cure him. Mr. L waits for the dark hole to engulf him, when suddenly a man wearing a bunny mask and a dark suit jumps out from the hole. The Bunny Man takes out a pocket watch and looks around. The Bunny Man tells Mr. L he is dying, and offers him a deal: he will “fold” Mr. L’s life if, in return, Mr. L tells him fun stories and feeds him delicious desserts. Mr. L understands immediately that this means the Bunny Man will make death disappear. Mr. L does not think to ask the Bunny Man why he wants stories and desserts, but he accepts and suggests that they meet once a year on Halloween. That way, the Bunny Man will not draw attention with his strange mask.

From then on, Mr. L meets the Bunny Man once a year on Halloween, and the remainder of the time is spent preparing for that one day. As Mr. L puts it, he is “trapped in those 364 days.”
On the first year, Mr. L meets the Bunny Man and they have Mont Blanc at a café in Hongdae. The Bunny Man explains to Mr. L that he is from “a high place” and that he is searching for something called a fish-dark-thorn-cat. When Mr. L asks the Bunny Man what the fish-dark-thorn-cat looks like, the Bunny Man replies, “It does not ‘look like’. It has no form.” He continues to explain that the fish-dark-thorn-cat has no appearance, can be felt but not touched, and can only be found on Earth (or Dessert World, as he calls it). As Mr. L and the Bunny Man talk, the Bunny Man often has difficulty understanding Mr. L because the logic in Dessert World is so much different from that in the high place. Even time works differently in the high place. When Mr. L asks the Bunny Man how things are in the high place these days, for example, the Bunny Man replies, “There are no ‘these days’.” In addition to feeding the Bunny Man delicious desserts, Mr. L also tells the Bunny Man the story of a couple who moves into a house that had once been the scene of a gruesome murder. The Bunny Man seems please with the dessert and the story, but points out that the story has many plot holes. Mr. L is shocked that the Bunny Man was able to understand the story so well, but is also pleased that the Bunny Man is satisfied. As long as the Bunny Man is satisfied, Mr. L can continue being young and healthy. Before they separate, the Bunny Man asks Mr. L what his favorite dessert is, and Mr. L says it is cupcakes. The Bunny Man suggests they eat cupcakes next time. After the Bunny Man returns to the high place, Mr. L returns to his apartment. As he takes off his shoes, one of his toes falls off. He can smell the stench of rotting flesh. But Mr. L is not worried, he sticks the toe back on his foot and takes a shower. After the shower, he looks in the mirror and sees a beautiful young man. Today was successful and he knows that he can last another year.

Next year, Mr. L takes the Bunny Man to a café to eat carrot cake. Bunnies like carrots, he thinks. But when he tells Bunny Man what he has planned for the night, he can tell the Bunny Man is upset. According to the Bunny Man, in the high place, they would never even think about eating carrots. When the carrot cake comes out, however, the Bunny Man exclaims, “This is a trump card!” It turns out that in Dessert World trump cards are carrot cakes and carrot cakes are trump cards. The Bunny Man tries the carrot cake and says he likes it. Relieved that the Bunny Man is satisfied, Mr. L tells the Bunny Man a story about a man adrift in the ocean who mistakenly eats another person thinking they are a sea turtle. The Bunny Man once again points out some logical inconsistencies with the story, but is nevertheless pleased with the tale. The Bunny Man asks Mr. L why they haven’t gone to eat cupcakes like Mr. L promised, and Mr. L explains that he wasn’t able to make a reservation. After the Bunny Man leaves, Mr. L returns to his apartment and calls the cupcake store again to make a reservation. But he realizes the cupcake store never existed to begin with. Mr. L drinks some water, but it tastes like carrot cake.

The next year, Mr. L takes the Bunny Man to eat macaroons. After the two of them eat macaroons and Mr. L tells the Bunny Man a fun story, the waitress offers them both a fortune cookie. The Bunny Man’s fortune tells him that he is late for an appointment. Reading this, the Bunny Man realizes that he is indeed late and quickly returns to the high place. Before leaving, though, the Bunny Man tells Mr. L they should eat cupcakes next time. After the Bunny Man leaves, Mr. L reads his own fortune cookie. It tells him he will meet a new friend. As Mr. L leaves the café, he notices a girl in a blue dress. He realizes that he has seen this girl three years in a row, each time on Halloween at the same café he and the Bunny Man have been eating at. And each time he has seen her, she has been waiting for someone. Mr. L befriends the girl, whose name is Ruby, and soon comes to the conclusion that she must be from the high place. But Ruby says she hates the high place. She also says that she wants to kill the Smiling Cat. Mr. L eats the left over macaroons with Ruby. She asks Mr. L why he looks so sickly, and he tells her it’s all because the cupcake store he wanted to go to has disappeared. Ruby finally says she must return to the high place. Before leaving, she tells Mr. L that because he has been affected by the high place, time has been split in two. One with a cupcake store, and one without. Mr. L says they will meet again next year, but Ruby tells him that he will not remember her next year because the high place often has that effect on people. And indeed, once she leaves, Mr. L cannot remember his new friend.

Next year, the Bunny Man and Mr. L agree to each bring a friend. Mr. L brings a doctor acquaintance whom he is not close with, and the Bunny Man brings a man in a silk hat named Jack. Mr. L lies to his doctor friend and explains that this is an audition for a acting role. The four of them meet, but Mr. L soon realizes that Jack the silk-hat man is far scarier than the Bunny Man. Although this get-together is much more difficult than in years past, Mr. L makes it through the night successfully. Back at the apartment, Mr. L’s doctor friend says he knows why Mr. L chose him for tonight even though they are not close. Being a doctor, he can tell Mr. L is already dead. Thus, the doctor concludes, Mr. L chose a distant friend who would not know he was dead. The doctor then pulls out a silk hat, which he stole from Jack. The doctor says he too wants to live forever as a young beautiful man like Mr. L. The silk hat turns into a cat mask. The doctor then puts on the mask. But as he wears the mask, he slowly begins to disappear into thin air. He has been “folded.” Once he is gone, the silk-hat man Jack returns and takes his hat back. After Jack leaves, Mr. L begins to forget about his doctor friend.

By the next year, Mr. L has become a famous celebrity because of his good looks. So, in preparation for his date with the Bunny Man, Mr. L has decided to use a pig mask, which he received from a naked woman in his apartment, to wear out in public. However, when he puts on the mask, the Bunny Man mistakes him for the Duchess, another person from the high place. Realizing this could be useful, Mr. L puts on the pig mask just before the Bunny Man returns to the high place. Seeing what he thinks is the Duchess, the Bunny Man offers Mr. L a ride back to the high place. Mr. L accepts and the two of them enter the dark hole. On the other side of the hole is a tea party in the woods. At the table are a sea turtle, a rabbit with glasses, and Jack the silk-hat man. The rabbit in glasses asks the Bunny Man why he was late, and the Bunny Man explains that he has been traveling to Dessert World to meet a man named Mr. L and find the fish-dark-thorn-cat. The rabbit then turns to Mr. L and asks him who he is. The Bunny Man replies, “It is the Duchess, of course!” And the rabbit in glasses apologizes, saying he thought it was someone wearing a mask that looked like the Duchess. After a while, a voice descends from the sky to tell Mr. L that he should leave. Slowly, Mr. L gets up from his seat and retreats into the forest. There, he runs into the Smiling Cat. Mr. L asks the Smiling Cat if it was he who sent him the naked woman to his apartment. The Smiling Cat says that he sent the naked woman (who in fact is the White Queen) to Mr. L’s apartment to ask for help. Mr. L then asks why the White Queen gave him a mask. The Smiling Cat tells him it was either to remind him that he once had a friend, to tease the Bunny Man, or to help the Duchess. Mr. L also asks the Smiling Cat about a laughing cat that he often hears at his apartment. The Smiling Cat admits that it was he who was laughing, and that he did so because he was worried about Mr. L. Hearing this, Mr. L explains that people don’t laugh when they’re worried, and the Smiling Cat responds, “Is that so?” A dark hole appears and Mr. L enters it to return to Dessert World. As he enters the hole, the cat mutters the word “snack.” Back in his apartment, Mr. L tells the White Queen that he is looking for a cupcake store that doesn’t exist. The White Queen explains that it’s simple: all he needs to do is make it. Mr. L is astonished he didn’t think of that himself. As the White Queen prepares to return to the high place, she says the word “snack” to Mr. L. He asks her what she means by that, and she explains to him that he already knows.

In the next chapter, Mr. L emerges from the black hole again to find himself in a cupcake store. He remembers the conversation he had with the White Queen and realizes that he must be in the future at the cupcake store he will later open. Mr. L thinks that it must have been the Smiling Cat who sent him, but he wonders where the owner of the store, the future Mr. L, is. He looks around a bit before a customer comes in. It is a man wearing a tall silk hat. Mr. L thinks the man looks familiar, but he cannot remember who the man is. Mr. L tries to act normal, but the silk-hat man can tell something is off. The silk-hat man asks for some cupcakes and a story. Mr. L tells him a story and the silk-hat man leaves. Then a girl in a blue dress comes in. Mr. L also thinks this girl looks familiar. And after her, an old man and then a doctor visit the store. Mr. L asks the doctor what the name of this cupcake store is, and the doctor tells him it’s called Snack. Mr. L sees two girls approaching the store. One is in a blue dress and the other is in a white dress. Suddenly someone tugs at Mr. L’s pants and pulls him into the kitchen. It is the future Mr. L. The future Mr. L tells the present Mr. L to hide in the oven. The present Mr. L does so, and as he waits there the future Mr. L and the other guest leave the store. Suddenly, the Bunny Man appears and present Mr. L prepares some more cupcakes for him. As the Bunny Man starts his return to the high place, Mr. L stops him and tells him that he won’t be able to meet Bunny Man anymore. The Bunny Man asks why, and Mr. L explains that he has found the fish-dark-thorn-cat. The Bunny Man can’t believe it at first, but eventually accepts that Mr. L looks like someone who has found the fish-dark-thorn-cat. The Bunny Man accepts the news and tells Mr. L that he won’t be meeting him anymore. The Bunny Man admits that he misses his friends in the high place. Before he returns to the high place, the Bunny Man tells Mr. L how people always tell him that he’s not real. “But I am real,” the Bunny Man says to Mr. L. The Bunny Man then proceeds to take off his bunny mask. Mr. L is surprised at how easily the mask is removed. But before Mr. L can see the Bunny Man’s face, the lights go out and the Bunny Man disappears. The lights turn on again and Mr. L begins to feel sick. He wants to avoid the dark hole, but he knows what road he must take, and the chapter ends.

In the next chapter, Mr. L is back in the present and is making raspberry tarts. Suddenly, the Bunny Man appears and asks Mr. L why he stole the raspberry tarts. Mr. L denies that he stole anything, but before he can resist, the Bunny Man takes him through the dark hole and into the high place. There, a trial is being conducted at the tea party table to determine who stole the raspberry tarts. At the end of the table, the White King is playing judge, and next to him sleeping on the table is what appears to be the future Mr. L. The White King thinks the future Mr. L is a raspberry tart. He calls up several witnesses, including the sea turtle and the silk-hat man. Finally he calls up Mr. L to the stand. Mr. L denies that he stole the raspberry tarts, and explains tat the person sleeping on the table is not a raspberry tart but a man. Seeing that Mr. L knows so much about raspberry tarts, the White King becomes convinced that it was Mr. L who stole the tarts. The White King asks Mr. L if he has any last words, and Mr. L decides to tell them a story about the fish-dark-thorn-cat. According to his story, there once was a man who learned that if he didn’t forget about the word “fish-dark-thorn-cat” by the time he turned 35, something unhappy would happen to him. The man almost succeeds in forgetting about the word, but is suddenly reminded of it on his 35th birthday. Just as the man tries to remember what the word meant, the phone begins to ring in his living room. He goes to answer the phone. From the other side he hears a voice: “Is the fish-dark-thorn-cat real?” They all listen to the long story and eventually become bored and forget about the trial. Everyone leaves the tea party except Mr. L and the silk-hat man. Suddenly, Mr. L wakes up and finds himself in a living room. The phone starts ringing, and Mr. L has an ominous feeling. He tries not to pick up the phone, but is compelled to do so. From the other side he hears a voice. “Is the fish-dark-thorn-cat real?” it asks. The phone call suddenly ends and Mr. L is left standing looking at the receiver. Mr. L goes into the garden and finds the Bunny Man playing chess with a young girl. A cat descends from the air and lands on the table. Mr. L talks with the young girl and the cat before suddenly Mr. L feels someone tap on his shoulder. He turns around to see a woman. It is his wife. They talk for a while about chess and raspberry tarts. Mr. L then asks his wife how to be happy. And she answers, “Your unhappiness is over.” Mr. L then returns to the garden to find that the Bunny Man and his shadow have disappeared. The garden is quiet and bright. He then sees his daughter eating a raspberry tart. He closes his eyes and can hear his daughter saying, “It’s delicious.” And with this, the story ends.