Publishers Weekly
06/24/2024
Intertwining harsh economic realities with spooky supernatural hauntings, Jungeun’s sweet, magical realist debut follows Eungyo and Mujae, workers at two different shops in the same rundown shopping area. The pair struggle to keep control of their lives as, without explanation, people’s shadows start trying to rise up and run away and notices of demolitions and shop closures plague their places of business. In the face of these threats, Eungyo and Mujae take comfort in each other, bonding through nighttime adventures in badminton and the search for good clam soup. Jungeun smartly skewers gentrification through Eungyo’s sly naivete (“I wonder if they call this kind of place a slum because if you called it someone’s home or their livelihood that would make things awkward when it comes to tearing it down”). Even as the clam soup soothes, readers will also take heart from the central couple’s fearless walks after dark, hand in hand, singing. This offers much to chew on. Agent: Chiara Tognetti, Chiara Tognetti Rights. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
Praise for One Hundred Shadows
“There is an unforgettable, curious beauty to be found here.” —Han Kang, Winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian
“Affecting... It's rare for a story to be so dense in social meaning yet so lightly composed” —The Nation
“The South Korean’s first novel — and her first to be translated into English — is mesmerizing and surreal.” —Vulture’s “15 Must-Read Translated Books From the Past 5 Years”
“Hwang Jungeun’s One Hundred Shadows is too odd to be this tender, and too sharply materialist to be this mystical, and too lyrical to be this gritty... The novel’s symbols are as compelling as they are opaque, and it sucked me up and spat me out a different person.” —Literary Hub’s “18 Books to Read this October”
“I’ve never read anything quite like One Hundred Shadows… experimental fiction at its finest.” —April Magazine
“Haunting… subtle but potent… a delicately-structured critique of capitalism.” —3:AM Magazine
“Hwang Jungeun’s One Hundred Shadows is too odd to be this tender, and too sharply materialist to be this mystical, and too lyrical to be this gritty... The novel’s symbols are as compelling as they are opaque, and it sucked me up and spat me out a different person.” —Literary Hub’s “18 Books to Read this October”
“Jung Yewon’s flawless translation breathes an eerie afterlife into a capitalist ghost story.” —Anton Hur, International Booker Prize finalist for the translation of Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
“Eloquent, dreamlike and haunting, One Hundred Shadows is both strange and beautiful. This story will linger in your mind long after the last page.” —June Hur, Edgar Award–winning author of The Red Palace
“Ghostly . . . A mysterious place of pilgrimage.” —Sofia Samatar, World Fantasy Award–winning author of A Stranger in Olondria
“Deceptively delicate . . . Hwang Jungeun’s social critique devastates with its artful subtlety and fantastical glimmers that haunt the novel with compassionate, mournful beauty.” —Angela Mi Young Hur, author of Folklorn
