This powerful novel blew me away. I went into this without any real knowledge of Laos, let alone what life could have been like there in the 1960s. This story offers a startling picture of the time and place, but it is the intimate details and the perfectly rendered characters that keep you turning ...
Yesterday, I took a day off. The official motto at my house was "Go ask your Dad". It was fabulous. This little book was the perfect way to spend the day. It demanded to be devoured at once. I found that taking breaks longer than the amount of time needed to fill my coffee mug, really disrupted th...
Very plodding, but not really to anywhere interesting.
I loved Yoon's style of choosing just the right details to convey his story. Our experience is made of small things, like dampness on the toes of your shoes on a rainy day. There is an art to selecting just the right small things to tell a reader who a character is, what has hurt them, what their ...
First impression: There is beauty in the words. You feel the North Korean war refugee's aloofness in his new country, Brazil. The distance he feels and his reticence is palpable. Narration by the author adds to the lines' impact. A blanket of quiet overlays the story.People can talk without words. W...
Originally posted on my blog, A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall:After the Korean War, North Korean refugee Yohan emigrates to Brazil for a fresh start. All that Yohan has left behind and how it was lost is revealed in brief moments throughout the story, woven between his new experiences in Brazil, wher...
Wonderful prose, but syrupy slow and a bit surreal
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