Louise

“What happened to the holes?’
‘The holes?’
‘Yeah. You said you made the buttons but were stuck because there were no holes. How is it now?’
Minjun shook his head, trying to chase away the sleepiness. He stared up at his friend, a thoughtful look on his face.
‘Easy. I changed my shirt. This time I cut the holes first before I make the buttons that fit. Now, the shirt is buttoned up nicely.”
― Hwang Bo-reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

“Leonie was on a roll now. ‘From the second we’re born we’re made to feel insecure about our bodies, our choices, our lives. Then we hit puberty and all of a sudden we have to be both sexual and chaste at the same time, while our bodies are going fucking mental. We start leaking, for fuck’s sake. Then, after we’re covertly trained to conceal our excellence at school, we get to go work for men who don’t understand literally any of those dilemmas, and think they’re innately more skilled than us. They want you to be like men, but also not like men. It’s a fucking trap. We’re fucked as soon as the doctor says hun, it’s a girl.”
― Juno Dawson, Her Majesty's Royal Coven

“Life is too complicated and expansive to be judged solely by the career you have. You could be unhappy doing something you liked, just as it was possible to do what you didn't like but derive happiness from something entirely different. Life is mysterious and complex. Work plays an important role in life, but it isn't solely responsible for our happiness or misery”
― Hwang Bo-reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop

“No matter what happens in the world, however brutal or dystopian a thing, not all is lost if there are people out there risking themselves to document it. Little sparks cause fires, too.”
― Tomasz Jedrowski, Swimming in the Dark