One Hundred Shadows

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER! "There is an unforgettable, curious beauty to be found here." --Han Kang, Winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian Han Kang's Human Acts meets Y&#333;ko Ogawa's The Memory Police in this understated South Korean novella in translation: a restrained yet emotional magical realist examination of futility in a capitalist society written in response to the 2009 Yongsan Disaster. In a Seoul slum marked for demolition, residents' shadows have begun to rise. No one knows how or why-but, they warn each other, do not follow your shadow if it wanders away.&nbsp; As the landscape of their lives is torn apart, building by building, electronics-repair-shop employees Eungyo and Mujae can only watch as their community begins to fade. Their growing connection with one another provides solace, but against an uncaring ruling class and the inevitability of the rising shadows, their relationship may not be enough.&nbsp; Winner of the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award and the Korean Bookseller's Award, One Hundred Shadows is a tender working-class perspective with subtle and affecting social commentary. This edition features an introduction by Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Vegetarian, Han Kang, and an exclusive interview with the author.

Literature & Fiction

Jungeun, Hwang

Humor & Satire

Erewhon Books

dd's Umbrella

Han Kang meets Maggie Nelson in these devastating twin novellas offering a rare depiction of the nonbinary experience in contemporary Korean society di is a uniquely sensitive person living in quiet, romantic bliss with their partner, dd. But when dd suddenly dies in a bus crash, di is catapulted into a melancholy, aimless existence. As di struggles with their personal grief, the country around them grapples with a catastrophic event and its political aftermath: the death of 304 ferry passengers, including 250 high-school students, in the sinking of MV Sewol. Meanwhile, an inquisitive writer whose small world encompasses her same-sex partner, her sister, and her nephew researches a book she may never write. Gradually, the texts she reads--ranging from Nietzsche to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry to Murasaki Shikibu--help her build a theoretical framework solid enough to harbor the lives of other overlooked people like herself: queer families, impoverished gig workers, the disabled, and the elderly. As residents across the country come together to protest the government's handling of the Sewol ferry disaster, and to impeach the right-wing president in office, the writer wonders: Is true change possible? Just as di and dd form a corroborating couplet, dd's Umbrella is elegantly comprised of twin novellas that bear witness to the lives of those whom mainstream society would not otherwise care to miss. dd's Umbrella depicts the little-known underside of a society that can be viciously superficial, complicating the shiny, ultra-modern face that South Korea presents to the world. A delicate stylist and a conceptual artist with an unflinching social gaze, Hwang Jungeun's spare prose is illuminated by arresting imagery, transformative anger, and moments of great lyricism, crafting characters of perfectly calibrated emotional restraint. dd's Umbrella marks a deeply moving and landmark contribution to contemporary working-class literature.

Astra House

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Books by Jungeun, Hwang

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Jungeun, Hwang. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

One Hundred Shadows

dd's Umbrella