The plot was interesting, but it felt more like a journal than a story. Not much happened and the characters were unlikable.

I really did enjoy the concept of this story.

I feel that this story may require some grammar corrections, it kinda feels like it was translated.

Besides no punctuation, I really did enjoy the story and the concept and the story.

One Hundred Shadows follows Mujae and Eungyo, two young people who work at different stores in a cramped electronic market. They soon find they have much in common, including the issue of their rising shadows. As their friendship blossoms, the market around them is being swiftly dismantled due to the effects of gentrification.

It is a slow, sparse, sad, strange, philosophical book, but rather than being morose, I found it to be quite a comforting read, with characters who show genuine care for each other and who remain hopeful despite their bleak situation. There are many tender moments, especially involving the sharing of food.

I had a few moments of confusion while reading, particularly due to the dialogue having no punctuation (and there was a lot of dialogue), so it was difficult to follow at first, however it only took a few pages to pick up the cadence of the text.

This is a short but powerful book, a wonderful blend of magical realism and real issues regarding poverty and place. It takes a skilled writer to say so much yet so little.

As the shadows of those of those working at an electronics market start to behave oddly, Eungyo and Mujae become friends. Everyone seems to know that following their shadows leads to no good, but no one can seem to resist them.

The lyricalness of the writing in the story was phenomenal, even the shortest descriptions evoked strong images and feelings. Hang Jungeun expertly explores themes including class, poverty, homelessness, and urbanisation. This was a short but extremely thoughtful read.

3.75/5

I understand why some people enjoy this book versus why others didn't. Hwang Jungeun's One Hundred Shadows looks at life in Korea in the midst of major cultural changes, rezoning and redevelopment. The main characters start to see their shadows, an ominous portent of future events, and each deals with the realities of a society in with they feel forgotten and marginalized. While some of the themes are international, the magical realism aspects do get a little lost in translation (literally), and can leave the reader trying to go back to make sure they understand what is going on in the tale.

I didn’t have any knowledge of the Yongsan disaster historical event while reading this, so it felt a bit abstract and confusing without that context. Still, the communicates very effectively a deep sadness and sense of loss.

This short novel took me to the realms of a shadow land yet also into a fairy tale.
the language is sublime.
the characters Eungyo and Mujae are dealing with their shadows in the real world as if they carry them physically.
I tend to understand the shadows as an allegory to the shadows that we all carry with us every day during our entire lives. depression, oppression, our dark side.
I like the style, it is minimalistic, and yet the details were enough to feel the atmosphere.
I wish the story was longer, the characters are so interesting with their ability to accept life as it is.
I marked the following phrase because for me it feels so much like a part of telling a short story with a longer story to think about.:
Because the neck is the part of the body where all our exhaustion gathers like a lead weight dragging it down. So that’s why I thought it must taste like lead.

I read the book twice, so much food for thought.
wonderful work of art.
Batia

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

This was a weird one. I liked the writing style, and some elements that were introduced were interesting, but then it just moves on. There's not much of a plot. But the descriptions are nicely written. It felt quirky, and more like it was written in metaphors rather than being fantasy. I would have preferred either going more in depth with the shadows and such or just being a bit shorter.

This book was so weird and bleak but also hard to put down! I haven't read anything else by Hwang Jungeun but I plan to now. This is the story of two young people, Eungyo and Mujae, and their maybe budding romance set in the backdrop of a soon-to-be-demolished electronics market. Seoul has a lot of areas like this, so it's not hard to picture. I like the way the story kind of meanders from scene to scene,

I was confused in the first chapter but I ended up really liking the imagery of the rising shadows.

I don't know why but I'm having a difficult time putting my thoughts into words for this book, so I will just say it's worth reading and I really liked it.

I have yet to recover after reading this book, for I wasn’t ready for this writer.

Unlike my usual self, I jumped into requesting a copy of the story based on the title and summary. Then, there was also my desire to explore a bit more of the Korean works. Just for context, I’m always keen on reading more works by Asian writers, regardless of them being translated or not. I find their perspectives and voices rather unique and usually quite deep, which I like quite a lot.

Now, in terms of this one, I enjoyed the writing, overall, although the lack of dialogue markings drove me up the wall. For this reason, most of the book turned out rather confusing and it also exhausted me emotionally. What was supposed to be a quick read, something to finish in about a week, spanned over a few weeks instead.

The cover didn’t particularly draw me in, but in terms of design, the choice wasn’t bad. The title stands out.

As far as the plot is concerned, I think I expected a bit more. I don’t know if I missed the fantastic elements or they were just too subtle, but I found myself a little disappointed. I wished the shadows and how they took over the people was explained in a bit more detail. The ending, however, was very nice—mostly the kind I appreciate usually.

The characters were interesting, Eungyo and Mujae, the main faces of the novel, were quick to garner my attention through their philosophical conversations. I think if you’re a fan of Parasite (the movie), you might actually enjoy this one a lot. For me, it had similar vibes. The problem is… that movie really wasn’t for me. I could also say the same about this story, to some extent.

I’m still torn and unsure of how to rate the story overall, so I’m mostly deducting points for the repetitions and lack of clear indications for the dialogue. Anyway, if I were to describe this book in two words, it would be mind boggling.

Finally, thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for granting me an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Creo que es todo un acierto abrir nuestros horizontes lectores a obras de culturas distinta a la nuestra, porque es un proceso enriquecedor y sorprendente. Por eso, cuando vi que se publicaría One Hundred Shadows de Hwang Jungeun con traducción de Jung Yewon, pensé que sería una buena oportunidad para leer algo de origen surcoreano. Es una lástima que el resultado no me haya convencido, quizá por que esperaba algo más fantástico cuando se empiezan a hacer referencias sobre sombras que se levantan y me acabé encontrando una obra de denuncia social, un tema candente y necesario, pero no lo que esperaba.


One Hundred Shadows es una novela corta slice of life, que nos va narrando en cada capítulo diferentes momentos de la vida de Eungyo y Mujae, mientras la comunidad en la que viven se ve desmembrada por los intereses capitalistas globales. Se trata de una lectura fragmentada y la pátina de fantasía que podría haber dado cohesión a la historia se queda sólo en eso, en un pequeño barniz sobrenatural que en ningún momento llega ni a explicarse, aunque esto no fuera imprescindible, ni a afectar de manera significativa las vidas de los personajes y eso sí creo que sería importante.

Buscando información sobre la obra, veo que la fuente de inspiración para Hwang Jungeun fueron unos incidentes acontecidos en 2009 en Yongsan, relacionados con la demolición de unos edificios, con cargas policiales y numerosas víctimas. Esto se ve reflejado en la novela, pero creo que es un suceso bastante local como para captar la referencias, aunque sí que es un síntoma global de la gentrificación de los barrios, algo que sucede en todas partes.

La prosa es muy atractiva, pero como el contenido se diluye tanto o yo no he sido capaz de seguir la intención del autor, la verdad es que la lectura me dejó muy fría. La atmósfera de soledad y de inevitabilidad que pende sobre todo el libro está muy conseguida, pero mucho me temo que yo no lo he leído en un momento vital en el que me hubiera podido llenar más.

3.5*
This was a very atmospheric read. Set in Seoul in a big electronics market that is supposed to be demolished to make room for new buildings and parks, we follow Eungyo and Mujae, who are working there and try to navigate their life and their budding relationship.
The atmosphere that was created was eerie and very captivating. While it is a short novel it manages to convey a lot of interesting points.
I was very thankful for the introduction and do recommend to read up on the 2009 Yongsan tragedy to which the story alludes, because it made me read the book from a very different perspective.

Thank you NetGalley for providing the e-ARC of One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun translated by Jung Yewon.

Publication Date: 20th August 2024

I found this book’s premise quite interesting, even though it felt vague at some points but I was hooked till the end. This whole idea of shadows rising of people living in the slums of Seoul was absolutely intriguing.

To see the crumbling, deteriorating world of the electronics-repair market from the eyes of Eungyo and Mujae was quite an experience. It was a reality check too about how the capitalistic society works and how they just let the bygones be bygones.

To demolish the already deteriorated market even though it had history to make way for new establishments is also a key reminder of life goes on. All the stories narrated by Mr. Yeo, or the ones told by Mujae had an intense impact. The story about Omusa was truly heartfelt.

The shadows rising and the advice of not following them wherever they go or how tempting they may seem but eventually them taking over was something I read for the very first time and it being connected to the futility of life was well-written.

The only problem I found was the abrupt shift in-between the events and I so wanted to go deeper into the characters of Mujae and Eungyo. Sometimes things just didn’t make sense. However, it was a unique experience reading this book and it was my first Korean read and I am definitely going to read more.

#onehundredshadows #netgalley #hwangjungeun #kensington #eARC

This isn't an easy book to understand. The whole thing felt like a hazy fog, including how the dialogue was written (embedded with the text without usual quotation marks). At face value, the shadows could be interpreted many ways without reading into the interpretations of the abundant symbolism dispersed throughout the book. At first I thought the shadow was a symbol of death, and then depression, and settled on the imbalance of internal stress and darkness that overruns the 'light'. If you are in the mood to dive balls deep into your existential crisis mood, his might scratch that itch.

This is an absorbing novel that straddles the line between literary fiction and magical realism as it examines the lives of people who have been excluded from the trappings of capitalist success that surround the slum they live in.

It's not a hopeless book; Eungyo and Mujae are sanguine enough about their own futures even while they acknowledge how unfair it is that broader society sees their community as something to be destroyed. Hwang writes about the people living in the slum with compassion and care and her reflections on class and marginalisation are seamlessly woven into the narrative. There’s no real explanation given for why some people’s shadows rise, it seems to be a metaphor for the strain of making a living and feelings of helplessness. It is beautifully written; the writing is sparse but conveys a sense of clutter and decay and the story moves back and forth over time and unfolds in a series of stories the characters tell each other.

I love the cover, but that’s as far as my love goes for this book.
I wasn’t keen on the writing style and the story didn’t capture me the way i had hope. I couldn’t finish it

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book was fine. As in, it was a book that I read that had characters who did things and talked about their lives/situations. But there was no really plot, just vibes which isn’t really my speed, but can be effective when done well. There were elements of magical realism that were mentioned in the blurb, but those elements really weren’t explored on a deeper level.

I was totally sold on the blurb, but wasn’t sucked in once the story got underway and there are no quotation marks (!!) which made the story difficult to follow, especially given that there were only a handful of characters. I’m not sure if things were literally lost in translation, but this story really didn’t do it for me. I need to be able to connect to at least one character, but I couldn’t connect with anyone.

Overall, this was a miss for me but I can understand why folks liked it.

I can't speak to the quality of the translation, but the story itself was great. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of the world and the low-grade horror vibes.

I honestly have no idea what I just read but oddly enough loved it. It was packed with heavy topics but emerged me into a story and culture I would've never thought about reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

This is a story about Eungyo and Mujae, working in an electronics repair shop in a slum on the brink of demolition. There, the residents have noticed their shadows beginning to rise, even as the buildings around them fall one by one.

I’m very intrigued by the metaphor of the shadows, though I haven’t managed to unpack it in my head yet. In this story, the shadows, typically synchronised in their mimicry of the body, suddenly begin to gain agency. They act independently of the body, sometimes even overpowering and taking over the host like a parasite. We see the shadows rising when the characters are confronted with trouble, an ominous alter ego that emerges slowly. It’s a manifestation of the burdens they carry, of the things they endure.

I loved the dialogue; have always had a soft spot for books with tender prose. Hwang writes with a hopeful and endearing undertone, even in the descriptions of the bleak conditions of the slum.