Reviews

The Age of Doubt by Pak Kyongni

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sapphodemia's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

sanmeow's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

a collection of post-war short stories with lots of philosophical elements. i quite enjoyed this because i really like the author's style, it's my taste for sure. my favorite was the title story, in which jinyoung turns to religion as a way to hope with her son's death. jinyoung suffers because her son died due to the corrupted healthcare system in the post-war period in korea. she then struggles because she realizes that religion won't help her like she thought it would. she knows she has to deal with her grief through reflection and she knows that she can't rely on anything external to get through it. also quite liked black is black, white is white. it had very good commentary on the oppression of women at the time, though it's relevant still. overall, i really enjoyed this. i was also happy to find out that anton hur translated my favorite story, the age of doubt, since i really like his translations.

emsemsems's review

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5.0

‘—the leaves of the avenue’s gingko trees shatter the sunlight into fragments on the pavement. Light pink gladioli bloom on the flowerbed, bringing to mind the Buddhist symbol of lotus flowers. Jinyoung’s thoughts listlessly move on to meaningless musing about the cultural distance between the East and West—’

A fuller RTC later. A brilliantly written and translated collection of post-war Korean stories. I like some more than others, which is to be expected with short story collections. I think my least favourite is probably the first one, so if you find yourself a little disconnected and distracted at the start, I think it's really worth staying on, and 'powering on' (with this collection at least). And as usual, I always (try to) read anything that Anton Hur translates/write; and whatever he did here (in my opinion) elevated my reading experience/introduction to Pak Kyongni's writing.

At the same time, Jinyoung remembers how her ajumoni paid back the twenty thousand hwan of her principal while scolding her for not attending mass. Now that she’s agreed to go to the Buddhist temple, Jinyoung feels like she’s betrayed her ajumoni and feels guilt. Even if the money had been rightfully hers to begin with, she wonders if even this fake generosity can become a debt of sorts. However, if the purpose of Jinyoung’s religion is solely to memorialize Munsu, the temple does make a more practical choice than the Catholic church. If she can come up with the money, she might even get them to do a ceremony for him.

City noise buzzes like a faraway swarm of bees, and an expensive car glides down a road towards a mountain villa. From her perspective on the mountain, Jinyoung sees the city might as well be no more significant than a beetle.