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Is That So? I'm a Giraffe 그렇습니까? 기린 입니다
Bilingual (Korean/English) edition of a surreal novella that "captures a brutally honest view of the sobering, tragic realities of Korean society" (from the Afterword by Kim Nam-hyeok)
99 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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About the author
Min-gyu Park
10 books26 followers소설가 박민규
Born in 1968, Park Min-gyu published his first book Legend of the World's Superheroes in 2003, for which he was awarded the Munhakdongne New Writer Award.
Born in 1968, Park Min-gyu published his first book Legend of the World's Superheroes in 2003, for which he was awarded the Munhakdongne New Writer Award.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 9, 2022
giraffe
November 11, 2020
Is That So? I'm a Giraffe atau jika dibahasa Indonesiakan menjadi 'Benar, Aku Seekor Jerapah?', merupakan karya Park Min-gyu pertama yang saya baca, dan ini juga adalah kesempatan pertama saya untuk berkenalan dengan gaya menulis Min-gyu.
Di dalam cerita ini, pembaca pada awalnya akan dihadapkan pada sebuah realitas hidup seorang pemuda Korea bernama Seung-il yang tergolong sebagai warga kelas menengah ke bawah, dan hal inilah yang menyebabkan ia mesti bekerja paruh waktu meski masih duduk di bangku sekolah.
Park Min-gyu melalui keseharian Seung-il ingin memperlihatkan kepada pembaca bagaimana seorang warga biasa menjadi korban sistem kapitalisme yang akhirnya menyebabkan mereka semakin terpinggir dan memaksa mereka untuk bekerja lebih keras tanpa mengenal waktu dan mematikan rasa malu hanya demi bisa bertahan di tengah gerusan hidup.
Di akhir cerita, Min-gyu memberikan sebuah kejutan, di mana ia memasukan unsur surealis yang awalnya tidak akan kita kira keberadaanya. Di awali dengan hilangnya ayah Seung-il yang bagaikan tertelan lautan manusia di dalam kerata api yang kemudian tidak pernah kembali ke keluarganya, yang pada saat itu menurut polisi hilangnya manusia adalah sebuah kewajaran jika mengingat hidup yang semakin susah.
Namun, di suatu siang, saat Seung-il sedang bekerja sebagai Pendorong Penumpang di stasiun, ia tak sengaja bertemu dengan sosok jerapah dengan setelan lengkap khas gaya berpakaian para pekerja kantoran. Entah mengapa, Seung-il merasa sebuah kedekatan dan kehadiran ayahnya saat ia duduk bersebalahan dengan si jerapah.
Selain kejutan di akhir cerita tersebut, ada yang menarik dengan gaya bercerita Min-gyu dalam cerita ini, selama membaca tidak satu pun percakapan yang dikutip di dalam cerita ini, hal ini mengingatkan saya pada novel Sang Guru Piano, hanya saja Min-gyu mengemasnya masih lebih sederhana.
Di dalam cerita ini, pembaca pada awalnya akan dihadapkan pada sebuah realitas hidup seorang pemuda Korea bernama Seung-il yang tergolong sebagai warga kelas menengah ke bawah, dan hal inilah yang menyebabkan ia mesti bekerja paruh waktu meski masih duduk di bangku sekolah.
Park Min-gyu melalui keseharian Seung-il ingin memperlihatkan kepada pembaca bagaimana seorang warga biasa menjadi korban sistem kapitalisme yang akhirnya menyebabkan mereka semakin terpinggir dan memaksa mereka untuk bekerja lebih keras tanpa mengenal waktu dan mematikan rasa malu hanya demi bisa bertahan di tengah gerusan hidup.
Di akhir cerita, Min-gyu memberikan sebuah kejutan, di mana ia memasukan unsur surealis yang awalnya tidak akan kita kira keberadaanya. Di awali dengan hilangnya ayah Seung-il yang bagaikan tertelan lautan manusia di dalam kerata api yang kemudian tidak pernah kembali ke keluarganya, yang pada saat itu menurut polisi hilangnya manusia adalah sebuah kewajaran jika mengingat hidup yang semakin susah.
Namun, di suatu siang, saat Seung-il sedang bekerja sebagai Pendorong Penumpang di stasiun, ia tak sengaja bertemu dengan sosok jerapah dengan setelan lengkap khas gaya berpakaian para pekerja kantoran. Entah mengapa, Seung-il merasa sebuah kedekatan dan kehadiran ayahnya saat ia duduk bersebalahan dengan si jerapah.
Selain kejutan di akhir cerita tersebut, ada yang menarik dengan gaya bercerita Min-gyu dalam cerita ini, selama membaca tidak satu pun percakapan yang dikutip di dalam cerita ini, hal ini mengingatkan saya pada novel Sang Guru Piano, hanya saja Min-gyu mengemasnya masih lebih sederhana.
April 6, 2022
Berkat "kerja" seseorang bisa berubah hanya dalam waktu sebulan, seminggu, atau bbrp hari. Pekerja yang terlihat aman bukan berarti hidupnya baik-baik saja. Di cerpen ini sadar satu hal: Seseorang memiliki sistem aritmatika hidup sendiri. Aritmatika ini akan menguat ketika kerja, kenapa orang lebih milih kerja A dengan gaji A, tidak kerja A dengan gaji Z. Cerpen ini salah satu cerpen kelas pekerja yang menyedihkan. Tokoh utama masih sekolah dan harus bekerja lebih dari dua kerjaan lepas sekaligus di supermarket, pendorong kereta, atau bantu jadi agen properti. Nenek dan ibunya sakit keras, dan ayahnya hidup dengan rasa bersalah memikirkan keluarganya. Hingga di akhir cerita si Bapak secara absurd berubah jadi jerapah. Si tokoh utama dengan hidupnya yang tak rapi tak menyangkal, "Setidaknya hidup dengan aritmetika yang terlihat aman sudah menjadi berkah besar dalam kehidupan."
Di cerpen "Benar, Aku Seekor Jerapah" jadi suara khas penulis akan keberpihakannya pada kelas pekerja. Berbagai hal yang dikritik Marx dalam dominasi sistem kapitalis. Isolasi, alienasi, dan hal2 yang jika dipikirkan dalam teori akan terlihat seperti marbel yang menuhi otak dan bikin berat saja. Tapi pas dikaitkan dengan kisah Seuing Il dan pekerja-pekerja yang bernasib serupa; rasanya seperti diajak di ruang gelap, didorong ke ruang gelap, dan Seuing Il bertanya kenapa dalam kondisi seperti itu, tidak ada pekerjaan "Penarik Ruang Gelap".
Di cerpen "Benar, Aku Seekor Jerapah" jadi suara khas penulis akan keberpihakannya pada kelas pekerja. Berbagai hal yang dikritik Marx dalam dominasi sistem kapitalis. Isolasi, alienasi, dan hal2 yang jika dipikirkan dalam teori akan terlihat seperti marbel yang menuhi otak dan bikin berat saja. Tapi pas dikaitkan dengan kisah Seuing Il dan pekerja-pekerja yang bernasib serupa; rasanya seperti diajak di ruang gelap, didorong ke ruang gelap, dan Seuing Il bertanya kenapa dalam kondisi seperti itu, tidak ada pekerjaan "Penarik Ruang Gelap".
July 16, 2022
A short story that is a critique on modern society in Korea. The afterword actually really helped me in getting a more general idea as to what the book was about (symbolism is almost always over my head).
I'm a fan of Min-gyu Park, but I realized I'm always looking for another "Pavane for a Dead Princess", and, while this was good, it wasn't as good as that.
Still, a nice easy quick read. Also, I'm really wondering: why a giraffe??
I'm a fan of Min-gyu Park, but I realized I'm always looking for another "Pavane for a Dead Princess", and, while this was good, it wasn't as good as that.
Still, a nice easy quick read. Also, I'm really wondering: why a giraffe??
November 25, 2014
This short story really expressed Min-gyu Pak's style and rather strange way of expressing himself. It follows the machine like existence of a young man and his relationship with work, money and his father. I quite enjoyed it and Sora is a fantastic translator!
January 14, 2017
Really fun-quick read. It's refreshingly straight forward, critical, and yet a character turns into a giraffee. It makes me really happy that a culture so sterotypically concerned with wealth and material can produce writers like this. Leaves me wanting to read more of Min-Gyu.
May 3, 2025
4.5! Read this for a Korean History class, but LOVED it and would highly recommend it. Excellent surrealism that paints a deeply emotional picture of financial struggles in Korea.
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November 2, 2025
Watch my review on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS3m_...
If you are looking for an interesting, distinctive, possibly even unique literary voice or you simply want to sample and find a way into modern Korean literature, you could do far, far worse than the occasionally controversial, frequently eccentric novelist Park Min-gyu’s wonderfully translated short stories “Is That So? I’m a Giraffe” and “Dinner with Buffet.” Park was born in Ulsan in the southeast of South Korea in 1968. He made his literary debut in 2003 when he published two novels, both of which won highly respected literary prizes. His unconventional writing style sent shockwaves through the Korean literary scene and he very quickly established himself as both a talented stylist and as a writer seemingly deeply committed to investigating the political, economic and cultural developments that have taken place in Korea in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Although his writing style has been very influential, according to Korean literary critics, it has also proven to be remarkably difficult to mimic and even, some would argue, to characterise. One of his contemporaries, fellow novelist Kim Young-ha, perhaps sums up his appeal best when he says that Park “has written peculiar, delightful sentences that have never existed before in Korean literature.” A recurring theme of his work is the effect capitalism has on the individual.
“Is That So? I’m a Giraffe” takes place around 1989 during a downturn in South Korea’s economy and finds a vocational high school student taking a number of low-paying part time jobs to help support his family. Whilst his family disintegrates in the background, he becomes a “pusher man” working on the subway, responsible for packing people into subway cars during rush hour. Park’s subject here is really the modernisation project that the South Korean government was pursuing at the time and the effect it had on human relationships.
“Dinner with Buffet” uses a similar blend of tones and styles to tell a story about Warren Buffet first meeting with the president and then having dinner with a young Korean man who won the lottery. Both stories have a strange, compelling mixture of tones and styles which Park weaves seamlessly together; at times satirical, surreal and humorous whilst often poignant, bleak and then finally absurd. They are each published by Asia Publishers in fantastic bilingual editions that also come with additional essays, reviews and critical perspectives.
If you are looking for an interesting, distinctive, possibly even unique literary voice or you simply want to sample and find a way into modern Korean literature, you could do far, far worse than the occasionally controversial, frequently eccentric novelist Park Min-gyu’s wonderfully translated short stories “Is That So? I’m a Giraffe” and “Dinner with Buffet.” Park was born in Ulsan in the southeast of South Korea in 1968. He made his literary debut in 2003 when he published two novels, both of which won highly respected literary prizes. His unconventional writing style sent shockwaves through the Korean literary scene and he very quickly established himself as both a talented stylist and as a writer seemingly deeply committed to investigating the political, economic and cultural developments that have taken place in Korea in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Although his writing style has been very influential, according to Korean literary critics, it has also proven to be remarkably difficult to mimic and even, some would argue, to characterise. One of his contemporaries, fellow novelist Kim Young-ha, perhaps sums up his appeal best when he says that Park “has written peculiar, delightful sentences that have never existed before in Korean literature.” A recurring theme of his work is the effect capitalism has on the individual.
“Is That So? I’m a Giraffe” takes place around 1989 during a downturn in South Korea’s economy and finds a vocational high school student taking a number of low-paying part time jobs to help support his family. Whilst his family disintegrates in the background, he becomes a “pusher man” working on the subway, responsible for packing people into subway cars during rush hour. Park’s subject here is really the modernisation project that the South Korean government was pursuing at the time and the effect it had on human relationships.
“Dinner with Buffet” uses a similar blend of tones and styles to tell a story about Warren Buffet first meeting with the president and then having dinner with a young Korean man who won the lottery. Both stories have a strange, compelling mixture of tones and styles which Park weaves seamlessly together; at times satirical, surreal and humorous whilst often poignant, bleak and then finally absurd. They are each published by Asia Publishers in fantastic bilingual editions that also come with additional essays, reviews and critical perspectives.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews