Author: Kim Bo-young
Translated by: Sophie Bowman, Sung Ryu
Publisher: Harper Voyager, 2021
Original title: 당신을 기다리고 있어, 2015
Link to online store *
A stunning collection of short fiction by one of South Korea’s most treasured writers, available in English for the first time.
‘Her fiction is a breath-taking piece of a cinematic art itself. Reminiscent of the world we experienced in The Matrix, Inception, and Dark City, still it leads us to this entirely original structure, which is a ground-breaking, mystic literary and cinematic experience. Indeed, powerful and graceful’ – Bong Joon-ho, Oscar-winning director of Parasite
In the title story, an engaged couple working in distant corners of the galaxy plan to arrive on Earth simultaneously and walk down the aisle together. But small incidents wreak havoc on their vast journeys, pushing the date of their wedding far into the future. As centuries pass on Earth and the land and climate change, one thing is constant: the desire of the lovers to be together.
Through two pairs of interlinked stories stories, Kim explores the driving forces of humanity – love, hope, creation, destruction, and the very meaning of existence.
Source: publisher’s website
LKL adds: The collection contains the following stories
- I’m Waiting for You
- The Prophet of Corruption
- That One Life
- On My Way to You
LKL says:
We consumed this in its audiobook version, and thoroughly enjoyed the title story and its companion-piece, On My Way to You – short chapters each comprising one letter, which worked perfectly in audio format. The other two linked short stories – The Prophet of Corruption and That One Life – would be easier to appreciate in a conventional text format.
LKL rating: 
. Read our review of this book here.
External links:
- Review by Paul Fulcher (PF rating:
). - Entry on Goodreads.com.
* Where the book is available from a number of sources, they are prioritised as follows: (1) Amazon UK site, or Bookshop.org for the more recent uploads (2) Amazon US site (3) Other sites in US or Europe, including second-hand outlets (4) LTI Korea, where the title is advertised as available from there (5) Onlines stores in Korea. Links to Bookshop.org and Amazon UK site contain an affiliate code which, should you make a purchase, gives a small commission to LKL at no additional cost to you.