“Is a good book always a good read?”
Yes, why not? That is what I would expect from books. Why are we even asking this question?
“… badly written sentences often obscure a strong voice.”
Indeed, I do want to recognise the strong voice without having to try very hard to find it and I wish it had come through in this book.
It was tiring waiting for something significant to happen. Yeong-ju is teary when she opens the bookshop. Then Yeong-ju is more settled when she finally decides on the bookshop. That was it! There is even an Author’s Note to tell us that this story is about “change”.
I’m not sure why she felt she needed to tell us this – it was obvious that all the characters change in some way by the end of the story. I’m not sure why there is so much telling – rather than showing – in the book. I’m also not sure if this is because of the translation or if the original is also like that.
I found Yeong-ju strangely presented. We are told she is stressed and burnt out. She’s shown as busy. One of the characters tells us that she is bubbly, smart and tells jokes. That came as a surprise because she’s shown as busy and somewhat pedestrian.
We are told of her “bright eyes” and immediately I expect her to be Lizzy-like but she isn’t. We are told that Seung-woo is drawn to her but not why, while we can feel Darcy being drawn to Lizzy and know why before he declares anything. Hence, one book is talked about as a good, and even great, book, while the other may not be of interest for very long.
Anyhow, this is one very strange bookshop venture. Yeong-ju has always wanted to open a bookshop because she wants to read. Errr… for that, you’d just go to a library, no? Or go to a bookshop, not own it! How do you run the business if you’re mainly interested in reading? How will your business stay alive if you switch your part-timers to full-timers who spend their time reading and talking about books more than, say, sourcing for appealing books and publicising the shop?
The time skip is weird too.
The most bizarre part of the plot are Yeung-joo’s reasons for divorce. I had to read that part twice to understand what she was doing. She leaves her job because it is too stressful and expects her husband to quit as well, which of course he doesn’t (why should he?), and that is the fatal blow. Wow. I’ve never heard of such a selfish reason for divorce before and the divorce is pivotal to the opening of the bookshop.
Finally, too many characters are estranged from their parents and other family members, not least Yeung-ju herself. For sure, there is often conflict because of differing expectations and life views but I found the characters mostly self-centred and impractical, hence alienating themselves from those who should have been loved ones for no good reason! They are largely responsible for the fissures and that ties in with how Yeung-ju more or less creates her gulfs with her husband and also her parents.
A major let-down.
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
Hwang Bo-reum
translated by Shanna Tan
Comments