Durian Sukegawa’s ‘Sweet Bean Paste’: On second chances and the plight of leprosy patients
Sweet Bean Paste (2013) by Durian Sukegawa is a tale of friendship and redemption in an unforgiving society.
1y ago
Won-Pyung Sohn’s ‘Almond’: A story of loveable monsters
Won-Pyung Sohn’s Almond (HarperVia, 2021), translated to English by Sandy Josun Lee, is a mesmerizing novel that captures the heart of a reader indelibly. Fifteen-year-old Yunjae cannot feel emotions due to alexithymia and is deemed a monster by others. Feelings such as love and empathy are mere words to him. At the age of six he sees a child gang-beaten to death by other children. More than a decade later, he watches a man stab his grandmother and hammer his mother into a comatose state, without batting an eyelid. At school he is tormented and at home, he becomes aware of an ever-growing void due to the absence of a loving family, but nothing can penetrate his heart. His lonely days pass in nonchalance until one day an unusual request from a stranger ends up connecting him with another...
2y ago
June 30, 2022
Durian Sukegawa’s ‘Sweet Bean Paste’: On second chances and the plight of leprosy patients
Sweet Bean Paste (2013) by Durian Sukegawa is a tale of friendship and redemption in an unforgiving society.
August 18, 2021
Won-Pyung Sohn’s ‘Almond’: A story of loveable monsters
Won-Pyung Sohn’s Almond (HarperVia, 2021), translated to English by Sandy Josun Lee, is a mesmerizing novel that captures the heart of a reader indelibly. Fifteen-year-old Yunjae cannot feel emotions due to alexithymia and is deemed a monster by others. Feelings such as love and empathy are mere words to him. At the age of six he sees a child gang-beaten to death by other children. More than a decade later, he watches a man stab his grandmother and hammer his mother into a comatose state, without batting an eyelid. At school he is tormented and at home, he becomes aware of an ever-growing void due to the absence of a loving family, but nothing can penetrate his heart. His lonely days pass in nonchalance until one day an unusual request from a stranger ends up connecting him with another...
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