Korean Literature discussion

What are you currently reading?

I started "Seven Years of Darkness", by Jeong Yu-Jeong recently. I really enjoyed her previous translated thriller, "The Good Son", and this one starts quite promising.

We're reading the new release "A Korean Odyssey: Island Hopping in Choppy Waters" by Michael Gibb.

Maddie wrote: "I started "Seven Years of Darkness", by Jeong Yu-Jeong recently. I really enjoyed her previous translated thriller, "The Good Son", and this one starts quite promising."

I’d like to give this one a shot. Good Son is was not entirely successful but showed great promise.

Books on Asia wrote: "We're reading the new release "A Korean Odyssey: Island Hopping in Choppy Waters" by Michael Gibb."

I saw your review and now I am curious to read this one as well. Would you recommend it?

I'd give it 3 stars so far. I'm 70 percent finished. Will write a review soon.

Recently I read "Child's Bone" by Yi Sang; it is a small collection named after one of the stories. I liked the style, although the stories have clearly aged. Yi Sang reminds me of Witold Gombrowicz and Max Frisch.

Also "The Hole" and "The Disaster Tourist" are both things which I would definitely recommend and which I read recently for the KCCUK meetings.

I am now trying to decide between "The Law of the Lines" and "City of Ash and Red" by Hye-Young Pyun...

Books on Asia wrote: "I'd give it 3 stars so far. I'm 70 percent finished. Will write a review soon."

Oh, so this post was just a new release info? I'm looking forward to the review then!

Aleksandra wrote: "Oh, so this post was just a new release info?"

Sorry, that was confusing, wasn't it? It should have said "Book Description" before the text. Now changed. Thanks for pointing that out! Review to follow soon.

I like the sound of the Yi Sang collection. I've been dipping in and out of Park Wan-Suh's stories in Lonesome You which I'm really enjoying so far, understated and carefully-crafted. Started but then put down again The Great Homecoming, although Anna Kim was born in Korea, she grew up in Austria, so she writes in German. The description of her novel intrigued me but the style isn't working for me so far, although it may be an issue with the translation. But am intending to return to it soon.

Alwynne wrote: "I like the sound of the Yi Sang collection. I've been dipping in and out of Park Wan-Suh's stories in Lonesome You which I'm really enjoying so far, understated and c..."

Yi Sang is well... something else. For some his surreal and absurd style will be enjoyable, others will probably say that such artistic experiments do not age well. I like his works a lot, though.

I am also enthralled with Park Wan-suh! Did you know she only started writing at 40? She had such a painful, fascinating life...

I just read Kim Jiyoung, born 1982. It is a highly readable, unflinching account of all the mundane but terrible things inflicted upon women in modern Korean society.

Henk wrote: "I just read Kim Jiyoung, born 1982. It is a highly readable, unflinching account of all the mundane but terrible things inflicted upon women in modern Korean society."

Are you also planning to see the film adaptation? I wonder how you'd like it in the context of the novel. I felt that they draw a slightly different picture, especially of Ji-yong's husband.

I am now reading "Untold Night and Day" by Bae Suah. I am not even half way through, but I like it so far. In terms of construction, the narrative reminds me of "Gantenbein" by Max Frisch.

Ah, didn’t know there was a film! Thanks for the information Aleksandra!

It's Korean March on instagram so I've plans to pick up quite a few this month. I'm currently reading The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun. I'm enjoying it a lot.

I finished Banned Book Club a fictionalised memoir in graphic form, it's based on Kim Hyun Sook's time in South Korea's student movements in the early 1980s. Although the storytelling's a little lacking in sophistication I still found it an engrossing portrait of the time.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I also read Cathy Park Hong's Minor Feelings: A Reckoning on Race and the Asian Condition a collection of essays about her experiences as a Korean American, it also looks back to her parents' generation growing up in South Korea, and discusses publishing and writing and how that's impacted by publishers catering for the expectations of predominantly white readerships. A really engrossing and insightful book.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished Younghill Kang's East Goes West a semi-autobiographical account of his flight to America from Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1920s. It's a fascinating perspective on newly formed Korean immigrant communities as well as a richly detailed critique of American society from a Korean perspective, and it's filled with detailed comparisons between Korean and American values and cultural conventions.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read Bora Chung's collection Cursed Bunny recently translated by Anton Hur, some promising elements but ultimately not particularly striking, falls broadly under the umbrella of literary horror, and may perhaps appeal more to readers less familiar with the horror aspects.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I recently read Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun and quite enjoyed it. And it has a cover I find entrancing. Review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I am starting Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung and really enjoyed the first story 🇰🇷

This month I read a non-English edition of Familiar Things by Hwang Sok-yong and I liked it very much.

I also read GrassKeum Suk Gendry-Kim. It's a graphic novel, but it took me many hours to work through it. It was rather painful to read, but I'm glad I did it.

Henk wrote: "I recently read Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun and quite enjoyed it. And it has a cover I find entrancing. Review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4..."

Adding it to my wishlist! Thank you, Henk!

Alwynne wrote: "I read Bora Chung's collection Cursed Bunny recently translated by Anton Hur, some promising elements but ultimately not particularly striking, falls broadly under the umbrella of l..."

I'm curious to read the book after seeing your review. Have you considered writing a blog or something? ^~^

Aleksandra wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I read Bora Chung's collection Cursed Bunny recently translated by Anton Hur, some promising elements but ultimately not particularly striking, falls broadly under t..."

I think it's worth reading, just found it quite uneven which isn't that unusual in a short story collection, but I've also read a fair amount of horror so didn't find it as arresting as some of the other reviewers.

Aleksandra wrote: "This month I read a non-English edition of Familiar Things by Hwang Sok-yong and I liked it very much.

I also read GrassKeum Suk Gendry-Kim. It's a graphic novel, but it took me many hours to work..."

I've been contemplating both of those, will bump them up my list!

I've started Un-Su Kim's award-winning The Cabinet which is really promising so far, has a great playful, surreal quality.

I finished The Cabinet which is admittedly a little uneven, even clumsy at times, and some of the transitions within the narrative are slightly abrupt, but I liked it. I think it's an interesting approach to issues around anomie, capitalism and alienation. Obviously these are themes that often surface in Korean literature and media, usually in relation to the idea of "Hell Joseon'" and I liked the unusual way that Kim dealt with his material. And the central character Deok-Geun is quite an appealing creation.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished Kwon Yeo-sun's Lemon mixed feelings about this one, liked the crime buried within the crime, but the execution didn't live up to the concept, possibly a translation issue? And I was uncomfortable with aspects of the portrayal of one of the characters. It did remind me in some senses of The Good Son and I had similar issues with that. I did like her use of James Joyce's colour symbolism, and her direct references to his associations between yellow and innocence in 'A portrait of the artist as a young man' and the implied reference to the change in its meaning in 'Dubliners'.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished Kyung-Sook Shin's Violets which was far better than I'd anticipated, some excellent, lyrical passages and a powerful conclusion, the pacing's a bit problematic, some things are a little too heavily underlined, but worked well for me overall.

Link to my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks! "Laboured" is a great way to sum it up, I thought it was really odd, the concept, structure, use of Joyce etc all seemed very self-consciously literary and complex but the prose style just didn't reflect that at all.

Odd one Lemon as it is a multi-award winning author with an award winning translator (for a previous book, Janet Hong won the First Translation Prize from the Society of Authors, for translations into English from any language, and the LTI Korea Translation Award for translations from Korean into any language).

But somehow it doesn’t really work.

Just finished Human Acts by Han Kang Can one enjoy reading a book based on deeply sad national tragedy? I appreciated the writer’s imaginative weaving of tale centered around an historical event.

I loved that book - what did you think of it?

I have an ARC of Violets by Kyung-Sook Shin tr. Anton Hur to start soon.

Christine wrote: "Just finished Human Acts by Han Kang Can one enjoy reading a book based on deeply sad national tragedy? I appreciated the writer’s i..."

Found it really good, if harrowing

Indeed, Henk.

Just finished an ARC of Violets by Kyung Sook-Shin translated by Anton Hur. Quite impressed.

Paul wrote: "Just finished an ARC of Violets by Kyung Sook-Shin translated by Anton Hur. Quite impressed."

I have to get hold of this one!

This may be an off topic here, but does anyone here have a blog or a website where they post book reviews and such? I know of http://booksonasia.net/ - and I highly recommend it :)

Is there anyone else? I wouldn't want to miss out on Asian lit recommendations :)

Not for me - Goodreads is where I post - although for Korean (and Japanese) literature Tonysreadinglist is very good

My quarterly copy of Korean Literature Now has just arrived

If people don't subscribe I'd strongly recommend - they sent the print magazine free across the world

http://www.kln.or.kr/

Paul wrote: "My quarterly copy of Korean Literature Now has just arrived

If people don't subscribe I'd strongly recommend - they sent the print magazine free across the world

http://www.kln.or.kr/"

Thanks for this recommendation, Paul. I was not aware of KLN.

I also enjoy https://booksandbao.com/

Here’s a link to http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com/...

Nice resources, I've just signed up to KLN. Time to browse the rest. :D

Not sure where to post but I found this article fascinating.

Why Korean sci-fi differs to Western (particularly American) due to different cultural and literary influences

https://kln.or.kr/lines/essaysView.do...

interesting !

Just read I Have The Right To Destroy Myself by Kim Young-ha, an interesting slim novel: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Reading the manhwa Not Sew Wicked Stepmom, by Mo9Rang from the original story by Iru. It is quite funny.

Started the audiobook and also reading parts of Yū Miri’s The End of August: A Novel. It is a family saga that crosses Korea and Japan.
The audiobook was too intense. We have the print version so I will read that but give myself a break first.