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A review by keegan_leech
Greek Lessons by Han Kang
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I adore Han Kang's writing, and if you are a fan, then Greek Lessons will almost certainly appeal to you. For those who aren't familiar with the author, this would be a great first novel to read.
Han is a writer strongly fixated on metaphor. Greek Lessons, like her other novels has a central narrative conceit which is less a focus of the novel than it is a vehicle for Han's philosophical concerns. In this case, a woman who has lost speech but is fascinated by the linguistic and textual structures of language, and a man who teaches a dead language and is slowly loosing his sight. The history and relationship between these two become Han's basis for exploring the limits of expression, connection, and experience.
Some of these explorations stray into "philosophy first year getting a little wasted and speculating about existence with friends" territory. Characters have a tendency to wonder to themselves questions which could have been left implied, but the novel is not badly hampered by this occasional heavy-handedness. The novel is quite blunt, but Han never condescends or forces a conclusion on the reader. Instead, the novel pushes a reader back and forth between questions about language and trauma and human connection, provoking thoughts, but never settling on a particular one for long.
Beneath it all runs a deep and powerful emotional current. A kind of bittersweet reflection on the characters' lives and experiences. It shapes the novel well, and connects what might otherwise become disordered and overly-intellectual meanderings.
If you want a collection of thematically-connected Imagist prose-poems then Han's The White Book is pretty much exactly that, but Greek Lessons leans a little more towards the prose side. Its thematic concerns a little more direct and its narrative throughline more concrete. It is an excellent journey into Han Kang's wonderfully affecting style and her challenging, ruminative content. Highly recommended, whether you are a returning fan, or someone stumbling upon her work for the first time.
Han is a writer strongly fixated on metaphor. Greek Lessons, like her other novels has a central narrative conceit which is less a focus of the novel than it is a vehicle for Han's philosophical concerns. In this case, a woman who has lost speech but is fascinated by the linguistic and textual structures of language, and a man who teaches a dead language and is slowly loosing his sight. The history and relationship between these two become Han's basis for exploring the limits of expression, connection, and experience.
Some of these explorations stray into "philosophy first year getting a little wasted and speculating about existence with friends" territory. Characters have a tendency to wonder to themselves questions which could have been left implied, but the novel is not badly hampered by this occasional heavy-handedness. The novel is quite blunt, but Han never condescends or forces a conclusion on the reader. Instead, the novel pushes a reader back and forth between questions about language and trauma and human connection, provoking thoughts, but never settling on a particular one for long.
Beneath it all runs a deep and powerful emotional current. A kind of bittersweet reflection on the characters' lives and experiences. It shapes the novel well, and connects what might otherwise become disordered and overly-intellectual meanderings.
If you want a collection of thematically-connected Imagist prose-poems then Han's The White Book is pretty much exactly that, but Greek Lessons leans a little more towards the prose side. Its thematic concerns a little more direct and its narrative throughline more concrete. It is an excellent journey into Han Kang's wonderfully affecting style and her challenging, ruminative content. Highly recommended, whether you are a returning fan, or someone stumbling upon her work for the first time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death