A review by annaelisaa
Ein Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m honestly having trouble rating this, since I suspect my issues lay mostly with the translator and not the author. Throughout the novel, I felt as if the central narrative was somewhat condensed to fit western ideals, part of which I think happened on a textual level (the translation as such) and less so on content level. The translations chosen for Korean words, objects, and such made me cringe more often than not and are pretty inconsistent, in my opinion. But, alas, I have not read the original or any other novels by this author (plus, this is a debut), so it’s hard for me to really judge. 

On a plot level, what we have here is an exploration of the concept of han, which is, in today's context, often used in connection with diaspora. It's an interesting approach to examine this concept through the eyes of a French Korean woman living IN South Korea. And while this aspect of the novel was moving and well structured, I oftentimes found myself wondering what the point of the plot lines were. At first, I thought South-Korean and North-Korean identities (and the interplay between them) would be connected or challenged in connection to Gyopo identities or BiPOC identities living in South Korea. But this was quickly dropped. Discourse on social issues is hinted at, but then kind of fizzles out. It's obvious the author had many ideas, but they were sketched out and then abandoned again one page later. The atmosphere was perfect, and the prose hit just the right tone of voice; this is the sort of "woman vs the void" novel you are gonna enjoy if you like Han Kang or Moshfegh, for example. I'm excited to see the development in the other novel that has since been translated!