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3.5 

The White Book

By Han Kang
The White Book by Han Kang digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE • A “formally daring, emotionally devastating, and deeply political” (The New York Times Book Review) exploration of personal grief through the prism of the color white, from the internationally bestselling author of The Vegetarian

“Stunningly beautiful writing . . . delicate and gorgeous . . . one of the smartest reflections on what it means to remember those we’ve lost.”—NPR
 
While on a writer’s residency, a nameless narrator focuses on the color white to creatively channel her inner pain. Through lyrical, interconnected stories, she grapples with the tragedy that has haunted her family, attempting to make sense of her older sister’s death using the color white. From trying to imagine her mother’s first time producing breast milk to watching the snow fall and meditating on the impermanence of life, she weaves a poignant, heartfelt story of the omnipresence of grief and the ways we perceive the world around us.
 
In captivating, starkly beautiful language, The White Book offers a multilayered exploration of color and its absence, of the tenacity and fragility of the human spirit, and of our attempts to graft new life from the ashes of destruction.

45 Reviews

3.5
Slightly Smiling Face“The novel evidently defies genre and due to its unusual structure, it challenges you to think and make sense of what she really is telling you. To me, it felt like walking through an art gallery. Going through it piece by piece and part by part, not missing any corners. In the sense of feeling trapped in a room and being forced to face new and difficult perspectives and emotions.”
Beautifully writtenLyricalOriginal writingHeartbreakingHauntingVivid
“soft and gentle and tender i super enjoyed”
““Each wave becomes dazzlingly white at the moment of its shattering. Further out, the tranquil body of water flashes like scales of innumerable fish. The glittering of multitudes is there. The shifting, stirring, tossing of multitudes. Nothing is eternal.” Some really beautiful imagery and language in this little volume.”
“i didnt love this as much as i expected! i wanted to like it even more than i liked the vegetarian, which i liked, but didnt love. color as a concept fascinates me and i love to read/listen to in-depth analysis for it, but i dont think this was as much about the color as the color was an excuse to discuss some topics. i saw somebody saying it reminded them of maggie nelsons bluets, and i absolutely agree, but i felt bluets actually went further into the color or focused on it in a different way that felt, to me, more satisfactory. the white book is written prettily, and the topics are heavy and overall it is very poetic, but i ofren found myself wishing the little essays had something ELSE to say, and i wasn't very compelled to keep reading. but im glad i pushed on, and i will definitely keep han kang in my radar!”

About Han Kang

HAN KANG was born in 1970 in South Korea. In 1993 she made her literary debut as a poet, and was first published as a novelist in 1994. A participant in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, Han has won the Man Booker International Prize, the Yi Sang Literary Award, the Today's Young Artist Award, and the Manhae Prize for Literature. She currently works as a professor in the department of creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.

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