
Member Reviews

I "discovered" Bora Chung last year and haven't stopped thinking about every single world she's built. This was such an interesting thing - essentially short stories as chapters of a novel. Bora's mind!

This is my second Bora Chung book, and it was such a treat to transition from Cursed Bunny to Midnight Timetable. This book easily deepened my appreciation for horror, specifically storytelling that creates tension and provokes discomfort. Although a general collection of scary stories, there was an ongoing narrative surrounding a central location, and why certain items or people were the way they were.
Some chapters were a hit, and others a miss. Some were truly scary, and others more muddled and vague. I do wonder how much of her prose was lost in translation, but that's the case with most translated works, and I think I'm just being picky. I enjoyed most of this book so I'd rate this closer to 3.5 stars.

Warning: there is animal cruelty here and it is essential to some of the stories. This is an absolutely brilliant collection of ghost stories centered around a place that has haunted objects, and the stories explain the objects. I found this to be a unique way of creating a set of related tales and it was interesting reading the author's explanation at the end explaining the thought process that led to it.
Chung said she chose to have pure ghost stories, not ones disguising mysteries or other types. This was really enjoyable because the focus was always on the characters and the supernatural feelings. My favorite was about a haunted handkerchief, but I'm going to be thinking about all of them for a while. Excellent collection!
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this advanced readers copy

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. These ghost stories feel so fresh and new, which is truly a feat in such a crowded genre.
This didn’t hit me in the feels the same way as Your Utopia did (still not over that collection) but this was a fantastic follow-up. I loved every story on its own, and I LOVED how they intertwined with each other, and I L O V E D the author’s note at the end with the real-life inspiration behind the hauntings.
Easy to read and easy to love. Can’t wait to recommend this to readers this Halloween.

This collection was not as bizarre as “Cursed Bunny.” Centered mostly around a “research center for haunted objects” and the employees that work there, most of the scares are spirit and ghost related. But there’s still some cruelty and violence to be found as well.
The first story was fun, creepy, and even kind of reminded me a tiny bit of the office from “Severance” but with a ghostly element. The objects themselves and the reverence with which they’re treated by the employees also made me think of one of my favorite video games, “Control.”
The second story was confusing because none of the characters had names and it involved not only a large, extended family but other people as well. I had a tough time figuring out who was who and keeping track of what was happening. This problem continued throughout the collection, but I found it to be the most prevalent here.
“The Silence of the Sheep” was my favorite story, until it wasn’t. Honestly, I could have done without the violence against women and animals throughout this collection. Typically I just expect that in horror and sometimes I think I might even be a little numb to it but I think I’m in a sensitive headspace right now. (Fellow cat lovers especially be wary.)
I think I enjoyed the experience of being inside the research center the most. It felt dreamlike and strange, and while the various rooms and objects held different stories I felt like a couple of them took me a bit too far from the building at times.
I appreciated the insightful and informative afterword. I wish more story collections included those.
3.5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Biggest TW: Sexual assault, Mention of Homophobia/Religious Conditioning, Mention of Suicide, Domestic abuse, Animal harm/death/experimentation, Harm to babies

I have loved Bora Chung's previous collections of short stories. Midnight Timetable builds on her mastery of the horror short story with this collection of interconnected tales about the Institute. I was unsettled throughout and found myself not wanting to look behind me lest I see one of the residents. Each story is beautifully written and wonderfully connected to one another, I was compelled to keep going and finished this in one sitting. They are ghost stories, so there is a horror element, but Chung taps into the emotional and longing side of those unable to move on from this life as well.

Horror has never been my genre of choice, ever, at all, I'd almost rather do so many other different things LOL..... but for my favorite authors - like Bora Chung, for example - I will endure! I loved this book! Was I creeped out/scared a majority of the time? Of course, most certainly. 😆🤡 But even so, Chung's writing is so immersive and fascinating that I couldn't turn away (even though there were many times I really, really wanted to haha). But I loved how each short story featured here related to or was, in some way, a larger commentary on things easily recognizable happening in our society right now, as well as how the book ends on an otherwise hopeful note. Overall would def recommend to all my horror lovers, as well as to my general audience who may be looking for something unique and spooky to pick up!

Beautifully written and very emotional. Sad and heartwarming at the same time. More than ghost stories these are tales of love and longing.

This was my first Bora Chung book and I LOVED it. This was a collection of ghost stories that were told within the guise of a larger story. It was so eerie without being gory. I loved how the stories all tied into each other and the spin that Chung put on traditional Korean horror/ghost stories. It was thought provoking with the larger themes in each story and I couldn’t put it down.

Omg, I adored this book! It is a very short novel with a lot of stories that connect themselves in the end. The best thing a reader can do is to dive into this book without knowing too much about it. These stories weren't just scary but also full of heart. This book is a shining proof of why Asian horror rocks.

I liked but didn't love this latest book by Bora Chung. This is a collection of interconnected stories that I think maybe loses something in the linking. I enjoy short fiction for it's ability to be a bit shocking and off the wall (and this author has delivered that in other work), but it's a bit lacking in that quality here.

A fun, quick read with several connected short ghost stories. Leaves you wanting more of the same. Only downside was odd character usage that occasionally was confusing.

I enjoy the idea of this book so I was excited to give Bora Chung another try. My qualms are more with the translation by Anton Hur which I also had with his translation of Cursed Bunny.

Bora Chung is an author I will always read. She always has stories that entertain and mesmerize. Highly recommend to people who love strange reads of the surreal.

Another fantastic work by Bora Chung. I've enjoyed all of her previous works as well and this one did not disappoint. All of the stories revolve around a haunted institute and the unusual goings on throughout the building and its employees. I think Bora Chung did a great job of creating atmosphere and intrigue throughout the whole book. I always recommend Bora Chung for horror and thriller readers!

I absolutely loved CURSED BUNNY so had very, very high expectations for this. I don't think it met the levels of BUNNY but as a short story collection I think it was very strong.
Interlocked ghost stories centering a research institute of haunted objects - there are elements that carry through from story to story. The vibes are creepy and one of them in particular gave me goosebumps.
You have to be okay with not fully understanding, and not getting resolution at the end of each story but the endings are creepy AF.
And "don't look back" is possibly one of the creepiest pieces of advice someone can say because of course you just immediately want to look back.

I'd thoroughly enjoyed "Cursed Bunny" and "Your Utopia", so was eager to get my hands on the latest work by Bora Chung. Similar to her earlier collections, "Midnight Timetable" is a series of short stories that are all loosely interconnected by the unnamed narrator who works at an Institute that houses items with paranormal qualities. As each of the stories unfolds, we're introduced to the narrator's colleagues and their own stories and experiences; some are retellings of earlier events and others being firsthand accounts.
As a whole, I didn't find these stories quite as hard-hitting as some of Chung's earlier works, but they did touch on themes such as greed and desire and topics like domestic abuse and animal cruelty and, as noted in the Afterword, several are takes on Korean folktales and ghost stories. My favorites were "The Handkerchief", where a spoiled youngest son is determined to claim for himself the last item from his deceased mother and "Blue Bird", a story set centuries earlier where an orphaned daughter enacts revenge for the killing of her mother decades earlier. Each story has an item or object of focus - a handkerchief, a cat, a sheep - which are housed in their own rooms at the Institute.
Overall a quick and enjoyable read, but not one of my personal favorites by this author.

Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung is a masterful collection of interconnected ghost stories set within a mysterious research center housing cursed objects. Each tale delves into the eerie and unsettling, exploring themes such as animal testing, conversion therapy, domestic abuse, and late-stage capitalism . Chung's haunting prose, translated by Anton Hur, weaves a tapestry of dark allegories that resonate deeply, offering both bone-chilling horror and poignant social commentary. This novel is a must-read for fans of literary horror that challenges and captivates in equal measure.

First, I have #netgalley and #algonquinbooks to thank for helping me discover the writing of Bora Chung (as well as the writing and translation of Anton Hur). What a gift its been to discover these talents. I found Bora Chung's last collection - Your Utopia - as an ARC in 2024 (also discovering her translator Mr. Hur at that time) and have been hooked ever since. I went back and read Cursed Bunny (her most acclaimed and "Booker Prize shortlisted" collection) which was worthy of every accolade.
When I saw MIDNIGHT TIMETABLE - "a novel in ghost stories" listed among current options in Net Galley I jumped on it. This book is set for publication on 9/30/2025.
One of the greatest aspects of this collection (which arrives at the. end) in the author's note `which provides really poignant and personal background into the creation of the stories in the collection along with author's advice on how to get unstuck when you have writer's block "write a ghost story!" and her personal love for the genre.
These interconnected and interwoven stories.do stand alone in their own creepy, crafty, and unique ways but when taken together they encompass and demonstrate much greater moral, ethical, and tragic truths about humankind -- we are covetous, greedy, duplicitous, and sometimes downright evil but we are also loving, nurturing, and compassionate (especially women and those who are preyed upon and discarded). And KARMA is real!! In this novel, objects are much more than meets the eye and everything has a story to tell (and sometimes justice comes home to roost). Yay! We need it!
Also great wisdom on two universal underlying themes -- "don't look back" and "let it go!!" Whether the latter is an object, a resentment, or an obsession (or sometimes all three at once).
The final story - SUNNING DAY - was a favorite and the collection, overall, left me feeling lifted and VERY connected to the author. As mentioned, her note at the conclusion of the book provided a warm and welcoming invitation (for her fans especially!!) to discover the derivations of these stories and the collection as a whole and gave a sneak peak into Bora Chung, the writer and the woman. I just loved this book (and her)! Thank you again and I wholeheartedly recommend this one.

Midnight Timetable is a fun collection of connected short stories, all stories revolving around an institution where they research haunted things. Some of the stories really engaged me and made me want to continue reading, others were a bit of a chore. I really liked the handkerchief story and the long tunnel.
I wanted to read this because I really loved Cursed Bunny, but Midnight Timetable didn't work in the same way for me. I do think these stories were fun and I liked the author's notes at the end.