Greek Lessons

Description

Book of the Year 2023 according to New Yorker, TIME magazine, Kirkus A powerful novel of the saving grace of language and human connection, from the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Vegetarian. 'Breathtaking . . . She is simply my favourite living writer to read, and think with, and see the world with' Max Porter 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. Translated by Deborah Smith and e. yaewon. Shortlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2024 'Another stunning gem: quiet, sharply faceted, and devastating' Kirkus 'Han Kang is a writer like no other. In a few lines, she seems to traverse the entirety of human experience' Katie Kitamura Review: A compelling read - This is the third book by Han Kang that I have read, following The Vegetarian and Human Acts. Greek Lessons is about a woman who loses her language and speech, and her Greek teacher, who has a genetic condition causing progressive blindness. Some parts of the writing were a bit hard for me to comprehend; however, in many instances, I was overjoyed by the sheer sensory experience of the novel. It's no surprise that Han Kang writes with poetic beauty, as seen in these words: 'If snow is the silence that falls from the sky, perhaps rain is an endless sentence.' The woman who lost her language felt that the reasons for losing it were not simple. I believe rejecting language was her mind's way of protesting against the weapon (words) that wounded her. Han Kang writes with such sincerity and brevity that makes this novel a compelling read. Review: Go for it - Always great.