Margins
Violets book cover
Violets
2001
First Published
3.57
Average Rating
220
Number of Pages

We join San in 1970s rural South Korea, a young girl ostracised from her community. She meets a girl called Namae, and they become friends until one afternoon changes everything. Following a moment of physical intimacy in a minari field, Namae violently rejects San, setting her on a troubling path of quashed desire and isolation. We next meet San, aged twenty-two, as she starts a job in a flower shop. There, we are introduced to a colourful cast of characters, including the shop's mute owner, the other florist Su-ae, and the customers that include a sexually aggressive businessman and a photographer, who San develops an obsession for. Throughout, San's moment with Namae lingers in the back of her mind. A story of desire and violence about a young woman who everyone forgot, VIOLETS is a captivating and sensual read, full of tragedy and beauty.

Avg Rating
3.57
Number of Ratings
3,519
5 STARS
16%
4 STARS
39%
3 STARS
34%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
2%
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Author

Kyung-sook Shin
Kyung-sook Shin
Author · 10 books

Associated Names: * Shin Kyung-sook * 신경숙 * 申京淑 Kyung-Sook Shin is a South Korean writer. She is the first South Korean and first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012 for 'Please Look After Mom'.

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