Whale (Paperback)
Cheon Myeong-kwan (author), Chi-Young Kim (translator)Published: 29/02/2024
A magic realist masterpiece with echoes of One Hundred Years of Solitude, Cheon Myeong-kwan's mesmerising novel takes place in a remote South Korean village that abounds in fantastical incidents.
A woman sells her daughter to a passing beekeeper for two jars of honey. A baby weighing fifteen pounds is born in the depths of winter but named “Girl of Spring”. A storm brings down the roof of a ramshackle restaurant to reveal a hidden fortune. These are just some of the events that set Myeong-Kwan's beautifully crafted, wild world in motion.
Set in a remote village in South Korea, Whale follows the lives of its linked characters: Geumbok, who has been chasing an indescribable thrill ever since she first saw a whale crest in the ocean; her mute daughter, Chunhui, who communicates with elephants; and a one-eyed woman who controls honeybees with a whistle.
Brimming with surprises and wicked humour, Whale is an adventure-satire of epic proportions, by one of international literature’s the most original voices.
Publisher: Europa Editions (UK) Ltd
ISBN: 9781787704947
Number of pages: 368
Dimensions: 198 x 129 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
"A lesson in magical realism, weaving together riotous tales of secret treasure, a giant baby and people who speak to elephants... Fast paced and cinematic." - Monocle
"A rich, fantastical tale..... unique and ambitious." - Buzz Magazine
“Funny and light while also deeply philosophical and sensual.” - Asian Review of Books
"In tying together a series of fun, related anecdotes, Cheon cleverly spins a fantastical tale that also contains some unpalatable truths about not-so-distant Korean history – and that’s without even mentioning the man with the scar, the brickyard and the titular whale of a building." - Tony's Reading List
"A kaleidoscope of interlocking stories, all painted larger than life." - David's Book World
"A novel that seduces." - JoongAng Ilbo
"[Whale] redefines what fiction can be." - The Kyunghyang Sinmun
"Whale overflows with freshness. That's what makes it special." - OhmyNews
“Fast-paced and imaginative.” - Dennis Maloney, Modern Family
“Whale has leaped over the boundaries of a novel and entered a new space, just like South American fiction.” - Shin Soo-jung (South Korean film star)
"There has never been a novel like this in Korean literature...A novel that's more like reading out loud than reading quietly to oneself; its structure is like that of a folktale. You can feel the oral tradition in the rhythm of the sentences." - Lee Dong-jin, critic
“Whale is a book that hooks you by the nose. It floods your senses with a certain voluptuous intensity alternating with the pungent odour of dried fish and human desire in all its manifold variations.” - The Hindu
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