Shoko's Smile
Translated by Sung Ryu
A bestselling and award-winning debut collection from one of South Korea's most prominent young writers
In crisp, unembellished prose, Choi Eun-young paints intimate portraits of the lives of young women in South Korea, balancing the personal with the political.
In the title story, a fraught friendship between an exchange student and her host sister follows them from adolescence to adulthood. In 'A Song from Afar', a young woman grapples with the death of her lover, travelling to Russia to search for information about the deceased. In 'Secret', the parents of a teacher killed in the Sewol ferry sinking hide the news of her death from her grandmother.
In the tradition of Sally Rooney, Banana Yoshimoto, and Marilynne Robinson — writers from different cultures who all take an unvarnished look at human relationships and the female experience — Choi Eun-young is a writer to watch.
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