The White Book
Author(s): Han Kang; Deborah Smith (Translator)
Novellas and Short Stories | Our Picks for Book Clubs
Shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize
From Booker Prize-winner and literary phenomenon Han Kang, a lyrical and disquieting exploration of personal grief, written through the prism of the color white
While on a writer's residency, a nameless narrator wanders the twin white worlds of the blank page and snowy Warsaw. THE WHITE BOOK becomes a meditation on the color white, as well as a fictional journey inspired by an older sister who died in her mother's arms, a few hours old. The narrator grapples with the tragedy that has haunted her family, an event she colors in stark white--breast milk, swaddling bands, the baby's rice cake-colored skin--and, from here, visits all that glows in her memory: from a white dog to sugar cubes.
As the writer reckons with the enormity of her sister's death, Han Kang's trademark frank and chilling prose is softened by retrospection, introspection, and a deep sense of resilience and love. THE WHITE BOOK--ultimately a letter from Kang to her sister--offers powerful philosophy and personal psychology on the tenacity and fragility of the human spirit, and our attempts to graft new life from the ashes of destruction.
OUR STAFF RECOMMENDS
A list of white things evolves into a poetic and profound story unlike any other. The most beautiful book I’ve ever read. Melancholy, absorbing, intimately connected to the author’s own life - an extraordinary and moving reading experience.
- Sam
Product Information
General Fields
- :
- : Granta Books
- : Granta Books
- : 0.24
- : 01 January 2018
- : 19.80 cmmm X 12.90 cmmm X 0.00 cmmm
- : books
Special Fields
- : Han Kang; Deborah Smith (Translator)
- : Paperback
- : 1808
- : English
- : 128
- : FA
- : Deborah Smith