Name: Shoko's Smile
Rating: 3.88135593220339 (59 reviews)
ISBN: 9780143135265

Choi Eunyoung

A bestselling and award-winning debut collection from one of South Korea's most prominent young writers. In the tradition of Sally Rooney, Banana Yoshimoto, and Marilynne Robinson - writers from different cultures who all take an unvarnished look at human relationships and the female experience - Eun-young Choi is a writer to watch.

Stories

Shoko's Smile

쇼코의 미소

sani

“I couldn’t stand her love, which did not reject even the ugliest of my faces. I couldn’t stand it because I had been afraid of being loved from the beginning.”

Shoko's smile is a collection of seven short stories featuring the complexities of human relationships, especially female friendships and how they evolve over time. 

i’m in so much awe by the intricacies of the women relationships through time. each of the seven stories feels like a novel on their own and i’m so bummed up. need a decade to get over it all. love, love, love Choi Eunyoung's writing so much

Shaz

In crisp, unembellished prose, Choi Eunyoung paints intimate portraits of the lives of young women in South Korea, balancing the personal with the political. In the title story, a fraught friendship between an exchange student and her host sister follows them from adolescence to adulthood. In 'A Song from Afar', a young woman grapples with the death of her lover, travelling to Russia to search for information about the deceased. In 'Secret', the parents of a teacher killed in the Sewol ferry sinking hide the news of her death from her grandmother. In the tradition of Sally Rooney, Banana Yoshimoto, and Marilynne Robinson - writers from different cultures who all take an unvarnished look at human relationships and the female experience - Choi Eunyoung is a writer to watch.

A beautiful and poignant collection of stories.

𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮

i cried in public on the train reading this book

daisy

i dont usually like short stories collection but this one is a masterpiece and i was rooting for every characters in each stories / 4.5 stars

soiled plants

In crisp, unembellished prose, Choi Eunyoung paints intimate portraits of the lives of young women in South Korea, balancing the personal with the political. In the title story, a fraught friendship between an exchange student and her host sister follows them from adolescence to adulthood. In 'A Song from Afar', a young woman grapples with the death of her lover, travelling to Russia to search for information about the deceased. In 'Secret', the parents of a teacher killed in the Sewol ferry sinking hide the news of her death from her grandmother. In the tradition of Sally Rooney, Banana Yoshimoto, and Marilynne Robinson - writers from different cultures who all take an unvarnished look at human relationships and the female experience - Choi Eunyoung is a writer to watch. Translated by Sung Ryu.

Shoko's Smile Stories

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