We Do Not Part
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By Han Kang, e. yaewon, and Paige Morris
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2 reviews
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR FOYLES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
AN OBSERVER BEST BOOK OF THE CENTURY SO FAR
Like a long winter’s dream, this haunting and visionary new novel from 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang takes us on a journey from contemporary South Korea into its painful history
‘One of the most profound and skilled writers working on the contemporary world stage’ Deborah Levy
Beginning one morning in December, We Do Not Part traces the path of Kyungha as she travels from the city of Seoul into the forests of Jeju Island, to the home of her old friend Inseon. Hospitalized following an accident, Inseon has begged Kyungha to hasten there to feed her beloved pet bird, who will otherwise die.
Kyungha takes the first plane to Jeju, but a snowstorm hits the island the moment she arrives, plunging her into a world of white. Beset by icy wind and snow squalls, she wonders if she will arrive in time to save the bird – or even survive the terrible cold which envelops her with every step. As night falls, she struggles her way to Inseon’s house, unaware as yet of the descent into darkness which awaits her.
There, the long-buried story of Inseon’s family surges into light, in dreams and memories passed from mother to daughter, and in a painstakingly assembled archive documenting a terrible massacre on the island seventy years before.
We Do Not Part is a hymn to friendship, a eulogy to the imagination and above all an indictment against forgetting.
Translated by e. yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris
‘A vital voice and a writer of extraordinary humanity. Her work is a gift to us all’ Max Porter
‘A remarkable novelist who reflects our modern condition with courage, imagination, and keen intelligence’ Min Jin Lee
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WARWICK PRIZE FOR WOMEN IN TRANSLATION
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On the back of this book, it states that it is 'blurring the boundaries between dream and reality' and this is certainly true.
On a winter morning in Seoul, whilst dealing with a mental health crisis, the main character Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend to go and see her in hospital. This starts a journey for Kyungha that takes her through snow storms, ill health, being close to dying and entering a different realm of reality. I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this book. However, the last third just felt long winded and slightly boring. I was disappointed after such a great start to the book!
Set in Jeju, a South Korean island, We Do Not Part has a slow, beautiful and snowy beginning. Dreams, reality and hallucinations intermingle lending a dreamlike quality to the narrative. But brace yourself for the second half which becomes quite harrowing as the Jeju uprising and subsequent genocide of 1948/49 are uncovered. A brilliant book that left me stunned.
