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I am a fan of Korean movies but I didn’t read a Korean novel before now. This one features two sisters, both with psychological problems caused by having to deal with three horrible men (two husbands and one father). South Korea is famous for having the lowest birth rate in the world and if you want to know why you could read this, it won’t take long. According to Han Kang, the less Korean women have to do with Korean men the better.

I want to read more translated fiction but sometimes I think the translations are strange and the language is stilted and kinda bland. I’ll give two examples.

As small children their young cheeks were frequently left throbbing by their heavy-handed father

I wouldn’t describe a father who slapped his kids on the cheek frequently as heavy-handed. Brutal, violent, abusive, but not heavy-handed, which means clumsy, insensitive or too forceful.

This next one might be all Han Kang and not the translator :

Had she ever really understood her husband’s true nature, bound up as it was with that seemingly impenetrable silence?

I have to ask do people really have a “true nature� which if they would only talk to you you could understand? I don’t think so. Really, who can understand anyone else? If you want to check out the total incomprehensibility of human beings, the recent Dominique Pelicot trial is a good place to start.

Korean movies � the ones that aren’t ultraviolent horror that is � are very often melancholy, as is a lot of this novel, but they have a sweet atmosphere that doesn’t rely on the lurid goings-on we find in The Vegetarian.

I know this book won the International Booker Prize and Han Kang just won the Nobel but when I reached into my sack of stars I could only find two in there.


SOME FAVOURITE KOREAN MOVIES

Oasis
Spring Summer Autumn Winter…And Spring
Secret Sunshine
Breathless
Poetry
The Handmaiden
Microhabitat
House Of Hummingbird
In Front Of Your Face
Decision To Leave
Return To Seoul
Past Lives