The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness

By: Kyung-sook Shin

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

The highly anticipated release of the most personal novel by Kyung-sook Shin, who first burst onto the literary scene with the New York Times best seller Please Look After Mom.

Homesick and alone, a teenage girl has just arrived in Seoul to work in a factory. Her family, still in the countryside, is too impoverished to keep sending her to school, so she works long, sunless days on a stereo assembly line, struggling through night school every evening in order to achieve her dream of becoming a writer.

Korea's brightest literary star sets this complex and nuanced coming-of-age story against the backdrop of Korea's industrial sweatshops of the 1970s and takes on the extreme exploitation, oppression, and urbanization that helped catapult Korea's economy out of the ashes of war. But it was girls like Shin's heroine who formed the bottom of Seoul's rapidly changing social hierarchy, forgotten and ignored. Richly autobiographical, The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness lays bare the conflict and confusion Shin faces as she confronts her past and the sweeping social change of the past half century. Cited in Korea as one of the most important literary novels of the decade, this novel cements Shin's legacy as one of the most insightful and exciting writers of her generation.

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks

Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Would you recommend The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness to your friends? Why or why not?

It's not an easy story to listen to as the author jumps in time frequently. However for those interested in a time and place we here little about (South Korea during the 1970s) it is worth a listen. The narrator (who may or may not be the author) gives incredible details of the time and what it was like to work and live in Seoul during that period.

Any additional comments?

This work walks the line between memoir and fiction. Many of the background events (such as the Gwangju Uprising) are lifted straight from history and depicted in a deeply intimate manner. I honestly don't know how much of the author's story is true, and perhaps that is the point.

More than a story, a light in the darkness

The authors flowing narrative plus Emily Woo Zeller’s soothing voice make this a captivating tale that was very easy to listen to. Despite being half a world and a generation apart I could really relate to so many of the authors complex feelings over her struggles as well as her isolation, strong family ties, and yearning for a life that seemed out of my reach and the struggle of a disastrous job industry, the guilt of not joining a union, and balance work and education. This book gave me a roadmap and hope that I too can overcome my situation.

Beautifully written and beautifully read!

This book is a great example of good literature: full of symbols, imagery, great story, lots to process (might even require second reading). If you are a curious reader and love a great word and story, this book is for you!

Difficult to finish

Not impressed.. I thought there was more to it. Had a good start . The story was boring and difficult to finish. Was not expecting the ending.

zzzzz

now I know why it was free - 2 hrs in, one of the most boring thing I heard