We Do Not Part

A Novel

De: Han Kang, e. yaewon - translator, Paige Aniyah Morris - translator

Narrado por: Greta Jung

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL • FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

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

Han Kang’s most revelatory book since The Vegetarian—and her first published in English since winning the Nobel Prize—We Do Not Part tells the story of a friendship between two women while powerfully reckoning with a hidden chapter in Korean history.

“[A] masterpiece.”—The Boston Globe

“A haunting exploration of friendship amid historical trauma.”—Time

“A novel that is both disquieting and entrancing.”—The Economist

One winter morning in Seoul, Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon to visit her at the hospital. Inseon has injured herself in an accident, and she begs Kyungha to return to Jeju Island, where she lives, to save her beloved pet—a white bird called Ama. A snowstorm hits the island when Kyungha arrives. She must reach Inseon’s house at all costs, but the icy wind and squalls slow her down as night begins to fall. She wonders if she will arrive in time to save the animal—or even survive the terrible cold that envelops her with every step. Lost in a world of snow, she doesn’t yet suspect the vertiginous plunge into darkness that awaits her at her friend’s house.

Blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, We Do Not Part powerfully brings to light the lost voices of the past to save them from oblivion. Both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering, it is the story of profound love in the face of unspeakable pain—and a celebration of life, however fragile it might be.

History

A lot of historical facts however would liked to have gotten more of a connection with the characters

Hunting and poetic

Deeply moving and absolute masterpiece of literature. Equally impressive is the strength of translation which does justice to the book.

brutal

Brutal to listen to. Sparks interest in the history of post was Korea and the US involvement in the death of so many innocents

Powerful, Tough Listen

To truly understand the depth of this novel, I believe it will take several readings. Han Kang is a masterful, complex, sometimes confusing storyteller. We Do Not Part, like Human Acts, is a documenting of atrocities that took place in Korean history. It is masterfully set up almost as a dream like ghost story, when a close friend calls on the MC to save her bird after being hospitalized. She has severed her fingers and her beloved Budgie will not survive without care. There is a palatable tension throughout the MC’s journey to get to the island in a snowstorm. From there research papers are found on the massacre that took place.

I will not give anymore details away as I feel it is best to read them within the novel. This is a tough read. The MC is suffering with suicide ideations/depression and the atrocities that have taken place within her country. It does not shy away from the descriptive truth of the massacre, including the killing of children but there is also a masterful lightness to her sentences and comparisons to birds, snow, black logs, matches slowing burning out, trees that look human, etc. that makes it all digestible.

We do not part from remembering the people or what happened to them after reading this beautiful novel. And you will sadly question humanity and the evil humans are capable of.

Nice sentences

Moments not always grounded enough to keep track of where we are. Still, well written and interesting.

"A haunting mirror of Korea’s divided past"

Han Kang’s We Do Not Part reveals how, in times of darkness and chaos, human nature is exposed—often cruel, trapped in ideology, and divided into hostile camps. The novel reflects Korea’s violent historical fractures, but also asks today’s readers to confront that past. It is not only sorrow, but a question posed to us: what lessons will we carry forward? The ending flame, fragile yet persistent, feels like the author’s quiet hope that modern society can learn from this history.

Haunting, Heartbreaking Beauty

An abstract, impressionistic memorial to the innocence lost on Jeju Island. Told through birds, snow, shadow, and desperate love.

Incredible look at the effect of wartime on people living through it and the evil done by the oppressors to non militants.

Two young women come to terms with what war and oppression did to their families, even though they were not alive when most events occurred. They seemed to relive the trauma of their parents.

The beauty of language contrasting with horrendous imagery.

It was a most difficult book to listen for me. The most beautiful, poetic words describing horrendous images in such a superb way that I felt my neurons lighting up with imagery and light. My brain was on fire. But it was arduous and painstaking to listen.

Difficult to put down

This book was written about a history of Korea (1945), where treacherous behaviors were not much different than the Holocaust, but the sentences were that of a poets.