The White Book by Han Kang

SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE • A “formally daring, emotionally devastating, and deeply political” (The New York Times Book Review) exploration of personal grief through the prism of the color white, from the internationally bestselling author of The Vegetarian “Stunningly beautiful writing . . . delicate and gorgeous . . . one of the smartest reflections on what it means to remember those we’ve lost.”—NPR While on a writer’s residency, a nameless narrator focuses on the color white to creatively channel her inner pain. Through lyrical, interconnected stories, she grapples with the tragedy that has haunted her family, attempting to make sense of her older sister’s death using the color white. From trying to imagine her mother’s first time producing breast milk to watching the snow fall and meditating on the impermanence of life, she weaves a poignant, heartfelt story of the omnipresence of grief and the ways we perceive the world around us. In captivating, starkly beautiful language, The White Book offers a multilayered exploration of color and its absence, of the tenacity and fragility of the human spirit, and of our attempts to graft new life from the ashes of destruction.

No other word beyond ‘beautiful' comes to mind as I reflect on this book. Up there with [b:Gratitude 27161964 Gratitude Oliver Sacks https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445791421s/27161964.jpg 47201204] by Oliver Sacks, and [b:The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness 13579364 The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness Timothy J. Keller https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1352949769s/13579364.jpg 19163471] by Tim Keller, The White Book is in a class of ‘small books' that are so incredibly rich, profound, and mysterious that they deserve multiple readings over a lifetime.Meditations on metaphors, stories, philosophies, and musings to do with the color ‘white' may seem shallow at face value, but within these pages (with a layout designed so intentionally) lies words that have been thought and labored over. The result is anything and everything, short paragraphs to longer contemplations that cause tears to well up in ones eyes; the kind of reflections that make you stop wherever you're reading, look up, and honestly feel the emotions Kang is channeling into her stories of growing up, wandering the streets of Waraw, as the ghost of her older sister, who died during childbirth, haunts her mind and heart on every corner.PartingDon't die. For God's sake don't die.I open my lips and mutter the words you heard on opening your black eyes, you who were ignorant of language. I press down with all my strength onto the white paper. I believe no other words of parting can be found. Don't die. Live.Powerful things await inside this book. Truly one of the most original, haunting and melancholic things I've ever read.

Grief, appropriate to the cultural symbolism of the colour white, pervades the pages of The White Book. If you've read Maggie Nelson's Bluets, Han Kang's The White Book is similar in its series of riffs on a colour and its evocations for the author. I would say Hang Kang's work is more sparsely poetic & melancholy in its tone. There is beauty to be had here if you're in the right headspace & life stage.