Squeee with a Korean Accent
Squeee! Another Korean author translated into English! Assa!*
The US paperback version of the 2005 novel pictured above will be out in a couple of months (the UK version is already out). The Kindle version was published last month, and I'm eager to start reading my copy sometime this week. Although I've had mixed results with Korean literature, I want to love it, and I want its books and authors to make huge international splashes and kick literary ass.
Gong Ji-Young seems like a strong contender. She's extremely successful in South Korea, and some of her books have been made into movies. I read a few pages of Our Happy Time on Amazon, and the translation by Sora Kim-Russell reads well. My hopes are up.
A synopsis of Our Happy Time can be found here. And here. The descriptions appeal to the part of me that enjoys bleak reading. I hope it rains while I'm reading it on the subway.
Here's the Korean cover:
* I'm not sure if there is a Korean equivalent for squeee!, so I went with assa, which means "awesome" or "nice!"
3 comments:
Hmmm: I read the summary and remain skeptical. If it turns out to be a quirky broken love story a la so many of my favourite Japanese writers, then I'm all for it though!
I hope the book turns out to be a good read.
Eva,
I feel exactly the same way!
Vasilly,
I hope so, too. I want to be able to recommend it to the blogging community without reservation.
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