Whale, by Cheon Myeong-kwan

Staff Pick

Whale became a South Korean bestseller when it appeared in 2004; translated into English, it earned a spot on the 2023 International Booker Prize longlist. Historical fiction sprinkled with magic realism and bound with graceful prose, Cheon Myeong-kwan's first novel unfolds in the years around the Korean Civil War. While its large-scale setting is matched with a suitably sprawling cast, the narrative centers on a mother and daughter, exploring their relationship to the small town they watch disappear--along with the childhoods and first loves that go with it.

 

 

Whale By Cheon Myeong-Kwan, Chi-Young Kim (Translated by) Cover Image
By Cheon Myeong-Kwan, Chi-Young Kim (Translated by)
$22.00
ISBN: 9781953861146
Availability: Coming Soon—Pre-Order Now
Published: Archipelago - May 2nd, 2023

Open Throat, by Henry Hoke

Staff Pick

What does the world look like to a lion? In this startling, innovative novel, Hoke invites readers to find out. Told from the perspective of a mountain lion loping beneath the Hollywood sign, the story follows the big cat as he observes and ponders the humans around him. From ruminations on people as food--“I’ve never eaten a person but today I might"--to a range of emotions that seem too complex for the language that conveys them, the lion opens a set of wondrous possibilities and questions about the world we live in. Dreamy, sensuous, tragic, and aching with want, Open Throat is unlike anything I have read before.
 

 

Open Throat: A Novel By Henry Hoke Cover Image
$25.00
ISBN: 9780374609870
Availability: Coming Soon—Pre-Order Now
Published: MCD - June 6th, 2023

The Easy Life, by Marguerite Duras

Staff Pick

Characterized by graceful prose and difficult subject matter, Duras's novel is a lovely and dark existential meditation. Underscored by three deaths, the fiction centers on a narrator who, though detached emotionally from those around her, is deeply attuned to their movements. Through acute observations and vivid descriptions, Duras takes us into her character's inner landscape; we wander the country- and seaside along with her thoughts, which, for the most part, inhabit the space between childhood and adulthood. As with winter's bright sunshine,  there’s a cold clarity to the woman's disconnection, search for meaning, and introspection, one accompanied by deep bouts of depression--which Duras conveys with a light hand, filling what could have been a brutal thriller with language that shouldn’t feel quite as lovely as it does.

 

 

 

The Easy Life By Marguerite Duras, Kate Zambreno (Foreword by), Emma Ramadan (Translated by), Olivia Baes (Translated by) Cover Image
By Marguerite Duras, Kate Zambreno (Foreword by), Emma Ramadan (Translated by), Olivia Baes (Translated by)
$18.00
ISBN: 9781635578515
Availability: In Stock—Click for Locations
Published: Bloomsbury Publishing - December 6th, 2022

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