London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

LKL book database logo

Whale

Author:
Translated by:
Publisher: , 2023
Original title: 고래, 2004
Link to online store *

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 some of the events that set Myeong-Kwan Cheong’s beautifully crafted, wild world in motion.

Set in a remote village in South Korea, Whale follows the lives of its linked characters: Geumbok, 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 humour, Whale is an adventure-satire of epic proportions, by one of international literature’s the most original voices.

Source: publisher’s website

Published by Archipelago in the US

LKL says:

A novel populated with larger-than-life tragi-comic characters who make their way in a South Korea that is emerging from the Korean War. While on one level the book can possibly be read as an allegory of South Korea’s society politics and industrial development in the second half of the 20th century it’s also an entertaining romp of a tale

LKL rating: score-2score-2score-2score-1score-0. Read our review of this book here.

Entry on Goodreads.com here.

* 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.