“Violets pulled up some deeply-hidden childhood trauma in me, which now has the chance to heal itself.”
About the Author: Violets was written by Kyung-Sook Shin
Kyung-Sook Shin (신경숙) is a South-Korean writer who was the first woman, and the first South Korean who won the prestigious Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012 for her novel: Please Look After Mother.
Anton Hur is a well-known writer and translator of Korean literature. His work includes the International Booker Prize shortlisted Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, and the International Booker Prize longlisted Love In The Big City by Sang Young Park. There is also another book translated by him on this page namely; I want to die but I want to eat tteokbokki by Baek Sehee.
Violets was published by Feminist Press ( US edition) and by Weidenfeld & Nicholson a division of the Orion Publishing Group (UK edition)
Synopsis: The novel’s starting point is a rural village in South Korea in the 70s.
We get to know our main character: San, who is living with her mother and her grandmother (from her father’s side) alone. Due to the unforgivable structure of her family; the missing father who one day just hopped on his motorcycle to ‘buy-some-milk’ and still waiting to pay for it, San is being outcasted by the villagers.
She has a best friend Namae ( which reminds me of the word: Namae in Japanese which means: Name. I find this very interesting as Namae will turn into its meaning by the end of the story.) She is a chatty, lively, and loving friend to San.
One roasting humid day they found themselves in a minari field and they ended up getting undressed. San adores Namae’s body, especially her green birthmark on her back but Namae violently rejects San’s physical approach. This act of rejection will cause a deep underlying scar for San which will open up and throbs excruciatingly over the course of the book.
To not to give the whole book away; we jump at least 12 years in the future, where San lives alone in an apartment owned by a dysfunctional family, while she is trying to secure her dream job. Although she tries very hard she doesn’t succeed and she ends up working in a flower shop, the place where she always ended up returning to. She meets the shop owner who communicates through writing and Su-ae, another florist girl, and they form a close relationship. In the beginning, San enjoys her new work, as it functions as a sort of therapy for her.
But when she meets a man, a photographer who is seemingly interested in her, everything turns upside down in her world and she falls into a vertigo of PTSD-like storm of emotions. A whirlpool of confusion, emptiness, and rejection. Again.
Structure: The book is 218 pages long and has 15 chapters.
It is not necessarily a smooth read but San’s inner dialogues make you stick and follow along with the pages without stopping. The narration is in third place and mainly focused 95% of the time on San, but we do get some sneak peek into the lives of other characters that are just as interesting and heart-achingly painful as her own. So much so that they could have had their own book dedicated to themselves. Which just shows the author’s brilliant way of portraying our inner nudity in a way that I’ve found fascinating and just heartbreaking.
In terms of translation: By far my favorite one from Anton. I don’t know if I’m right (and I know I use this phrase a lot these days) but it felt like he was emotionally involved in Violets. Like, he didn’t separate himself this time working on this piece but molded little fractures of himself in the book by the way he conveyed her words. Probably I’m overthinking it as usually people do with any kind of art but the feeling is there and it’s really touching and extraordinary to read.
My take on it: I had a complicated relationship with my mom. This book brought me closer to her even if I didn’t want to.
This is not an easy thing for me to write about, but certain parts of the book hit me harder than I thought.
Brought up hidden, deeply hidden childhood trauma in me that I thought I wasn’t able to face yet. Or even to look at it in the first place. Her longing and desire for writing but at the same time not being able to. Her frustration with the emotional blockage that she kept on her chest as a deadweight was something that I could strongly relate to. This kind of wordsmanship that I am always looking for in books.
Her way of being open, completely naked if you will, just like in the minari field requires a certain stone cold-heartedness or the complete opposite: acceptance of oneself. I hope it’s the latter for her.
As you could see I wasn’t able to write about my mom. If you haven’t read the book yet you won’t understand. If you read it, maybe you completely understand what I mean. I hope one day I can accept and heal myself. Maybe. One day.
Certainly not now but I will definitely get her another book: Please Look After Mom, although I’m already terrified of what I will face in it.
I highly, highly recommend this book but maybe not in a time when someone is in an emotionally hyper state because it does require a certain calmness to reach its potential in the reader’s heart.
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