No One Writes Back (Library of Korean Literature, 10)

I discovered this book after a friend requested it as a birthday present, and I decided to read it as well. I am so glad I did! I found the story to be unique and fascinating. It's a very quick read, but I found myself wanting to delay finishing it because I was enjoying it so much and didn't want it to end. This is one of those books that I can only hope would have a sequel so I can spend more time with these characters. I doubt that it ever will, and the ending is satisfying and does not require any additional exposition, but a man can dream. It has also made me consider reading more titles from this publishing company that I had never heard of but has a good reputation given what I've read about it online.I highly recommend this book!

Maybe this is a young adult novel? It is hard to put down and is deceptively simple. The characters, including the dog, are wonderful. The author has a knack for revealing unexpected and jaw-droppingly new perspectives on characters and relationships we thought we knew.

This was an unexpected, little sad but at the same time, beautifully ending. This book was a real journey between motels, cafes and bus/train stations.

Korean Literature is quickly becoming one of my favorite groups of books to read. I could almost say No One Writes Back is my favorite book of 2018. I also recieved it relatively quickly after ordering it which was nice.

Great book. Unusual premise. Grabs your heart.

Jang Eun-jin's novel No One Writes Back is a smart, tight, elegant, beautiful book that I will not soon forget.The story - not the backstory, which is revealed bit by bit, but the story itself, what happens in the "now" of the book - begins like this, after a bit of set-up. A young man and his dog get on a subway posing as a blind man (with dark glasses) and a guide dog (with special harness). They do this to avoid the difficulties that can arise when a person tries to bring a dog on the train. The man is offered a seat by someone, and he has no choice but to take it.At some point a woman gets on the train dragging a cart full of books. She tells the passengers, "I want to tell you about a book." She says something about the book, hands out the books to the passengers, including the man. Why would she give a book to a blind man, he wonders. (He is the narrator of the story and tells us his thoughts.) She returns to her cart, addresses the passengers once more, making it clear that the book is for sale and can be bought at a discount "if you say the right thing," and begins to play her harmonica as if to provide a musical interlude. The man pretends to fumble with the book but actually, under the cover of his dark glasses, really looks at it. The first sentence is, "Today, I ate toothpaste. Tomorrow, I will eat soap." The woman finishes her interlude and takes back the books, having made no sales. (Though the man confesses to us that he would have bought it if he didn't have to keep up the blind act.) When she comes to the man she takes back his book with a smile, and, a moment later, pulls out a camera and takes his picture.Feeling increasingly uncomfortable with her attention, he and his dog get off at the next stop. She follows them off and, a few minutes later, joins them again. He finds he has lost his wallet and cannot pay for the food he has just ordered for himself and his dog. She pays for their food and gets some for herself. After they eat she leads them to a motel she knows, and gets two rooms. (The motel is called Moon and Sixpence, after a famous novel which happens to be the one book that the man has with him.) On the way to the motel he had asked her bluntly, what do you want from me? Sex? No not that, she answers, I just want to observe you. Her response seems to remove the discomfort he was feeling, and the way is cleared for their relationship to develop.If you read other reviews of this book you will learn that the man is 32 years old (the same age as the author of the book when she wrote it), that he left home - that is, his family home - three years before due to a "phobia" (seeming, persistent anxiety attacks) and embarked on a journey, accompanied by the family dog - actually his blind grandfather's guide dog, who (now blind himself after an accident) was bequeathed to him. The two of them travel from place to place and stay in a different motel every night (most often what the Japanese call a love motel). Once settled in the room he writes a letter to someone he has previously met telling them something about his day and, very often, something about someone else he has met, whether on that day or another. His letter writing is highly ritualized: he writes a letter on paper with a pencil, puts it in an envelope, writes the person's address and his own home return address, and carefully attaches a stamp. The next day he finds a post box and mails it, and also calls a friend who lives nearby his home to check the mail outside the house and tell him if he's received any letters. The answer is always no.You will also learn that he does not want to know people's names, but only their addresses, and refers to them by number, which he assigns sequentially in the order met. (He has a very good memory.) The first person is 1, the last is 751, which is the woman. When she asks his name he says 0. At some point he says his journey has gone on for 1000 days. Which means 1000 letters.But not all his letters are to his numbered acquaintances. He also writes to the members of his family, his father, his mother, his older brother and his younger sister. As it happens he writes a letter to each of them while he is with the woman. While the other letters are only summarized, those to his family are given in full, as written. You learn a lot about the man and his family from these letters.Reviewers tend to say less about the woman, but I can tell you that she is a novelist who has published four books counting Toothpaste and Soap which is the latest, that she also once tried to write a screenplay with a partner but it didn't work out ("creative differences", expressed via hair-pulling), that she seems to be somewhat older than the man, that she wears glasses, and that she writes on a laptop that she takes everywhere. If the man is an open book (as he has a right to be as the narrator), the woman is largely a closed one.A lot of things happen at the end of the story. They happen fast, one after another. You may feel that too much happens but I think it's best to just accept it all and go with the flow. This is a Korean book after all.So what is the book about? It's fair enough to say it is about life and death, despair and hope, aloneness and belonging. But for me it is most of all about writing. Both the man and the woman are writers. In fact, both are driven to write. The man writes to connect and share thoughts and feelings with others. The woman writes to explore and create and be free. These are really the two sides of writing, and they come together in their relationship.In the end the man is just a character in a novel, but I'd like to think that there is at least a little of the real life author in the woman. In any case she has given the world a beautiful book, and like the woman said on the subway, if you want to find out all that happens in it you should buy it and read it for yourself.5 stars.

Jihun voyage à travers tout le pays, de motel en motel, accompagné de son chien aveugle et chaque soir écrit une lettre à une personne rencontrée au cours de ce périple, en attendant qu'enfin quelqu'un lui réponde...C'est un récit emprunt de mélancolie qui m'a séduit dès ses premières pages. On s'attache beaucoup aux différents personnages et le sentiment de solitude du héros m'a profondément touchée. J'ai aimé cheminer et évoluer avec lui, apprendre à mieux le connaître par petites touches délicates. J'aurais pu souligner tellement de passages de ce roman tellement c'est joli et bien écrit (et très accessible en anglais). Et bien sûr, j'applaudis le plaidoyer pour la lettre manuscrite qui m'a donné envie de ressortir tout de suite tout mon nécessaire de correspondance. La seule chose que je regrette un peu peut-être, c'est de ne pas avoir croisé encore plus de personnalités différentes, lus encore plus de lettres du héros. Il y a avait vraiment de quoi étoffer le récit.J'ai adoré la fin qui, tout en étant difficile, arrive à être lumineuse. Je regrette vraiment que ce roman ne soit pas traduit en français parce que sinon je passerais mon temps à le recommander et à l'offrir, d'autant que la Corée y est vraiment anecdotique (pour ceux qui ne sont pas attirés par ce pays).

So sooooo good! Korean literature is full of many deeply emotional, intellectual and authentic stories and this is one of them. It was a marvel, from start to end.

It‘s easy to read and the story is very interesting. At the beginning it might seem a little bit dry but when you continue to read, it‘s getting better and better.

I started it feeling lonely and ended it full of love. 0 is a beautiful character. I see myself reading it more than once.

No One Writes Back is the story of a young man who left home with his MP3 player, a novel, a backpack and Wajo who was once his grandfather's dog and is now his best friend. Wajo is no ordinary dog. He is smart and plays an important part in the story.The young man, who is the narrator, befriends a lot of people on his way. He does not want to know their names. He gives them numbers and writes to them because "Letters...are like journal entries to me. The only difference is that the day does not stay with me but is sent to someone else". He is hoping they will write back.Along the way he meets 751, a woman novelist. They travel together for a while and from their conversations we learn about their lives and their views on the world.The narrator also writes to his family. He refers to them by name. It is obvious that he loves them very much.So why is he wandering from motel to motel?Will someone write back?I loved this book. It is interesting all the way through, right to the end.Do read it.