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.
Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023
A sweeping, multi-generational tale blending fable, farce, and fantasy-a masterpiece of modern fiction perfect for fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude.
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 Cheon 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: 9781787704336
Number of pages: 368
Dimensions: 210 x 135 mm
"A peerless work devoted to telling a powerful story and lauded for expanding Korean literature into new dimensions." The Hankyoreh "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 the first novel by Cheon Myeong-Kwan translated into English by Kim Chi-Young. It follows the story of multiple generations of women moving the ladder progressively throughout the year. It focuses mainly on... More
Whale is the first novel by Cheon Myeong-Kwan translated into English by Kim Chi-Young. It follows the story of multiple generations of women moving the ladder progressively throughout the year. It focuses mainly on... More
After reading Arundhati Roy's 'The God of Small Things' and Murakami's 'Kafka on the Shore', I was craving something that merged the multigenerational aspect of the former with the... More
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