Greek Lessons

A Novel

De: Han Kang, Deborah Smith - translator, Emily Yae Won - translator

Narrado por: Greta Jung, Earl T. Kim

FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

“[Han Kang’s] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A dazzling novel about the saving grace of language and human connection, from the “visionary” (New York Times Book Review) author of the International Booker Prize winner The Vegetarian

“Both a disquieting journey about the loss of sense and a return to the sensorium of touch and intimacy, Greek Lessons soars with sensuous and revelatory insight.”—Cathy Park Hong, author of Minor Feelings

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, Time, Chicago Public Library, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal

"Now and then, language would thrust its way into her sleep like a skewer through meat, startling her awake several times a night."

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon the two discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it's the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing his independence.

Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish—the fading light of a man losing his vision meeting the silence of a woman who has lost her language. Yet these are the very things that draw them to each other. Slowly the two discover a profound sense of unity—their voices intersecting with startling beauty, as they move from darkness to light, from silence to breath and expression.

Greek Lessons is the story of the unlikely bond between this pair and a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection—a novel to awaken the senses, one that vividly conjures the essence of what it means to be alive.

©2023 Han Kang (P)2023 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“In Greek Lessons, Kang reaches beyond the usual senses to translate the unspeakable.”—Los Angeles Times

“Hypnotic . . . Kang is one of the most unconventional, perceptive and truly innovative writers publishing today.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Cerebral and sensuous . . . I was so stirred I had to step away every few chapters only to return a day or two later, as though pulled by a magnet . . . I was left in awe.”—The Boston Globe

A little hard to follow

That is all I can say. Performance was good, but story was just ok. I thought the ending was odd.

Depth

OMG! Wow! Well deserving of the Nobel Prize 2024 2025. Does not disappoint or faulter.

Deeply rewarding

Worth the challenge. Recommend listening while reading, otherwise you miss out on a lot of visual detail that’s important for sense-making.

Voices

The male voice was melodious and mesmerizing. The halting quality of the female voice, Probably to simulate her thoughts, was like a struggle.

Beautiful

I actually expected the story to go a bit further and hard to understand the subtleness of the Greek parts

Is there a story here?

I didn’t “get” this. There is the thinnest of storylines, which got less interesting as the story progressed. Don’t bother.