4.0
Our Happy Time
ByPublisher Description
With over a million copies sold in South Korea, this is a gripping and passionate death row love story for fans of Please Look After Mother, vividly told by a major Korean talent.
Yu-Jung – beautiful, wealthy, bright – is lying in her hospital bed, recovering from her third suicide attempt, when she receives a visit that will change her life. Her no-nonsense aunt, a nun, appears by her side, and suggests Yu-Jung might accompany her on a charitable visit to death row. At her lowest ebb, Yu-Jung is resistant. But something compels her to go to the prison. There she meets Yun-Soo, a convicted murderer who will soon be put to death. And, though repulsed by his crimes, something about the depth of his suffering strikes a chord in her. Shaken by their encounter, she returns to visit him the next week. And the next...
Through their weekly, hour-long meetings Yu-Jung and Yun-Soo slowly reveal to each other the dark secrets of their pasts, the hidden traumas that have shaped their lives. In doing so they form a deep, unbreakable bond, helping one another to overcome their demons. But Yun-Soo’s hands are always in cuffs, the prison-officers are always in the background, and they can never lose sight of the fact that their happy time together is tragically brief.
Poetic and vividly told, Our Happy Time is a passionate and heart-breaking love story. It is also an important, hard-hitting and compassionate fable for our times – a story about crime, punishment, and forgiveness from a major Korean talent.
Yu-Jung – beautiful, wealthy, bright – is lying in her hospital bed, recovering from her third suicide attempt, when she receives a visit that will change her life. Her no-nonsense aunt, a nun, appears by her side, and suggests Yu-Jung might accompany her on a charitable visit to death row. At her lowest ebb, Yu-Jung is resistant. But something compels her to go to the prison. There she meets Yun-Soo, a convicted murderer who will soon be put to death. And, though repulsed by his crimes, something about the depth of his suffering strikes a chord in her. Shaken by their encounter, she returns to visit him the next week. And the next...
Through their weekly, hour-long meetings Yu-Jung and Yun-Soo slowly reveal to each other the dark secrets of their pasts, the hidden traumas that have shaped their lives. In doing so they form a deep, unbreakable bond, helping one another to overcome their demons. But Yun-Soo’s hands are always in cuffs, the prison-officers are always in the background, and they can never lose sight of the fact that their happy time together is tragically brief.
Poetic and vividly told, Our Happy Time is a passionate and heart-breaking love story. It is also an important, hard-hitting and compassionate fable for our times – a story about crime, punishment, and forgiveness from a major Korean talent.
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4.0
ktyaglik
Created about 1 month agoShare
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Change and growDiverse representationLikeableMemorableMultilayeredRelatableClever plottingSlow start, strong finishWell-structuredAtmosphericNostalgicRealisticSetting fits the storyBeautifully-writtenAbuseChild abuseDeathDomestic violenceGriefMurderReligious intoleranceSelf-harmSexual assaultViolence
Georgia
Created 5 months agoShare
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ema
Created 6 months agoShare
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“most definitely NOT a happy time - more like ugly crying time. i really struggled finishing the book only because i didn't want it to end and i didn't want to read the absolutely heartbreaking ending i knew was coming. but it was like a car crash i couldn't look away from. i could never say enough about gong's genius depiction of moral dilemmas, redemption, forgiveness and faith, literally all my favorite themes in one book. this novel had the most well written and multi-layered characters i've seen in a long time, their development throughout the story was insane. the ending will haunt me in my dreams and i'll never forgive ms. gong for that last chapter. she just had to hit the final nail in the coffin and make it hurt even more. it wasn't completely out of the blue but it did feel a little forced.”
Mai ❀
Created 9 months agoShare
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“The message and the reflection are really interesting. It's shows the cruelty and the absurdity of the carceral system and made us think about human nature, forgiveness and society. BUT, some parts make me felt really uneasy by how the author wrote it (the line about the Arab like??) and i disagree on how certain things are brought up.”
Maria Anita
Created 10 months agoShare
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About Gong Ji-young
Gong Ji-young is one of Korea’s most beloved and critically acclaimed novelists. She has sold more than 10 million books in South Korea alone. Her awards include the 2011 Yisand Literary Award, the 21st Century Literary Award, the Korean Novel Prize, Special Media Award, and Amnesty International for Our Happy Times. This is Gong’s first novel to be translated into English. Her books are published in China, Thailand, Japan, and the UK.
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