Chi-Young Kim, Translator
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Whale
​​
​by Cheon Myeong-kwan

Shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize
​

A sweeping, multi-generational tale blending fable, farce, and fantasy—a masterpiece of modern fiction perfect for fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude. 

Whale is the English-language debut of a beloved and bestselling South Korean author, a born storyteller with a cinematic, darkly humorous, and thoroughly original perspective.
 
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 a few of the events that set Cheon Myeong-kwan’s beautifully crafted, wild world in motion.
 

Whale, set in a remote village in South Korea, follows the lives of many linked characters, including Geumbok, an extremely ambitious woman 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 humor, Whale is an adventure-satire of epic proportions by one of the most original voices in international literature.

Order from your local bookseller or Amazon.

Reviews

"Told in an omniscient and playful narrative voice, smoothly translated by Chi-Young Kim, this is a distinctly Korean take on Great Expectations, a tale of aspiration and folly punctuated with artisanal bricks and dried fish . . . The novel succeeds thanks to its multi-sensual atmosphere of strangeness and a conflicted protagonist who simply refuses to accept the mundane."
—Financial Times


"A novel that seduces." 
—JoongAng Ilbo

"A peerless work devoted to telling a powerful story and lauded for expanding Korean literature into new dimensions."
—The Hankyoreh


"[Whale] redefines what fiction can be." 
—The Kyunghyang Sinmun


"Whale overflows with freshness. That's what makes it special."
—OhmyNews


"There has never been a novel like this in Korean literature . . . A novel that's more like reading out loud than reading quietly to oneself; its structure is like that of a folktale. You can feel the oral tradition in the rhythm of the sentences." 
—Lee Dong-jin