Whale
SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A sweeping, multi-generational tale blending fable, farce, and fantasy--a masterpiece of modern fiction perfect for fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude
Whale is the English-language debut of a beloved and bestselling South Korean author, a born storyteller with a cinematic, darkly humorous, and thoroughly original perspective.
A woman sells her daughter to a passing beekeeper for two jars of honey. A baby weighing fifteen pounds is born in the depths of winter but named “Girl of Spring.” A storm brings down the roof of a ramshackle restaurant to reveal a hidden fortune. These are just a few of the events that set Myeong-kwan Cheon’s beautifully crafted, wild world in motion.
Whale, set in a remote village in South Korea, follows the lives of many linked characters, including Geumbok, an extremely ambitious woman who has been chasing an indescribable thrill ever since she first saw a whale crest in the ocean; her mute daughter, Chunhui, who communicates with elephants; and a one-eyed woman who controls honeybees with a whistle. Brimming with surprises and wicked humor, Whale is an adventure-satire of epic proportions by one of the most original voices in international literature.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cheon (Modern Family) draws on Korean myths for a disturbing tale about three women in mid-20th-century South Korea. Chunhui was born in a stable and is the only child of Geumbok, who ignores and neglects her. (In Chunhui's isolation, she befriends a retired circus elephant.) As a teen, she is falsely accused of arson, imprisoned, and tortured, and isn't released until she's 27. Cheon then backtracks to the story of a woman known as "the old crone," who maimed her daughter then sold her for two jars of honey. The crone lives only for money and revenge, hiding a fortune in her hut which Geumbok finds years later during a storm. Throughout the meandering story, the image of a whale repeats: first as a harbinger of change for young Geumbok, and later as inspiration for Geumbok to build a movie theater. Geumbok's ambition as a businessperson, though, eventually results in her murder at the hands of the Yakuza. (A mythical curse from the crone also seems to have played a part in Geumbok's demise.) The unruly blend of myth and modernity doesn't always work, and the blasé tone used to depict violence and torture will turn off some readers. It's intriguing, but not for the faint of heart.
