Korean Literature discussion

Our June book club read is Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan, [Trans.] Jae Won Chung

While "Whale" begins with Chunhee, a mysterious young brickmaker of imposing physicality who cannot speak, introduced a the Queen of Red Bricks, it quickly situates her story within a longer multi-generational saga composed of three parts. While we learn of Chunhee s tragic path to her becoming someone who makes bricks of the highest quality, the novel retraces the familial circumstances that shaped her. While poignant yet brutal, "Whale" is also a satire of how we the general public, mass media, even artists and writers tend to romanticize voiceless figures of history."

I started Whale Saturday and found it compelling, albeit there's a significant amount of violence against multiple women in the first 50 pages. It's almost amazing what these characters survive. I recommend trying to read it in chunks of at least 40 pages in order to keep the characters straight.

I read somewhere that Whale is a retelling of Great Expectations, but I am not seeing that so far. I'm around page 60. (that statement is at the Booker Prize page linked below.)

This link to the Booker Prize page for Whale includes several interesting takes on it. No spoilers, IMO https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booke...

I'm especially interested in the final quote at the bottom of the page, suggesting that the author wouldn't want readers to take Whale too seriously. There are mentions of "wicked humor," a "romp," and "tragicomic precision." I haven't gotten to a vibe that suggests any of those things, yet, but perhaps as the characters age a little, I'll stop holding my breath about what awful things they might next experience.

Indeed, the mood shifts. Tragedies occur, but the presentation somehow makes them acceptable , or less awful. I’m enjoying Whale immensely.

Is anyone else joining?

Carol, I will be starting soon.

Great. I look forward to seeing what you think.

I’m making the most of being too sick to work today, listening to the audiobook. The narrator is excellent.

I’m enjoying all the “This was the law of _____” statements hehe

I made a list - did I miss any?

Nature
The world
Reflexes
Rumours
Inertia
Servants
Genetics
Love
Their world
Gravity
The world she has entered
Reproduction
Employment
Pleasure quarters
Acceleration
Stupidity
Paranoid delusion
The streets
Geumbok
The Man with the Scar
Westerns
Courtship
Obesity
Fate
The subconscious
Habit
Action and reaction
Ideology
Harpoons
Beggars
Show business
Exaggeration
Government agencies
Being overly confident
Wild rumours
Slogans
Recklessness
Capitalism
Tithing
Management
Alcohol
Plot, which catered to crass commercialism
Prison cells
Beliefs
Discussion
Ennui
Intellectuals
Dictatorship
Ratings and mass appeal

I went back and started highlighting them. It’s interesting when a few of them repeat (like love and genetics). This is a kind of fun reality-defining technique. Also, the comments from the narrator on storytelling add to that. The narrator feels like the main character almost! To me I imagine a mischievous old man telling a fairy tale, which heightens the sense of irony in many of the situations. I’m around page 200 at the moment.

I finished Whale a couple of days ago and am confident it will stand as one of my favorite books of the year. The ending was as special as the rest of it.

The narrator is definitely a key character. There's a point where he gives the back story of the twin sisters and it is epic in its wit.

Geumbok - I think they are the character that works least well for me, in the framework of parallelling the changes in South Korea over the course of the timeframe the novel contains. Probably around the time that (view spoiler)[the prostitute enters the story and Geumbok becomes infatuated with her (hide spoiler)], I began to feel as though the author is merely positioning her to act and say whatever advances the political aspects of the story, and her development as a character became less real and less authentic for me. There's no reason for her to turn on Mun so entirely or ignore (fail to recognize?) Chunhui as she does. A wee bit of restraint in depicting both of these relationships would have come across more believable.

Chunhui, on the other hand, develops and adapts in a way that grounds the entire tale for me.

It's difficult to tell a story as plot-driven as this one without creating a cadence of, and then X happened, and then Y happened, and then Z happened. But I never felt that Whale devolved into a mere listing of chronological events because of its stellar writing and its author's command of his tale. Even the shifts between the main characters was elegant and effortless.

I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's impressions.

In the first part of the book, the author’s obsessive anatomical fixation makes it difficult to see that which folks like about this book. I keep thinking, “oh what? Not again!” (view spoiler)[ I have even tried substitution, penis/member/what-ever => “long past expiration date” or “pig fodder” …. It is distracting. (hide spoiler)] I assume that it was meant to be humorous but I want to get on with the book theme of looking at the development of South Korean society after the Korean War. Maybe that is what all this pig fodder is setting up for. It also deprecates places where other encounters abet the story flow like with early stages of Geumbok and Geokjeong or with the scarface yakuza.

It improves quite a bit toward the end of Part 1.

Jack wrote: "In the first part of the book, the author’s obsessive anatomical fixation makes it difficult to see that which folks like about this book. I keep thinking, “oh what? Not again!” [spoilers removed] ..."

While I rolled my eyes as I imagine you doing, I suspect this use of crude language focused on anatomy is part of the author's desire to lighten up the impact on the reader of all of the violence and horror in Part 1. It didn't really work for me. I found the initial 100 pages to be difficult reading at times, with so many women focused on meeting daily the bottom row of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, especially hunger but also serious physical wounds and abusive parental behavior, that the occasional 7th grade boy humor wasn't a "lightener" of the mood.

It was probably around the time that (view spoiler)[Geumbok kills the scar-faced man, or maybe it's a little later when she finds the $$$ (hide spoiler)] that the various, "law of" statements and other humorous bits began to be more frequent, and the sexual violence became less frequent, and I think the writing becomes more interesting and more complex, less subject-verb, subject-verb, etc.

It definitely lightened the mood for me, I’ve laughed a lot, not at so much at the subject matter but more at the bizarreness of it all. I’m still not too sure what I’m reading… 160 pages in.

Even the elephant’s nether regions aren’t safe from Mr author man’s descriptions.

Jeshika wrote: "It definitely lightened the mood for me, I’ve laughed a lot, not at so much at the subject matter but more at the bizarreness of it all. I’m still not too sure what I’m reading… 160 pages in.

Eve..."

They are not :)

He’s my second favorite character in the book.

I finished this tonight and it was definitely a 5 star read for me, albeit a difficult one as it was extremely violent at times. (view spoiler)[I found Chunhui's time with Ladybug in prison especially difficult, but the sexual assault/rape was gratuitous and a struggle for me to get through as well as the animal neglect/violence. (hide spoiler)]

I could see this going either way for people. The fantastical storytelling really worked for me (and reminded me of the film Big Fish,) but I could see it taking others out of the story entirely.

Overall it was a pretty tragic read. I enjoyed the journey but didn't feel very good after finishing lol.

Another great pick for the book club!