Sungbook: A Collection of Korean Short Stories

A tomboy leads her young friends through the mountains, playing John the Baptist in the wilderness, and then Buddhist monks on a long journey. An encounter alters her view of herself. Minister Jang rallies to overcome a gossipmonger’s rumors in his new village, but succumbs to his desire to be claimed as God’s beloved. Thoroughly humiliated and disillusioned by the death of his daughter, Mr. Kim dreams of becoming free of his family. Sunhee stops her elementary education to become a helper at a distant relative’s seaside restaurant, and experiences a new horizon before her. Mr. Song builds and rebuilds a western house on a large lot in his village. The district office keeps sending out men to destroy it. Ayoung has a falling out with Sooni over crayons. She fails to say goodbye to her friend, who is relocated by the government as part of its plan for Seoul’s greenbelt. Mr. Han is a broken man. On his visit to one of his old acquaintances, he muses on his life that unraveled as Korea underwent upheaval following its independence. Two high school students fall in love, and the difference between their families’ wealth and social standing means heartache for both. Sungshik manages to graduate from high school and attempts to thread a path for his life under pressures of shame, familial expectations, and his obligations as the eldest son. One experiences these characters’ lives as they survive in a poor neighborhood of Seoul, Korea, while rapid modernization and westernization reshape the environment, human relationships and aspirations during the 1970's dictatorship.