Books set in South Korea (48)


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3.
Bluebeard's First Wife

Bluebeard's First Wife by Seong-nan Ha EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / South Korea flag South Korea
Description:
Ha looks closely at the sordid underbelly of suburbia in Bluebeard's First Wife, the latest from one of Korea's preeminent authors.

4.

Concerning My Daughter by KIM. HYE-JIN EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / South Korea flag South Korea
Description:
Prize-winning Korean author Kim Hye-Jin's debut confronts familial love, duty, mortality, and generational schism through the incendiary gaze of a tradition-bound mother faced with her daughter's queer relationship. When a widowed, aging mother allows Green, her thirty-something daughter, to move into her apartment, all she wants for her is a stable and quiet existence like her own. Ideally, a steady income and, most importantly, a good husband with whom to start a family. But when Green turns up with her long-term girlfriend in tow, her mother is enraged and unwilling to welcome their relatio... continue

5.

Crying in H Mart : A Memoir by Michelle Zauner EN

Rating: 4 (9 votes)
Country: Asia / South Korea flag South Korea
Description:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR). • CELEBRATING OVER ONE YEAR ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Orego... continue

6.

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung EN

Rating: 4 (7 votes)
Country: Asia / South Korea flag South Korea
Description:
Cursed Bunny is a genre-defying collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung. Blurring the lines between magical realism, horror, and science-fiction, Chung uses elements of the fantastic and surreal to address the very real horrors and cruelties of patriarchy and capitalism in modern society. Anton Hur’s translation skilfully captures the way Chung’s prose effortlessly glides from being terrifying to wryly humorous. Winner of a PEN/Heim Grant.

7.

Familiar Things by Sŏg-yŏng Hwang EN

Rating: 5 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / South Korea flag South Korea
Description:
A vibrant and enchanting novel from one of Korea's most celebrated writers. When 14-year-old Bugeye and his mother arrive at Flower Island -- a vast landfill site on the outskirts of Seoul -- they soon become part of the eclectic community of impoverished outsiders who make their living weeding recyclables from the rubbish. Then, one night, Bugeye notices mysterious lights dancing around the landfill ... Could it be the island's ancient spirits? Is his luck about to change? Familiar Thingsdepicts a society on the edge of dizzying economic and social change. It is a haunting reminder to us all ... continue

8.

Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim EN

0 Ratings
Country: Asia / South Korea flag South Korea
Description:
This true story of a Korean comfort woman documents how the atrocity of war devastates women’s lives Grass is a powerful antiwar graphic novel, telling the life story of a Korean girl named Okseon Lee who was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War—a disputed chapter in twentieth-century Asian history. Beginning in Lee’s childhood, Grass shows the lead-up to the war from a child’s vulnerable perspective, detailing how one person experienced the Japanese occupation and the widespread suffering it entailed for ordinary Koreans. Keum Suk Gendry-Kim em... continue

9.

I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee EN

Rating: 4 (1 vote)
Country: Asia / South Korea flag South Korea
Description:
THE PHENOMENAL KOREAN BESTSELLERTRANSLATED BY INTERNATIONAL BOOKER SHORTLISTEE ANTON HUR'Will strike a chord with anyone who feels that their public life is at odds with how they really feel inside.' RedPSYCHIATRIST: So how can I help you? ME: I don't know, I'm - what's the word - depressed? Do I have to go into detail? Baek Sehee is a successful young social media director at a publishing house when she begins seeing a psychiatrist about her - what to call it? - depression? She feels persistently low, anxious, endlessly self-doubting, but also highly judgemental of others. She hides her feeli... continue

10.

If I Had Your Face in: A Novel by Frances Cha EN

0 Ratings
Description:
"Kyuri is a heartbreakingly beautiful woman with a hard-won job at a "room salon," an exclusive bar where she entertains businessmen while they drink. Though she prides herself on her cold, clear-eyed approach to life, an impulsive mistake with a client may come to threaten her livelihood. Her roomate, Miho, is a talented artist who grew up in an orphanage but won a scholarship to study art in New York. Returning to Korea after college, she finds herself in a precarious relationship with the super-wealthy heir to one of Korea's biggest companies. Down the hall in their apartment building lives... continue