Hello and welcome to this casual reading of 시간 고양이!
Since this is an informal book club, and since there are only 2 of us for now, we will post all thoughts and comments in this thread. No schedule, so feel free to jump in any time!
Usual reminder to be careful about spoilers since there is no schedule (indicating the chapter you’re in before blurring spoilers is helpful.)
Here are some polls:
Will you be reading the book?
Yes, right now
Not now, but it’s on my TBR and I’ll get to it eventually
Listened to and read chapter 1 concurrently, but the audio was a little fast so I only got the gist of the story. Going to go back and read it at a more leisurely pace now. Just for reference for the audiobook:
Alrighty, here are some thoughts!
I am halfway through chapter two, and I am thoroughly enjoying the book so far. In part because it is easy, which I didn’t expect, but also because who doesn’t love a story about a kid and a cat?
Chapter 2 spoilers: Like I said I’m not done with the chapter yet, but when they got back to the village I was fully expecting it to be a similar-but-different place, like a different dimension, or time travel. But no, the neighbour seems to know our protagonist! Seems like the area 23 incident was just a scare and not a plot-defining moment. (Or was it? Guess I’ll have to keep reading.)
서림 is visiting her mother in hospital, proudly telling her she did well on her mock exam. Her mother has been hospitalised for 8 years after an accident in which she lost her memory; she hasn’t spoken since, and doesn’t seem to even realise when her daughter is present. She always holds onto a doll, and when anyone tries to part her from it, she starts screaming hysterically. 서림’s good grades will help her leave the slum and move to New Clean City, where her mother will get better care.
Suddenly a cat appears at the window, which surprises 서림 since cats are thought to be extinct due to a virus that wiped out most mammals. The appearance of the cat also prompts her mother to speak for the first time - before the accident, 서림 and her mother would read books about cats together as it was her mother’s favourite animal.
After leaving the hospital, 서림 again catches sight of the cat. She assumes it must be a robot, as they make really life-like robot pets in New Clean City, and wonders if she might get a reward, as it looks really realistic and expensive. She follows it into a danger zone that has been fenced off, as there are still animals carrying the virus living in there.
When she falls into a hole several metres deep, she’s in dispair, as no one knows where she is, and it’s unlikely anyone will be able to find her in this restricted area. As night falls, the cat she had been following jumps down into the hole with her, and guides her to a hidden door, helping her escape from the pit.
Feel free to correct me or point out anything I’ve missed!
Thoughts
I’m interested in finding out more about what happened to 서림’s mother, as it didn’t really go into detail about the accident. The bit about the doll I thought was both sad and intriguing.
I thought 뉴클린시티 was a bit silly and obvious a name, but I guess it wouldn’t seem as bad to Korean readers.
The bit where 서림 thinks that the cat looks so realistic, it must be robot made me think, ah, it’s definitely not a robot then.
I don’t really have any idea of where the story is going, so I’m prepared to be surprised.
I did have quite a few lookups for vocab to do with the virus/pollution/extinction, but other than that it was pretty straightforward.
Long overdue update!
These are about chapters that I read a while ago, so I’m just posting the things I jotted down at the time:
Chapter 3:
“20세기부터 시작된 인구 폭발, 환경 오염 그리고 기후 위기 때문입니다. 지구 온난화는 북극 빙하를 녹였고, 그 아래에 있던 바이러스가 세상에 나오고 말았습니다.“ Hmmmm… What year was this set in again? How is the ice doing for now, still cold, yes? We’re not defrosting any virus, right? Right??
The cities:
뉴클린시티 was funny, but 노멀시티 is hilarious. Also, 뉴클린시티 is definitely suspicious.
The characters:
For some reason it is so funny to me that the other kid is called Jose. It reminds me when I was learning hangul, one of my classmates was called José and we found it really funny that the “j” sound in Spanish was really just and aspirated “h” in Korean. The fact that there was no “f” sound for example we just rolled with it, but the j → h sound was really funny. It’s like and English accent, but in Korean.
Koreans can’t pronounce J Spaniards can’t pronounce ㅎ
So 호세 now has a special place in my heart. And him making a cat toy was really cute.
Chapter 4:
We’ve met almost all of our main characters now! I wonder when the hacker will show up, now that we’ve seen a bit more of the technology in this world.
3 Likes
As an Amazon Associate, Natively earns from qualifying purchases through any Amazon links on the site.
Going to go back and read it at a more leisurely pace now. Just for reference for the audiobook:
Spaniards can’t pronounce ㅎ