One Hundred Shadows

Summary

HAN KANG’S HUMAN ACTS MEETS YŌKO OGAWA’S THE MEMORY POLICE

This understated South Korean novella in translation offers a restrained yet emotional magical realist examination of futility in a capitalist society, written in response to the 2009 Yongsan Disaster, when a peaceful sit-in to protest the evictions of low-income tenants ended in a deadly fire.

IN A SEOUL SLUM marked for demolition, residents’ shadows have begun to rise. No one knows how or why—but, they warn each other, do not follow your shadow if it wanders away.

Employees of a small electronics repair shop, Eungyo and Mujae can only watch their tight-knit community begin to fade as the landscape of their lives is torn apart, building by building. Their growing connection with one another provides solace, but against an uncaring ruling class and the inevitability of the rising shadows, their relationship may not be enough.

Winner of the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award and the Korean Booksellers’ Award, One Hundred Shadows is a tender working-class perspective with subtle and affecting social commentary. This edition features an introduction by International Booker Prize–winning author of The Vegetarian, Han Kang.

“Affecting. … It’s rare for a story to be so dense in social meaning yet so lightly composed.”—The Nation