Shoko’s Smile by Korean author Choi Eunyoung shows both the beautiful and the painful sides of friendships found in unexpected places.
Shoko's Smile synopsis
In crisp, unembellished prose, Choi Eunyoung paints intimate portraits of the lives of young women in South Korea, balancing the personal with the political. In the title story, a fraught friendship between an exchange student and her host sister follows them from adolescence to adulthood. In ‘A Song from Afar’, a young woman grapples with the death of her lover, travelling to Russia to search for information about the deceased. In ‘Secret’, the parents of a teacher killed in the Sewol ferry sinking hide the news of her death from her grandmother.
In the tradition of Sally Rooney, Banana Yoshimoto, and Marilynne Robinson – writers from different cultures who all take an unvarnished look at human relationships and the female experience – Choi Eunyoung is a writer to watch.
Book review
Whenever I think of this collection of stories, I recall the powerful scene where Shoko’s grandfather just stood there with his apples and juice boxes in a plastic bag. Tears in his eyes. It takes skill to write and translate a scene that makes the reader sympathize so strongly with a character, both while reading and when thinking about the book weeks later. I wasn’t there, but I can still see her grandpa standing there like that.
The two grandpas
The title story, Shoko’s Smile, illustrates how a person’s eyes and smile can contradict each other, like the English and Japanese letters Shoko sends to the narrator and the latter’s grandpa. Although Shoko makes everyone feel comfortable, the narrator notices a difference in the way she smiles. Shoko’s struggles are central to this story, but the two grandpas are the true stars.
Unique friendships
All stories in this short story collection are very touching and have memorable characters. They are about people who find friendships in unexpected places. Friendships that are not perfect, as nothing in life is. There is misunderstanding and caring, thoughtfulness and suffering. Children have the power to care sincerely, as Sister, My Little Soonae shows, but it is incredibly difficult to see others suffer. Especially if you’re not in a position to do anything about it, as the following quote illustrates, “I did not enjoy beholding the naked face of someone who could neither escape her pinned-down life nor manage to love it.”
The tales demonstrate the impact that (historical) events such as the sinking of the Sewol ferry or the war fought in Vietnam still have on everyday life. How long do you keep apologizing for something a family member or your ancestors did? The story Xin Chào, Xin Chào is about the sensitive relationship between a Korean and a Vietnamese family in East Germany. The author could not have chosen a more interesting setting for this story. There is always more beneath the surface, and time will often reveal what was previously hidden, changing your memory of people you know.
There’s beauty in sadness
People make assumptions without knowing what happened. And so do I. Whatever happened between the main characters in Hanji and Youngju? Their story was my favorite: it’s beautiful and a little sad. The same goes for Malja’s story in The Secret, another great story that made a deep impression on me.
The stories in Shoko’s Smile show both beauty and sadness as if you were reading a book about missed happy endings. But sadness is not the feeling that stays with you, it’s the small and beautiful moments that show that people care that do.
Interested?
Get your copy of the UK edition of Shoko’s Smile from Amazon (available 19 August 2021).
Book details
Title: Shoko’s Smile
Author: Choi Eunyoung
Translator: Sung Ryu
Language: English
Publisher: John Murray
Pages: 272
ISBN (13): 9781529376029
Publication date: 19 August 2021
About the author and translator
Choi Eunyoung is a South Korean writer acclaimed for her nuanced yet poignant stories about women, queer people, victims of state violence, and other marginalized voices. She is the author of the bestselling story collections Shoko’s Smile and Someone Who Can’t Hurt Me, which have sold over 200,000 copies and 150,000 copies respectively in Korea and are being translated into several languages.
Sung Ryu is a translator based in Singapore. Her translations include Shoko’s Smile by Choi Eunyoung (2021), Tower by Bae Myung-hoon (2021), I’m Waiting for You: And Other Stories by Kim Bo-Young (co-translated with Sophie Bowman, 2021) and the Korean edition of Grandma Moses: My Life’s History (2017) by Anna Mary Robertson Moses. She translated the Jeju myth “Segyeong Bonpuri” (Origins of the Harvest Deities) for her MA thesis.
Many thanks to John Murray and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
