I am the Subway

[image error] I Am The Subway by Kim Hyo-eun (translated by Deborah Smith)(Scribble, 2020)Good to Read for:its poetic languageintroducing the idea of being a global citizennurturing curiosity

Today’s recommendation is a Korean picture book: I am the Subway by Kim Hyo-eun (translated by Deborah Smith). An unforgettable and moving glimpse into Korean lives – narrated in the first person by a train on the Seoul subway network (green line #2, to be precise).

But it’s not a guide to the city, per se. Instead, I am the Subway shares stories about the train’s passengers via their own thoughts (differentiated from the train’s voice by italicised text). It’s genius – and lends the feeling that the train is letting us in on many secrets. (When I first read it, I got goosebumps and clapped aloud.)

The story begins:

 

I rattle and clatter over the tracks.

Same time, same route, every day.

Carrying people from one place to another…

 

These opening spreads set the scene. Soft and monochromatic, the crowds of people are featureless, anonymous. They are in constant motion, overlapping in ghostly watercolour washes as they pass through ticket barriers and gather to wait on the platform.

   

The train’s narration continues:

 

I travel over the ground and rumble under,

twice across the Han River.

Around I go, around and around.

Crowds of people wait to climb aboard. 

ba-dum, ba-dum

I AM THE SUBWAY.

 

The story shifts gear as the train pulls into Hapjeong station – ba-dum, ba-dum. Now our attention is on the individual passengers - people that the train embraces each day. Detail is added to previously blank faces. Now colour and expression bring them to life and draw them out of the crowd – starting with Mr Wanju. 

Racing to catch the train to work, Mr Wanju takes ‘the stairs three or four at a time, all the way to the platform.’ (He’s already looking forward to seeing his daughter’s smile at the end of his working day).

   

The train, with its ‘mechanical, rhythmic, motion’ [Kirkus] continues its journey…

 

ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum

This station is City Hall, City Hall station.

 

(The effect of that rhythmic refrain – ba-dum, ba-dum – is soothing and so evocative.)

The next passenger to get on board is Granny. She’s taking fresh fish to her family in Seoul (“I’m going to cook a feast for my girls!”).

I love how the illustrations in I am the Subway raise questions. For example, a sequential image shows Granny diving as a girl and gradually getting older. It begs the question: Did Granny go diving and catch those fish herself?

   

The answer is yes! (In the tradition of the haenyeo (female free divers) of South Korea’s Jeju province.) But you have to do your own research to work that out! Which makes Subway an excellent book for nurturing curiosity and engaging children with enquiring minds. 

Notably, I am the Subway is full of warmth and respect, sharing the highs and lows, hopes and dreams of the various passengers. It feels intimate and is very moving, with incidental details adding to the warmth. Here are some examples from the book to show you what I mean. 

Outside Mr Jae-sung’s cramped cobbler shop, a cat and kitten eat from a saucer.

  [image error]  

Granny shares lollipops with a frazzled mum’s kids.

Overworked student, Na-yoon, boards at Gangnam station (that’s right, as in the hit song Gangnam Style), her mood – like her grades – going ‘up and down like a roller-coaster.’ (‘Poor Na-yoon’s feelings,’ comments the train, ‘are as heavy as her bag.’)

And Mr Gu the peddler, with his latest, ‘amazing’ product: one size fits all gloves. (‘All the colours of the rainbow, there’s no colour I don’t have. Just 1,000 won each!’) With tenderness, the train reveals that Gu’s fancy sales pitch is a front of false bravado:

 

Mr Gu looks embarrassed. I can see him blush as he pushes his cart into the carriage.

   

At Shillim station, a gentle man whose heart is filled ‘with bright, shining things’ boards the carriage:

 

I am Lee Do-young,

29 this year.

Everybody has places to go, things to do,

but not me. I’m looking for a job.

 

(Motionless, Do-young stands facing one way, while a sea of commuters all head past in the opposite direction.)

 

I’m not sure what’s next.

Who will I become?

 

Questions, questions!

And all the while, the train rattles and clatters – ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum – running ‘in one big ring around the city of Seoul each day, sending people off and welcoming them on.’

   

Initially portrayed as grey and faceless, the crowd of passengers are now shown as colourful, idiosyncratic individuals. Unique people that make up a larger crowd, held in the embrace of the train. Checking their phones, falling asleep, deep in thought.

The story ends with ‘a gentle afternoon light that washes over everything –/old shoes, new shoes, clean and dull shoes’ – one of many cinematic moments throughout the book.

   

In the words of our narrator, the train, this story is a celebration of ‘[t]he unique lives of strangers you might never meet again’. It’s a reminder to be present and notice the small details of life that pass us by. And to recognise that we are, in part, all connected.

 STORIES WORTH SHARINGI Am The Subway by Kim Hyo-eun (translated by Deborah Smith)(Scribble, 2020)Good to Read for:its poetic languageintroducing the idea of being a global citizennurturing curiosityText & Illustrations © 2016 by Kim Hyo-eun | Translation © 2020 by Deborah SmithGOOD TO READPicture books about journeys

King of the Sky by Nicola Davies & Laura Carlin

The Little Boat by Kathy Henderson & Patrick Benson

I am the Subway by Kim Hyo-eun (translated by Deborah Smith)

The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers

Hike by Pete Oswald

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña & Christian Robinson

There is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith

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 “A beautiful glimpse into Korean daily life.”– Tori Thompson, GoodReads
“An unforgettable journey.”– Julie Danielson, Bookpage BUY UK BUY US * I EARN COMMISSION FROM THESE LINKS #AD/AFFRELATED ARTICLESSOURCESI am the Subway by Kim Hyo-eun (translated by Deborah Smith) (Scribble, 2020) I am the Subway (scribepublications.com) I am the Subway (Kirkusreviews.com, 2 June 2021) I am the Subway (Publishersweekly.com) I am the Subway: trailer (Scribble Books, Youtube, 4 August 2021)© 2022 BY TIM WARNES(UNLESS OTHERWISE ATTRIBUTED)****USE OF THIRD PARTY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FALLS UNDER FAIR USE/FAIR DEALING PRACTICE.