A woman sells her daughter to a passing beekeeper for two jars of honey. A baby weighing fifteen pounds is born in the depths of winter but named “Girl of Spring”. A storm brings down the roof of a ramshackle restaurant to reveal a hidden fortune. These are just some of the events that set Myeong-Kwan's beautifully crafted, wild world in motion.
Set in a remote village in South Korea, Whale follows the lives of its linked characters: Geumbok, who has been chasing an indescribable thrill ever since she first saw a whale crest in the ocean; her mute daughter, Chunhui, who communicates with elephants; and a one-eyed woman who controls honeybees with a whistle.
Brimming with surprises and wicked humour, Whale is an adventure-satire of epic proportions, by one of international literature’s the most original voices.
"In recent years East Asia has usurped Latin America as the lodestar of magic realism… Cheon Myeong-kwan’s Whale, a novel of tycoons, ghosts and cinephiles that was first published in South Korea in 2003 and has now been translated into English by Chi-Young Kim, rides the crest of this wave… Told in an omniscient and playful narrative voice, smoothly translated by Chi-Young, this is a distinctly Korean take on Great Expectations, a tale of aspiration and folly punctuated with artisanal bricks and dried fish." ― Financial Times
"A lesson in magical realism, weaving together riotous tales of secret treasure, a giant baby and people who speak to elephants... Fast paced and cinematic."
― Monocle
"A rich, fantastical tale..... unique and ambitious."
― Buzz Magazine
“Funny and light while also deeply philosophical and sensual.”
― Asian Review of Books
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