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#JuneSpecials Day 12: #RedRose paired with my book club title last year that I abandoned. Maybe I will get around to reading it again.

Enjoyed this fantastic story about an ordinary woman transforming to a rebel overnight. For me, the book is about the surge for belonging and oneness with sth bigger, in a world that is actually characterized by hyperindustrialization, societal norms and social alienation.

Yeong-hye stops eating meat and her story is told through the eyes of her husband, brother in law and sister (no spoiler). I can‘t say more yet digesting but I was surprised shocked moved…

I can‘t lie - I didn‘t get it. I started in print and ended in audio. Both formats were a miss for me, but the audio was slightly better.

Interesting book of living a life vicariously after a sibling‘s death. This exploration of feelings & reflections is taken even further when adding thoughts/ideas only related to the color white. Loved it‘s uniqueness.

This is a very tender, but also very sad book. In different very short texts, Han Kang talks about white things. White being the color of mourning in Korea. We learn about her older sister, who died shortly after birth. We learn how that still hunts Kang, how it affects her life. I was deeply moved by this work, by its calmness, by its insights.

Brought up some interesting questions about the futility of life and how ”to live is an act of violence”. But overall this book felt half baked, hollow and translated with zero emotions.

Does this book deserve the Booker Prize? Honestly, I didn‘t feel so. But, to each their own.

I finally picked up a Han Kang book. She sure punches a lot into such a short novel. I think this is the first book I‘ve read about anorexia. Yeong-hye begins having dreams and becomes vegetarian. Mental health and trauma plays a big part. The story is told by multiple POV‘s, all infuriated with Yeong-hye‘s decision to go against the grain of society.

A woman has become mute. She has lost her husband, teaching job, and custody of her 8-yr-old son. Lost herself, she takes a course in Ancient Greek taught by an instructor about her age who is losing his sight. Somehow a gentle warm story comes out of this, layered onto of darker histories and life pains, and terrific interesting prose. This completes my two week run through Han‘s four English-translated novels. (Another is due out in January)

Starting the next book - more from Nobel winner Han Kang