*No One Writes Back* discussion

[Ruth]

What do you think of the book so far?

[Ruth]

I bought this on Amazon and although it won't arrive until Tuesday, they let me start reading it online now.

[Talia]

I will have to purchase this on Amazon next week after I get paid. I look forward to reading it.

Amazon does have a Kindle edition, for those of us that have Kindles.

[Ruth]

Great! I am really looking forward to this one as well - it sounds like an unusual story.

[Talia]

My review of No One Writes Back: An enjoyable, easy read. The writing style was rather simple, but you can feel a kind of raw, human element. The way it's written makes it seem like it's possible for a man and dog to make a three year long journey, though there are some things that I found to be a bit fantastic. The main character was easy to relate to and his journey unique. This book will punch your emotions in the stomach and do it again just as you're getting back on your feet. Simple, but well written.

[Ruth]

"I was a traveler, and traveling is an action taken to make it easier for strangers to approach you, and it becomes more meaningful only when you approach strangers with ease."

I loved this book. Perhaps I could relate to it as a person who spent about a decade traveling around alone. Luckily for me my trips were purely pleasure and adventure seeking, but in spite of that months on the road alone in foreign locales can get lonely. I was often aware of the fact that the people around me, as kind and helpful, fun and friendly as they may have been certainly did not care about me with the warmth that only a shared history can bring. I too sought connections with people on my travels, but unlike Jihun I had the luxury of knowing that there was love waiting for me at home. I can't imagine the disappointment of the constant rejection when he was trying so hard and yet receiving no reply to his heartfelt letters. He must have felt truly rejected by the whole human race.

I am also nostalgic about the good old days when I wrote and received heartfelt letters. Letters with colorful paper and ink and tiny scrawl that wrapped around the pages because there was so much to say. I don't know if others feel the same, but it seems to me that with the event of facebook and email we have gained quantity, but lost quality. I can chat with hundreds of friends immediately, but will we get past the small talk? Perhaps there is something magic about a letter in which you can pour out your heart without interruption, then your friend can mull it over and take time to craft a crafty reply. We used to send photos, drawings and music mixes with ours.

Goodreads said only this about the novel "Communication -- or the lack thereof -- is the subject of this sly update of the picaresque."

So I looked up picaresque: "The picaresque novel is a popular subgenre of prose fiction which might be satirical and depicts, in realistic and often humorous detail, the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society."

This sounds like Don Quixote, but it does not remind me of Jihun at all - me wonders if the person who penned the goodreads review didn't make it past the rear cover of the novel?

I would love a good picareque, but this one was certainly not a comedy and Jihun did not strike me as a lower class rogue. His family sounded wealthy and educated and he strained from over civilization if anything.

Rather than a roguish jaunt, the book paints a picture of the bleakness and isolation that people can face while simultaneously surrounded by other humans, and a desperate attempt to make connections. Like being on the subway in London or at my gym, there could be one hundred faces, but a thousand directions to avert their eyes to avoid making contact.

Jang did a good job of foreshadowing, it's obvious that no one would write such honest letters to their family, but that didn't stop me from sobbing my eyes out at the end. The ending may have felt a bit Disney, but he deserved it and what the heck maybe I like a little Disney anyway.

I also enjoyed the various references to Korean foods, customs and holidays scattered throughout the book which I checked out on wikipedia as I read.

Some of the images she painted were rich as well - I liked the idea of the "hour of taboos approaching" after the festival - when do people decide that the regular rules apply? Also loved the metaphor of the shopping bags of his sister compared to apples which when bitten offered no satisfaction - a great anti-materialist thought.

Overall I thought the book was a well written and easy read. It made me think and exposed me to a new culture while making me feel that even thousands of miles away I could still relate. Very satisfying.