Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Winter in Sokcho

Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin

156 reviews

kelseydkim's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Winter in Sokcho is described "as if Marguerite Duras wrote Convenience Store Woman"... SOLD. I love Duras and love that novel. The narrator is a French Korean woman working at an old run down guest house in Sokcho, a cold, desolate coastal shell of a city bordering North Korea. She reminds me a lot of the narrator in Convenience Store Woman in that she's chosen to live a simpler life in Sokcho, rather than Seoul, where there's much more an expectation to look a certain way and have a certain career path. But she's different in that she seems to struggle a lot with this identity. She's full of conflict, much like the city of Sokcho itself. She vacillates between wanting to be hidden and wanting to be seen, wanting to consume and wanting to be consumed, identifying as French or as Korean. Ultimately, she wants to be understood rather than perceived; she wants to escape the kind of loneliness that comes from within yourself, the kind you experience even when you're with other people. When a French graphic novelist comes to stay, his presence both unsettles and unfolds her. Being with him allows her to open and explore the conflicts in her identity, as she watches him do the same with his art.

Life Duras, the prose is visceral and stunning. You can spend a lot of time unpacking each sentence, and there is equal importance in what is said and what is not said. This novel is definitely a vibe more than action-packed. The tense feeling throughout the novel, from the machine guns visible across the border, the distant and awkward interactions between the narrator and her mom, and the question of where she and the Frenchman will end up, never really eases up. (I think there are hints of what's happened with her mom, but nothing concrete is said). There's no true "resolution" here, which I think is wonderful because I cannot stop thinking and analyzing this novel, and I've already reread a lot of it. This would be a great book club read. Also what a great cover :)

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emmagreenwood's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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belramica's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

go girl give us nothing

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yaelaed's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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pinebubbles's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I just think I fundamentally don't understand this book. Nothing really happens and the characters are just plain weird. There are a few interesting points but none of them result in any type of plot line or give any sort of resolution. I cannot say that at the end, the main character has discovered anything about herself even though that seems to be the main premise?

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melcanread's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-paced

2.0

Critical rating: 2 stars.
Vibe check: 2 stars.

I feel like I need to take a shower after that and exfoliate the bullshit off of me.

Winter in Sokcho follows a Korean-French woman who lives in Sokcho, South Korea. One evening, a French graphic-novelist shows up and works on his latest book.

That's it. That's literally what happens. Throw in some body shaming and eating disorders and that's the entire 154 condensed into a short paragraph. The whole novel felt very stagnant and dull, with the most interesting thing being the fact that her mother can prepare puffer fish without poisoning people.

I didn't like the writing style. It was too simple and it didn't feel like any effort was put into the translation at all. I saw this. I smelled this. We went here. I ate this. I regretted it for 154 solid. It was so, incredibly bland, and it made me want to pluck my eyeballs out of their sockets just for something to do.

The main "love interest" (if you can call him that) was a whole demon - and just to jump off of that, the amount of times in this short book I went, "what the fuck?" because one of the characters had just made some random, out of pocket action that made no sense whatsoever. Some examples:

"I took off my jumper. I pressed myself up against the window, crushing my belly and breasts to the glass and waited until I was numb with cold. Then I went to bed."

"A spider scuttled into view and started to run up his leg, but he made no move to brush it away. He looked down at his handiwork. In an instinctive moment, he tore off a corner of the sheet and began to chew on it."

Later on, she's cleaning his room and she finds a wad of paper in the bin covered in his spit? What?

Also, genuine question, how does one's breasts tighten? Because yet again someone has written about it, and deemed it necessary to include it and I'm still so very confused.

I think my biggest issue with this book was that it felt very demonising of Korean men and romanticising the white French dude. Both the Korean love interest and the French one were assholes, I'd like to put out there, but it felt very icky, you know?

There was more body shaming in this book than I'd have cared for, and so much talk of eating disorders. Let this be a lesson to you, actually check the trigger warnings of the books your reading, kids. Oh! And graphic descriptions of cutting up and killing fish.

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