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A review by reads_eats_explores
Greek Lessons by Han Kang
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A Korean woman finds herself without language at the same time that her lecturer slowly loses his eyesight. It's an unusual premise for a novel, but this internationally renowned author somehow makes it not just work but be stunning.
One day, in the midst of teaching a literature class, a woman finds herself unable to speak; she literally has no words. Scarily this has happened to her before: at age 16, she’d lost language, and though she was taken to a psychiatrist and prescribed medication, she saw no change until a lesson in French—a foreign language—prompted her to utilise speech once again.
This time, unlike before, “the silence that has now returned after a period of twenty years is neither warm, nor dense, nor bright. If that original silence had been similar to that which exists before birth, this new silence is more like that which follows death.”
Of course, the woman has experienced more life events. She has married and divorced; her mother has recently died, and she has lost custody of her son. This aphasia appears to be partially at least stress induced, however much our narrator vehemently denies it.
She begins taking a class in Ancient Greek; perhaps she’ll be able to find language again, as she did as a teenager. But things aren't quite so simple now.
The woman’s story alternates with that of her Greek teacher, who, slowly and steadily losing his sight for almost two decades, is now nearly blind. He, too, was born in Korea but moved to Germany with his family as a child and only returned to his native country and native tongue as an adult.
Both these characters battling their decline in health are achingly alone and feel disconnected from the world around them. Yet, over time, they do find a kind of connection with each other.
The star of the book is Han’s exploration of the limitations of her characters, both linguistic and visual, which makes the novel so profoundly moving. She is meticulous in her descriptive yet beautifully flowing prose, how we often cut ourselves off from the world even as we yearn for the confirmations that connectivity brings.
Greek Lessons is ultimately an emotion stirring exploration of language, memory, and what it is to be human. 4⭐
One day, in the midst of teaching a literature class, a woman finds herself unable to speak; she literally has no words. Scarily this has happened to her before: at age 16, she’d lost language, and though she was taken to a psychiatrist and prescribed medication, she saw no change until a lesson in French—a foreign language—prompted her to utilise speech once again.
This time, unlike before, “the silence that has now returned after a period of twenty years is neither warm, nor dense, nor bright. If that original silence had been similar to that which exists before birth, this new silence is more like that which follows death.”
Of course, the woman has experienced more life events. She has married and divorced; her mother has recently died, and she has lost custody of her son. This aphasia appears to be partially at least stress induced, however much our narrator vehemently denies it.
She begins taking a class in Ancient Greek; perhaps she’ll be able to find language again, as she did as a teenager. But things aren't quite so simple now.
The woman’s story alternates with that of her Greek teacher, who, slowly and steadily losing his sight for almost two decades, is now nearly blind. He, too, was born in Korea but moved to Germany with his family as a child and only returned to his native country and native tongue as an adult.
Both these characters battling their decline in health are achingly alone and feel disconnected from the world around them. Yet, over time, they do find a kind of connection with each other.
The star of the book is Han’s exploration of the limitations of her characters, both linguistic and visual, which makes the novel so profoundly moving. She is meticulous in her descriptive yet beautifully flowing prose, how we often cut ourselves off from the world even as we yearn for the confirmations that connectivity brings.
Greek Lessons is ultimately an emotion stirring exploration of language, memory, and what it is to be human. 4⭐
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Medical content, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Ableism, and Grief