Han Kang

Deborah Smith

Emily Yae Won

From the International Booker Prize-Winning Author of the Vegetarian

Greek Lessons

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it's the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing his independence.

Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish—the fading light of a man losing his vision meeting the silence of a woman who has lost her language. Yet these are the very things that draw them to one another. Slowly the two discover a profound sense of unity—their voices intersecting with startling beauty, as they move from darkness to light, from silence to breath and expression.

Greek Lessons is the story of the unlikely bond between this pair and a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection—a novel to awaken the senses, one that vividly conjures the essence of what it means to be alive.

A Novel

sina (she/her) 

Why had I been such a fool when it came to loving you? My love for you wasn't foolish, but I was; had my own innate foolishness made love itself foolish? 

Emiley Jones

To her, there was no touch as instantaneous and intuitive as the gaze. It was close to being the only way of touching without touch.

If snow is the silence that falls from the sky, perhaps rain is an endless sentence.

louv

That when the most frail, tender, forlon parts of us, that is to say our life-breaths, are at some point returned to the world of matter, we will receive nothing in recompense. [...] And that there is no complete thing, ever. At least in this world.

Scribbled directly below a sentence by Borges, 

The world is an illusion, and living is dreaming

that dream so vivid? How does blood flow and hot tears gush forth?

She no longer thought in language. She moved without language and understood without language — as it had been before she learned to speak, no, before she obtained life, silence, absorbing the flow of time like balls of cotton, enveloped her body both outside and in.

Dora Tominic

She'd chosen this place many years ago, on the ground floor so her son could play freely. But he had shown no desire to stamp his feet or run about. When she told him it was okay to use the skipping rope in the living room, he asked, 'But won't it be noisy for the worms and snails?'

anastasia

It was around then that I realized for the first time that falling in love is like being haunted. Even before I opened my eyes in the morning, you would slip in under my eyelids. 

Lindsay

If only she’d made a map of the route her tears used to take.

If only she’d used a needle to engrave pinpricks, or even just traces of blood, over the route where the words used to flow.

But, she mutters, from a place deeper than tongue and throat, that was too terrible a route.

- language, communication, senses, love, loss

- a vivid, sensory experience. a significant percentage of the page length is spent on descriptions and imagery and observations from the mute woman. this continues even with the teacher’s point of view

- very scattered in the writing style and perspectives, which resulted in my enjoyment sometimes being VERY high praise, and sometimes just being mild approval. there’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd point of view used throughout, and the voices are all very unique

- my favorite passages always revolved around the struggles of language and communication, from both the teacher’s and woman’s perspectives. both of their stories had such profound things to say on this matter

- i 100% need to reread this soon. i admittedly couldn’t give this book the attention it needed, and i could tell in the second half that there was something more rewarding to find for the next time :)

nico

- language, communication, senses, love, loss

- a vivid, sensory experience. a significant percentage of the page length is spent on descriptions and imagery and observations from the mute woman. this continues even with the teacher’s point of view

- very scattered in the writing style and perspectives, which resulted in my enjoyment sometimes being VERY high praise, and sometimes just being mild approval. there’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd point of view used throughout, and the voices are all very unique

- my favorite passages always revolved around the struggles of language and communication, from both the teacher’s and woman’s perspectives. both of their stories had such profound things to say on this matter

- i 100% need to reread this soon. i admittedly couldn’t give this book the attention it needed, and i could tell in the second half that there was something more rewarding to find for the next time :)

- need more han kang recommendations

Before starting Greek Lessons I was hesitant to see whether I would like it or not. This is due to my negative experience with her other work 'The Vegetarian', where while I enjoyed the use of language and premise of the book, the nonlinear narration confused me. In honesty at first I felt the same about Greek Lessons, the dual POV, stream of consciousness, intricately detailed narration was a little hard to follow at first and I heavily considered marking this as a did-not-finish. However i chose to continue and I'm glad I did. I find the way Greek Lessons talks about disability really compassionate and interesting. It brings to question what communication really is, when sight and speech are limited, can communication still occur with the same vibrancy. Can things be said without our voice being vocalised. I especially liked how one of the characters found her own native language restrictive but Greek a gateway to expression. It ties into the concept of how different languages have special words for certain feelings and phenomenons which don't always translate. In the other character I liked how the author discussed how even between disabled people have different approaches to life, society often lumps disabled people into one monolith and thinks they should simply accept that their life will be the same way as it is for others with the same disability. That they either should be some sort of inspirational story of going against the odds or someone to be pitied. I liked how the character discusses the sadness in losing his vision, but how he also chose to keep on living and follow his passions. I really enjoyed the last part of this book, when the characters interact and their connection becomes strong. There was some sort of beauty there, that goes beyond words. Greek Lessons was a surprisingly rewarding read for me, I hope to try more of Han Kang's work in the future

Marz 

i wonder how i will read and understand and feel these same words at different times that are not now 

The prose was beautifully written - as always. I don’t think i “got” the book how it was meant to be understood. The characters didn’t resonate with me and fell a little flat. Still enjoyable tho

Alison Hinklom

I would have given up after a few chapters but I read so many high praises I kept going. To understand. I wasn’t moved by what the characters are put through, I just felt emotionally manipulated. Like in a soap opera, except the style is restrained.

Martin

one of the things i enjoy most about Han Kang's writing is the philosophical lens that she brings to each story. in this book, we examine language and the variety of ways in which people communicate through these two main characters - one of who is mute and the other who is losing their sight. while the writing was stunning and the topic compelling, i felt a bit detached from the characters themselves. there's a bit of a haze that prevented me from fully understanding what was happening each chapter, i had to re-read paragraphs to grasp what was going on or who's POV we were in.

Lilo

one of those books that makes me incredibly sad i can only read a translation of. made me think of language and semiotics in a way I probably hadn't done since college.

the unbearable weight of language. 

one of those books that makes me incredibly sad i can only read a translation of. made me think of language and semiotics in a way I probably hadn't done since college.

quite confusing, i thought i'd like it more

initially found it hard to follow the physical text so switching to the audiobook version really helped and made it more enjoyable for me.

each ordinary word is so packed with sorrow :”) language — in whatever form — is so important

initially found it hard to follow the physical text so switching to the audiobook version really helped and made it more enjoyable for me.

each ordinary word is so packed with sorrow :”) language — in whatever form — is so important

Stuffed air and wrong time wrong place for this one.

Disclaimer: this is not a review. 

Stuffed air and wrong time wrong place for this one.

i have never read anything more mutely intimate. not even close. this book transcends all my previous understanding on language beyonds my comprehension. a very tender whisper on the human connection and body language. kang's ethereal way with words and proses, knotted beautifully with a thorough and clear (yet so outworldly) translation, i found beauty and serenity in between each of its words. 

refutabilitas

I’m a sucker for linguistics and it was fun to read and the writing style is incredible however it leaves you with the feeling of incompleteness. Maybe that’s how it was supposed to be

han kang's ability to weave intimacy without words but memory. the work to remember past tragedy and future dread is painful at every waking moment. 

solitones

A last minute contender for my favourite read this year (Angela Carter's grip on me is just too strong).

Originally, I did not have any intention to read "Greek Lessons" - frankly, Han Kang's work is severly underpromoted in the UK. But a friend on Tumblr posted excerpts from the book as they were reading it and the prose was so captivating, it immediately went on my Kindle (even if I would not pick it up from the library for some time after).

And that first impression holds. The novel is incredibly beautiful, lyrical - and poignant. It is a meditation on loss and separation with language as an expression of the idea of connection and disconnect. It is an idea that is both at the forefront of the novel and that is tenderly woven into its fabric; it is a great mastery of the craft to achieve this. 

A last minute contender for my favourite read this year (Angela Carter's grip on me is just too strong).

Originally, I did not have any intention to read "Greek Lessons" - frankly, Han Kang's work is severly underpromoted in the UK. But a friend on Tumblr posted excerpts from the book as they were reading it and the prose was so captivating, it immediately went on my Kindle (even if I would not pick it up from the library for some time after).

And that first impression holds. The novel is incredibly beautiful, lyrical - and poignant. It is a meditation on loss and separation with language as an expression of the idea of connection and disconnect. It is an idea that is both at the forefront of the novel and that is tenderly woven into its fabric; it is a great mastery of the craft to achieve this. 

megan becker

Somehow, this book outsold “The Vegetarian” for me - if that is even possible. It is so full of yearning and sorrow and unlikely connection and unspeakable feelings. I found it to be more accessible than Kang’s other works, but it still pushed the boundaries of my mind and make me work to understand. Such gorgeously written prose in a structure that feels entirely singular to Kang. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much time studying semiotics & language, but this story hit me full force and will likely live at the bottom of my stomach, full of all it’s yearning & imagery, for weeks to come.

Greek Lessons From the International Booker Prize-Winning Author of the Vegetarian

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