A Sticky, Unhinged Tale with Emotional Depth

What is the Book About?

(No danger here, spoiler-free zone.)

The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre* is written by Cho Yeeun and translated by Yewon Jung. A South-Korean body horror type of novel. Published by Honford Star on 16th of May, 2024.

In the beginning, the plot follows Yuji, a little girl who is visiting The New Seoul Park with her parents. A theme park with flashy rides, endless food and enjoyment and a middle-aged man who offers jelly to every visitor. This jelly is not your regular sugary comfort snack. It is a remedy for broken hearts, for people who lost their connection with their other halves. A remedy for ‘staying together forever’. Quite literally. 

Yuji loses her parents, who are too busy arguing. Then she finds another little girl who also lost her mother, and the jelly man shows up offering candies to her. That’s when all hell let loose, when The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre just started.

Is it Body Horror? Initial thoughts (no spoilers)

The novel is quite short with its 208 pages. An easy and fast read when you have the time. It is definitely unhinged and weird. I wouldn’t call it a hardcore body horror per se. It does have  elements from it, but not the truly disturbing, almost physically feeling unwell after reading it – type. It is a fun book that actually makes you think much more than you expected from a story like this.

This being said, there were definitely sentences, here and there, sprinkled over the text like powder sugar, where I actually flinched when I read it. But I won’t say more than this, as I don’t want to spoil anything. 

It was a positive reading experience, so I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to read something quickly, that is fun and weird. But it also has some emotional depth to its characters.

Negative Character Arcs done Splendidly (spoiler alert)

Hands down my favourite aspect of the book was the way the writer handled the negative character arcs. What I mean by that, is that you have a character, a kind of main character who happens to be quite neutral, even a little bit positive, you could say. Definitely nothing malicious. And as time goes on and the plot of the story evolves, this neutral character goes through emotional and physical changes, in the negative meaning. Both his circumstances and his persona become worse and worse. Quite literally turning into a despicable character, which I found fascinating and very fun to read. 

I have to say, that I was a little bit sad for the ending of the book, I was expecting something a little bit different. It felt a bit rushed but nothing major to complain about. Maybe because I loved Yuji so much that it made me sad, that such a strong willed, emotionally mature character gave up so easily. It felt a little bit ‘unlike’ her, a bit pushed decision. But that’s just my personal preference, it doesn’t take away from the book itself.

Character- Driven Roller Coaster (spoiler alert)

I would say it’s definitely a character-driven novel, rather than strictly plot-driven. Although, the plot is quite fun and things are happening at a moderately fast pace. 

Apart from the negative character arcs, we have positive ones as well. Especially, Jua’s character, who goes through a major ‘maturing’ process which was surprising, and quite unexpected. Loved her character in the end. Another character who absolutely stole my heart was the all-wise cat of the New Seoul Theme Park. A complex and deeply emotional and intelligent character. It was fascinating to read through the eyes of an animal. It gave warmth to the novel.

Overall

The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre is a nice reading palate cleanser, if you love weird, quick and fun books. Pure entertainment on that part, with some complex emotional depth and changes throughout the novel. If you love this type of architecture in a book, then probably you will love this one as well.

I think both the author and the translator did a tremendous job and for me, since I went in without expectations, it was not a disappointing reading experience at all. It was an entertaining and a fun read.