Élisa Shua Dusapin

Something of a noir-ish read. Our narrator is French-Korean and something of an anomaly in Sokcho, a dreary fishing town in South Korea very near the border with North Korea. Though a graduate, she works as a bit of a dogsbody in a run-down hotel, occasionally helping her mother who cooks, and runs a fish stall. Despite often seeing her mother and her would-be-a-model boyfriend, she seems isolated, disliking herself and her body. Then a French guest comes along, a comic-book illustrator. They step warily round each other, neither liking to admit their interest.

We never get under the skin of any of these characters. But this distance, this cold, this feeling of the characters being trapped in their self-appointed roles, these vivid descriptions of an unwelcoming chilly town, overshadowed by its proximity to North Korea is what gives this book its power. A short, unsettling, provocative read.… (meer)

(Read in French) Moody book that does a great job depicting the desolation of resort towns in the off season. The feeling that nothing is happening where you are and everything is happening somewhere else. Weakened inhibitions that come with depression and fatigue. Thoughts intruding through cracks in the mind. The confusion you feel when you aren’t sure if you are attracted to someone or simply trying to fill a hole inside you. Does the narrator want a lover? A teacher? A father? The ambiguity is its own kind of burden, purgatory.

The English translation of this book won an award - I can imagine the challenge; every page had a word or turn of phrase that sent me searching my French dictionary.… (meer)

Claire is visiting her grandparents in Japan and trying to get them ready for a trip to Korea, where they haven't been since they left in 1952 because of the war. She lives in Switzerland and has challenges communicating with them - despite speaking several languages, she does not know Korean, and her grandmother doesn't like to speak Japanese. Meanwhile, Claire gets a job as a French tutor for a young girl during the summer holidays.

A quiet, spare book and character study. Claire's hard to get to know, going through a lot of motions passively (she spends a lot of time in her room, if she's not tutoring), showing her disconnection: from people, and from her family history. This is Dusapin's second novel to be translated into English, and it won the Swiss Literature Award. The author was born in France but lives in Switzerland, is of French-Korean ancestry, and was about the age of her protagonist when she wrote the book, so it was hard not to wonder how much of her own story informed her writing. While I didn't always enjoy every minute of reading, there's a lot to ponder. This is a story that would reward rereading.… (meer)