A sweeping, multi-generational tale blending fable, farce, and fantasy-a masterpiece of modern fiction perfect for fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude. A woman sells her daughter to a passing beekeeper for two jars of honey. A baby weighing fifteen pounds is born in the depths of winter but named "Girl of Spring".
A storm brings down the roof of a ramshackle restaurant to reveal a hidden fortune. These are just some of the events that set Cheon Myeong-kwan's beautifully crafted, wild world in motion. Set in a remote village in South Korea, Whale follows the lives of its linked characters: Geumbok, who has been chasing an indescribable thrill ever since she first saw a whale crest in the ocean; her mute daughter, Chunhui, who communicates with elephants; and a one-eyed woman who controls honeybees with a whistle.
Brimming with surprises and wicked humour, Whale is an adventure-satire of epic proportions, by one of international literature's the most original voices.
“Told in an omniscient and playful narrative voice, smoothly translated by Chi-Young Kim, this is a distinctly Korean take on Great Expectations, a tale of aspiration and folly punctuated with artisanal bricks and dried fish . . . an affecting theme emerges about the sins of mothers, while philosophical notions broach the comic . . . and the profound . . . The novel succeeds thanks to its multi-sensual atmosphere of strangeness and a conflicted protagonist who simply refuses to accept the mundane.”
–Christian House, Financial Times
“A novel that seduces.”
–JoongAng Ilbo
“A peerless work devoted to telling a powerful story and lauded for expanding Korean literature into new dimensions.”
–The Hankyoreh
“[Whale] redefines what fiction can be.”
–The Kyunghyang Sinmun
“Whale overflows with freshness. That’s what makes it special.”
—OhmyNews
Author
About Cheon Myeong-kwan
Cheon Myeong-kwan is a South Korean novelist, screenwriter and film director. His novel Modern Family was adapted into a film, Boomerang Family, in 2013.
