3.69k reviews for:

속초에서의 겨울

Elisa Shua Dusapin, Elisa Shua Dusapin

3.56 AVERAGE

readingseasonally's review against another edition

4.0

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Decent. Intriguing little book set in Korean guest house. Good glimpses into cuisine, culture & relationships. Didn't completely wow me but enjoyable. Would like to read her next in the original French.

mohanyu's review against another edition

5.0

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

charirving's review against another edition

5.0

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Best atmospheric vibes in a book I’ve encountered in a long time. Made me want noodle soup. 

che11e's review against another edition

4.0

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3.75

marslovesbooks's review against another edition

3.25

dark reflective relaxing medium-paced

whatstreading's review against another edition

4.5

slow-paced

ryuuminate's review against another edition

3.5

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'How do you know when a story is done?'
Kerrand came closer to the desk.

'My character reaches a point when I know he has a life of his own. I can let him go.’ 

Winter in Sokcho is the kind of book that leaves you with more of a feeling than a hardened thought, its story unfolding through mundane routines and atmospheric subtleties. Its themes of identity and physicality (through body image, plastic surgery, and intimacy) emerge like a butterfly from a chrysalis, slow yet beautiful. 

You see how Kerrand shows more interest in his idea of Korea than the Sokcho our unnamed narrator has lived through, how he maintains a superficial relationship with her and leaves her scrambling for an inkling of his validation, a sign that he could see her for who she was, not just as a tourist guide that could fill the gaps in his knowledge of a foreign land, not just as a mythologized muse of his art.

And so, when she breaks free from that search, he leaves the guest house she works at, leaves Sokcho, goes back to France—Kerrand leaves behind a character who has gained a mind of her own, a girl whose world no longer revolves around him.

saragardinier's review against another edition

3.75

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

livia_von_gossler's review against another edition

3.75

reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ejrathke's review against another edition

4.0

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There's much to love about this novel. In some ways, it's sort of an inverted Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata.

The way it deals with identity and especially social ostracization due to racist Korean attitudes is very subtle but also powerful. I imagine this is something easy to miss if you've never spent any time in Korea, but the narrator is biracial, which is viewed sometimes rather unpleasantly by Koreans. Along with that, her mother isn't married, which is another layer of degradation to many Koreans.

But, yes, a sometimes frustrating work with the flat affect of many current American novels that I find so unpleasant. But, even so, there's much to love here. A delicate beauty and sorrow.