"A DISTINCTLY KOREAN TAKE ON GREAT EXPECTATIONS." Financial Times
A woman sells her daughter to a passing beekeeper for two jars of honey. A baby weighing fifteen pounds is born in the depths of winter but named “Girl of Spring”. A storm brings down the roof of a ramshackle restaurant to reveal a hidden fortune. These are just some of the events that set Myeong-Kwan's beautifully crafted, wild world in motion.
Set in a remote village in South Korea, Whale follows the lives of its linked characters: Geumbok, who has been chasing an indescribable thrill ever since she first saw a whale crest in the ocean; her mute daughter, Chunhui, who communicates with elephants; and a one-eyed woman who controls honeybees with a whistle.
Brimming with surprises and wicked humour, Whale is an adventure-satire of epic proportions, by one of international literature’s the most original voices.
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"A lesson in magical realism, weaving together riotous tales of secret treasure, a giant baby and people who speak to elephants... Fast paced and cinematic."
" - Monocle
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"A rich, fantastical tale..... unique and ambitious."
" - Buzz Magazine
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“Funny and light while also deeply philosophical and sensual.”
" - Asian Review of Books
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"In tying together a series of fun, related anecdotes, Cheon cleverly spins a fantastical tale that also contains some unpalatable truths about not-so-distant Korean history – and that’s without even mentioning the man with the scar, the brickyard and the titular whale of a building."
" - Tony's Reading List
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"A kaleidoscope of interlocking stories, all painted larger than life."
" - David's Book World
"A novel that seduces." - JoongAng Ilbo
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"[Whale] redefines what fiction can be."
" - The Kyunghyang Sinmun
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"Whale overflows with freshness. That's what makes it special."
" - OhmyNews
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“Fast-paced and imaginative.”
" - Modern Family
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"There has never been a novel like this in Korean literature...A novel that's more like reading out loud than reading quietly to oneself; its structure is like that of a folktale. You can feel the oral tradition in the rhythm of the sentences."
" - Lee Dong-jin, critic
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“Whale is a book that hooks you by the nose. It floods your senses with a certain voluptuous intensity alternating with the pungent odour of dried fish and human desire in all its manifold variations.”
" - The Hindu
