Name: Q's review of No One Writes Back by Yewon Jung
Item: No One Writes Back
Rating: 5
Author: Q

Yewon Jung

Eunjin Jang

Ŭn-jin Chang

Communication—or the lack thereof—is the subject of this sly update of the picaresque. Communication—or the lack thereof—is the subject of this sly update of the picaresque. No One Writes Back is the story of a young man who leaves home with only his blind dog, an MP3 player, and a book, traveling aimlessly for three years, from motel to motel, meeting people on the road. Rather than learn the names of his fellow travelers—or invent nicknames for them—he assigns them numbers. There’s 239, for example, who once dreamed of being a poet, but who now only reads her poems to a friend in a coma; there’s 109, who rides trains endlessly because of a broken heart; and 32, who’s already decided to commit suicide. The narrator writes letters to these men and women in the hope that he can console them in their various miseries, as well as keep a record of his own experiences: “A letter is like a journal entry for me, except that it gets sent to other people.” No one writes back, of course, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some hope that one of them will, someday . . .

No One Writes Back

Viet-Hung Nguyen

It's been 3 weeks and I'm still on a hangover from this book. What should I say about No One Writes Back? It's always the best books that are the hardest to review. It's too vast to summarize, too deceptive and full of surprises to compress in a nutshell, too emotionally toss-and-turning for comprehensible speech when I just want to SCREECH. 

What's notable for me: 
- how seemingly peaceful it is at all times except when the author dropped an information bomb every like 5 pages and you don't know anything anymore
- things never stop building up
- but the writing is so calming and easy to read, I looked forward to the soft suspense but I was never on my toes in anticipation of a jumpscare, it felt safe
- making this a lovely page-turner!
- A+ characterization, EVERYONE is so distinct and complex
- people writing letters and treasuring memories
- so many contradictions juxtaposed I'm in a narrative bliss
- beautiful beautiful story overall

Reiterating my tweet, this is my favorite book now. No One Writes Back stabbed all my acupuncture points and I literally cried myself sad and happy tears to sleep when I'm done. I actually chucked out stars from some books because my GR 5 stars are actually 6 stars tier reserved for these home runs. Now if only they would reprint this book with a better cover for obvious reasons TTTT

hileahrious

Beautifully endearing. It makes you think about the importance of every human interaction, that maybe one day all the people you meet along the way will actually have meant something. Highly recommended read!

charisa

basically, it’s the korean version of traveling cat chronicles??

the last few pages made me sob uncontrollably. i became so emotionally attached to the characters, their unique personalities, and habits to the point that it felt like i knew them personally and that i was with them throughout the journey. this is my second 5-star read for this year and i truly enjoyed every chapter.

Viet-Hung Nguyen &
No One Writes Back by Yewon Jung

Reviews

Join the club

Viet-Hung Nguyen &No One Writes Back by Yewon Jung

Reviews

Join the club

Viet-Hung Nguyen &
No One Writes Back by Yewon Jung