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In We Do Not Part, friends Inseon and Kyungha have previously agreed to collaborate on a project but they’ve not seen one other in the past year nor worked on their project.

Kyungha lives in Seoul and Inseon on the island of Jeju.

Inseon becomes hospitalized in Seoul and asks her friend to travel to the island to look after her pet bird, Ama. She had enough food and water to last two days and it’s the second day when Kyungha makes the trip.

There is a terrific snowstorm and during the trek things in the book become fuzzy between reality, the spiritual world, the past, and the present.

Han Kang’s novel deals with generational trauma from the 4.3 massacre on Jeju in 1948 as well as the 1980 Gwangju Uprising. The past is a character itself in a way. It plays a huge part in the present.

Pain—physical and from memories—is also a significant factor to the story.

This is not an easy work to describe, and I know I’ve not read a novel like this before. Han Kang forces the reader to slow down; to disengage from one's own reality and to step into the ethereal realm.

Reading We Do Not Part was an evocative and memorable experience. I’m so grateful that my friend Kim invited me to a buddy read for this book. You can read her thoughtful review here