The Vegetarian
3.490 kr.A beautiful, unsettling novel in three acts, about rebellion and taboo, violence and eroticism, and the twisting metamorphosis of a soul. Winner of the 2016 Man Booker International PrizeHe is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more ‘plant-like’ existence, decides to become a vegetarian, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares. In South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye’s decision is a shocking act of subversion. Her passive rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, leading her bland husband to self-justified acts of sexual sadism. His cruelties drive her towards attempted suicide and hospitalisation. She unknowingly captivates her sister’s husband, a video artist. She becomes the focus of his increasingly erotic and unhinged artworks, while spiralling further and further into her fantasies of abandoning her fleshly prison and becoming – impossibly, ecstatically – a tree. Fraught, disturbing and beautiful, The Vegetarian is a novel about modern day South Korea, but also a novel about shame, desire and our faltering attempts to understand others, from one imprisoned body to another.
Grænmetisætan
4.590 kr.Hin suður-kóreska Han Kang hlaut Nóbelsverðlaunin í bókmenntum árið 2024 fyrir ,,ákafan ljóðrænan prósa sem tekur á sögulegum áföllum og afhjúpar viðkvæmni mannlífsins.“ Áður hafði hún meðal annars hlotið Man Booker-verðlaunin árið 2016 fyrir Grænmetisætuna sem farið hefur sigurför um heiminn.
Bókin kom fyrst út á íslensku árið 2017 og hlaut mikið lof. Meðal annars völdu bóksalar hana sem bestu þýddu skáldsögu ársins. Han Kang var gestur á Bókmenntahátíðinni í Reykjavík sama ár. Grænmetisætan er endurútgefin í tilefni af Nóbelsverðlaununum.
Yeong-Hye og eiginmaður hennar lifa afar venjulegu lífi. Hann vinnur á skrifstofu en hún sinnir húsmóðurhlutverkinu af skyldu fremur en áhuga.
Dag einn ákveður hún að gerast grænmetisæta. ,,Mig var að dreyma,“ er eina skýringin sem hún gefur – í samfélagi þar sem það er bæði hneyksli og skammarlegt að borða ekki kjöt.
Ingunn Snædal þýddi.
The White Book
3.490 kr.Shortlisted for the Man Booker International 2018
From the author of The Vegetarian, winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2016
From the author of The Vegetarian and Human Acts comes a book like no other. The White Book is a meditation on colour, beginning with a list of white things. It is a book about mourning, rebirth and the tenacity of the human spirit. It is a stunning investigation of the fragility, beauty and strangeness of life.
Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith.
Greek Lessons
3.490 kr.In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight. Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages. Greek Lessons is a tender love letter to human connection, a novel to awaken the senses, vividly conjuring the essence of what it means to be alive.