Kyung-Sook Shin

Kyŏng-suk Sin

In 1980s South Korea, 20-something Jung Yoon is forced to re-live the most intense period of her life, including the death of her beloved mother, first love and friendship, when she receives a distressing phone call from her ex-boyfriend after eight years of separation. Original.

A Novel

I'll be Right There

giuli

nese

Is trying to spare someone the sensation of pain a love language or is it pure selfishness? 

I cannot say she was right. I think that if we all have to say goodbye eventually then the best we can do is try to stay together as long as we possibly can. But it's not that one of us was right and the other was wrong. We just saw things differently. 

I picked up a perilla leaf and placed it on Miru's rice. It was something my mother used to do for me. When did my mother get to eat? I had more memories of her feeding us than of her eating. She used to beam with pride over how heartily my father ate, and she encouraged me to eat like him. 

 "My mother would have enjoyed watching you eat," I said. "She used to say that people had to know how to enjoy their food. She said that was how you could be sure to always get your share, no matter where you went. People who know how to enjoy food know the value of it.” 

“Human beings are imperfect. We are complicated, indefinable by any wise saying or moral…The more you love someone, the stronger that feeling is. But if we cannot despair over the things we've lost, then what does it all mean? But... I don't want that despair to damage your souls.” 

Why was it so hard for me to open my eyes every morning, why was I so afraid to form a relationship with anyone?

I hope that when I die, I will be writing or reading a book at my desk late one snowy night and I will simply put my head down and close my eyes forever. I want that to be the last image of me in this earth.

"I wish someone would promise me that nothing is meaningless."

We all stare at the walls and complain of loneliness. All we have to do is turn around, but instead we keep our faces to the walls. It's depressing to think that this will never change.

To hold someone's hand, you must first know when to let it go.

I'll be Right There quotes

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