여수의 사랑

by Han Kang, 한강

你在哪里长成了如此穷困的脸，现在又在哪里以这张穷困的脸生活着呢？

夜幕降临，黑暗像披散着头发的灵魂，浸湿了黑色的山，混入黑色的河水，沉入苍茫的地表。在阳光下曾经炎热喧闹的城市，因无数次争斗、阴谋和相遇而沸腾的城市，此刻在石棺般凉爽的黑暗中，横陈着漫长而慵懒的肉体。夜晚的灯光看上去像是坟墓里一起殉葬的廉价宝石。

在这样的夜晚，韩江笔下的人物离开、抛弃、彷徨、坠落，在死亡的边缘怀念这个世界上没有的东西。

电话那端传来一句“什么时候回来一趟吧”，但是那句话总感觉像是在说“以后就不要再联系了”。

322 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 1995

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Han Kang ( 한강) was born in 1970 in South Korea. She is the author of The Vegetarian, winner of the International Booker Prize, as well as Human Acts, The White Book, Greek Lessons, and We Do Not Part. In 2024, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life."

Reviews

[Library of Universe · Rating 3 out of 5]

All her stories were too dark in this book.

Han Kang said in a 1995 interview, “What I like most is when readers say in their reading responses that my novels made them feel sad.”
I find myself increasingly suspecting, through her interviews from that period, that she wrote her books with the aim of plunging readers into depression.

I dislike her philosophy of showing darkness, not toward offering hope at the end or providing empathy and comfort, but instead making readers endlessly depressed.
I think she simply continues writing dark books throughout her life.
She did not move forward much; she just lives trapped in darkness.

I no longer want to read books by a writer like Han Kang who leads readers into darkness.

I would just call her a dark pervert.

[Barry Welsh]

Watch an interview with the Nobel prize-winning Han Kang on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkkLm...

[Wenjing · Rating 2 out of 5]

只读了前两篇，第一篇听闻是韩江的出道作。我没想到她第一篇发表的小说就是如此愁苦，20多岁怎么能有那么多寂寥与痛苦呢？前两篇还可以，能感受到她的女性意识，但也能看出来这些女性意识是出自她对广泛的“人”的同情。只读了两篇+打低分是因为后面的几篇都是男性为主角。

[Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

현실적

[Pearl · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long while since I read a book in Korean, and this book made me fall in love with the language. Han Kang has a beautiful way with language that reflects the depth with which the stories of 여수의 사랑 are written, and I don't think there is an author who portrays the complexities of loneliness as faithfully as she does. I loved how connected the short stories felt in terms of their exploration of this feeling, each of them introducing a story that felt new and familiar all at once. Perhaps the most memorable for me were 여수의 사랑 and 진달래 능선.

I had previously read The Vegetarian - the novel for which she is perhaps most known for - in English and disliked it, finding it to be too Murakami-esque in its grotesqueness. I am thankful that I gave her books another go, and look forward to reading her other novels.

[Sunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

How certain 'loss' we experience at the childhood shapes our lives.
Painful stories

2nd read completed on 3/10/25
New addition published post the novel prize announcement
Contains 6 short stories- enjoyed the first two best 여수의 사랑, 어둠의 사육제