Winter in Sokcho (Hiver à Sokcho)
Elisa Shua Dusapin
Aneesa Abbas Higgins (Translator)
Scribe
ISBN: 9781922585011
RRP $22.99
Description:
As if Marguerite Duras wrote Convenience Store Woman — a beautiful, unexpected novel from a debut French-Korean author.
It’s winter in Sokcho, a tourist town on the border between South and North Korea. The cold slows everything down. Bodies are red and raw, the fish turn venomous, beyond the beach guns point out from the North’s watchtowers. A young French Korean woman works as a receptionist in a tired guesthouse. One evening, an unexpected guest arrives: a French cartoonist determined to find inspiration in this desolate landscape. The two form an uneasy relationship. When she agrees to accompany him on trips to discover an “authentic” Korea, they visit snowy mountaintops and dramatic waterfalls, and cross into North Korea. But he takes no interest in the Sokcho she knows — the gaudy neon lights, the scars of war, the fish market where her mother works. As she’s pulled into his vision and taken in by his drawings, she strikes upon a way to finally be seen.
An exquisitely-crafted debut, which won the Prix Robert Walser, Winter in Sokcho is a novel about shared identities and divided selves, vision and blindness, intimacy and alienation. Elisa Shua Dusapin’s voice is distinctive and unmistakable.
My View:
This quietly spoken little book is quite remarkable! I loved the voice, I loved its style – minimalist yet full of poignant, expressive moments captured succinctly and in an unassuming manner.
This is a book that demands much fanfare!! This is a read I will be recommending to all I see. It is exquisite reading and perfectly translated. I don’t think my words can do this book justice, all I can do is suggest you pick this book up and start reading…you will find time disappears as you enter the protagonist’s world.
We all wish to be seen.
Perfect. Memorable. The best read in many years.
Reading, Writing and Riesling 
There’s definitely something to be said for the minimalist approach to writing, Carol. Sometimes it’s just perfect for the purpose, and it sounds as though it was used very effectively here. I like the setting, too; I haven’t read a lot of novels that take place in South Korea. The characters sound interesting, too; little wonder you liked it so well.
Perfect and effective Margot🙂
Wow. On my reading list. Sounds like one to buy and pass around. Thx Carol.
This is brilliant! And yes pass around, Garry even rated 5 stars and we have very different reading tastes.