Through the voices of her characters, Han Kang recounts the Gwangju uprising against continued repressive South Korean governments from Park Chung-hee’s stronghold to Chun Doo-hwan — another army general who assassinated Park. The army is brought in and fires indiscriminately at demonstrators. Our journey begins with the collection of bodies and parents trying to identify their children. Decades later, we learn that the after effects of this tragedy still linger.
This is not a novel for the faint at heart. It hits hard with real facts, and the writing is powerful. I’m impressed by a translation that didn’t seem to water down the emotional repercussions or gory details.
Because Li’s father has lost his fortune in Malaysia, he reluctantly asks his daughter to become a ghost bride to a rich family whose son has recently died. While this is a strange arrangement, the marriage will mean she has a home for life.
This is a unique and strange tale of Li’s discovery of the spirit world around the secrets of both families.
This is the story of how Madhu, a hijra, survives in Mumbai’s notorious red-light district. Madhu is too old for prostitution, so begs on the street until called for a special job when the parcel arrives. Continue reading “Anosh Irani’s — The parcel *****”→
At Ji Lin’s part time job as a dance hall girl in Ipoh, she stumbles upon a preserved finger left by one of her dance partners. With the finger in her possession, frightening events happen. The previous finger owner dies and strange dreams of a boy, Yi recur. With the help of her stepbrother, Shin, Ji Lin tries to get rid of the finger. At the same time, Ren, a Malayan houseboy is searching for the finger because he believes he must bury his previous boss’s digit with the rest of his body. Another death occurs that locals believe is caused by a weretiger and when Ji Lin and Shin tidy Batu Gajah hospital’s storeroom, they discover other preserved fingers are missing. What is it about the increasing number of deaths in the district, the fingers, Ji Lin’s contact with Yi through her dreams and the houseboy, Ren that connects them in this mysterious and sometimes dream like world?
Read and Write 
You must be logged in to post a comment.