Shoko’s Smile by Choi Eunyoung

In these seven stories, Choi writes in a precise and unembellished style, to portrait the lives of young women in South Korea. The intimate is shown against sometimes a very complex political backdrop, but in a hopeful tone.

In the title story, a friendship between an exchange student and her host sister follows them from adolescence to adulthood. In 'A Song from Afar', a young woman grapples with the death of her lover, travelling to Russia to search for information about the deceased. In 'Secret', the parents of a teacher killed in the Sewol ferry sinking hide the news of her death from her grandmother.

Toji (토지) Book Club aims to explore Korean culture through novels and short stories to better understand the country's recent history, society dynamics and of course to enjoy the exceptional contemporary literature coming from South Korea. We have borrowed our name from Park Kyung-Ri’s novel, because we would like Toji to be a space to discover more about South Korea paying special attention to the female prospective.
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Host or Publisher Toji Book Club