Familiar Things

`A powerful examination of capitalism from one of South Korea's most acclaimed authors ... [Hwang] challenges us to look back and reevaluate the cost of modernisation, and see what and whom we have left behind.'

`Five stars ... Readers expecting this novel to develop into a savage take on Seoul slum life will be disappointed ... [Hwang Sok-Yong] wants to tell a different story altogether. Familiar Things turns out to be less about simple disposal than movement between different worlds ... resonant.'

`Hwang Sok-yong is one of South Korea's foremost writers, a powerful voice for society's marginalised, and Sora Kim-Russell's translations never falter.'

`Undoubtedly the most powerful voice in Asia today.'

`[A] vivid depiction of a city too quick to throw away both possessions and people.'

`Sora Kim-Russell's translation moves gracefully between gritty, whiffy realism and folk-tale spookiness.'

`Familiar Things is a poignant novel that depicts decay and regeneration ... A sense of menace pervades the novel. But the relationship that develops between Bugeye and Baldspot, who he comes to adopt as his younger brother, is heartwarming.'

`Familiar Things is both tragic and heartrending.'

`While it invokes South Korean history, culture, mythology and folklore, this slim novel is unmistakably universal in its reach, contemporary in its appeal, and packs an emotional punch that reverberates long after reading.'

`In Familiar Things, the great Korean writer embraces the social realities of his country. It is the opposite of the economic miracle that he paints for us here. Beyond simple naturalism, Hwang Sok-yong mixes into the actual, the magic of a popular culture steeped in the spiritual.'

`Hwang Sok-yong is one of the most read Korean writers in his country, and best known abroad. An activist for democracy and reconciliation with the North, in his books he melds his political fights with the Korean cultural imagination.'

`A great political book, a plea for a country under the boot of a general, a country embroiled in a fierce power struggle, where ideology has been devoured by productivity, where human beings are nothing more than bellies to be filled for the benefit of industrial producers ... Grandma Willow in her dementia rails, You're despicable! Do you think you live alone here? You men may all disappear, nature will continue to exist! Let's hope so!'

`Reality, fiction and fantasy mix closely, giving his writing unparalleled power. Hwang Sok-yong's empathy for his heroes is always accompanied by a fierce rage against the powerful.'

`Hwang's writing is rich with symbolism, cautionary lessons, and the potential for redemption.'

`As one of the country's most prominent novelists, Hwang has never shied away from controversy ... With Familiar Things, Hwang turns his attention to the underside of South Korea's remarkable economic development, namely, the vast underclass it has created.'