Counsel Culture
Published on 18. April 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-1-63206-232-1 (ISBN)
Description
From prize-winning Korean author Kim Hye-jin comes the contemplative, superbly-crafted story of a woman scapegoated by sudden tragedy, and the unexpected paths she must wander in search of redemption.
Haesoo is a successful therapist and regular guest on a popular TV program. But when she makes a scripted negative comment about a public figure who later commits suicide, she finds herself ostracized by friends, fired from her job, and her marriage begins to unravel. These details come to the reader gradually, in meditative prose, through bits and pieces of letters that Haesoo writes and finally abandons as she walks alone through her city.
One day she has an unexpected encounter with Sei, a 10-year-old girl attempting to feed an orange cat. Stray cats seem to be everywhere; they have the concern of one other neighborhood woman and the ire of everyone else. Like Haesoo and Sei, the cats endure various insults and recover slowly. Haesoo, who would not otherwise care about animals or form relationships with children, now finds herself pulled back by degrees into the larger world.
Haesoo is a successful therapist and regular guest on a popular TV program. But when she makes a scripted negative comment about a public figure who later commits suicide, she finds herself ostracized by friends, fired from her job, and her marriage begins to unravel. These details come to the reader gradually, in meditative prose, through bits and pieces of letters that Haesoo writes and finally abandons as she walks alone through her city.
One day she has an unexpected encounter with Sei, a 10-year-old girl attempting to feed an orange cat. Stray cats seem to be everywhere; they have the concern of one other neighborhood woman and the ire of everyone else. Like Haesoo and Sei, the cats endure various insults and recover slowly. Haesoo, who would not otherwise care about animals or form relationships with children, now finds herself pulled back by degrees into the larger world.
Reviews / Votes
"Melancholy and ruminative yet possessed of a quiet energy, Kim's tale leads Haesoo toward the realization that, more often than not, what we yearn to be is who we already are, that life is less a matter of becoming than of revealing . . . .A simple, moving story of outcasts coming together." -Kirkus Reviews"Kim does not offer pat solutions or mawkish sentimentality; rather, Haesoo's attempts to care for Sei and Turnip provide a framework for her defensiveness and self-pity to give way to atonement and healing. The result is an appealing meditation on personal and professional ethics." - Publisher's Weekly
"Award-winning Korean author Kim Hye-jin's sublime sophomore title-in-translation, Counsel Culture, is the spare, intense study of a woman in crisis, a subject Kim so strikingly presented in her 2022 Anglophone debut, Concerning My Daughter. She reunites with translator Jamie Chang, who again skillfully mirrors Kim's clean, affecting prose." - Terry Hong, Shelf Awareness
"Kim's beautifully introspective novel thoughtfully explores the time it takes to process difficult experiences and the restoration that can happen when people open up to each other without expectation." -Booklist
"A heartwarming story of a middle-aged woman who rescues a sick cat and comforts a child through difficult times, set in the chilling tale of a man who takes his own life because of her. The two veins entwine and cling relentlessly, staying with the reader beyond the covers." -Cho Nam-joo, author of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
"What do a midlife counselor, a 10-year-old girl and a couple of feral cats have in common? This unique, gritty and heartfelt story of loss, friendship and redemption, of course!" -Karla J. Strand, Ms. Magazine
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
With flaps
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 180 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
217 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-63206-232-1 (9781632062321)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Kim Hye-jin is an award-winning author from Daegu, South Korea. She won the JoongAng Literature Award in 2013 for Joongang Station, the Shin Dong-yup Prize for Literature in 2018 for Concerning My Daughter, and the Daesan Literary Award in 2020 for The Work of No.9. She was also the Special Award Laureate of the 4th Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace in 2020.
Jamie Chang is a literary translator. Her translation of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 was longlisted for National Book Awards 2020 Translated Literature. She is the recipient of the Daesan Foundation Translation Grant and a three-time recipient of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea Grant.
Jamie Chang is a literary translator. Her translation of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 was longlisted for National Book Awards 2020 Translated Literature. She is the recipient of the Daesan Foundation Translation Grant and a three-time recipient of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea Grant.