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Human Acts

Winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature
By Han Kang
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Check link for latest rating. ( 65,764 ratings, 10,948 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Human Acts by Han Kang delves into the harrowing Gwangju Uprising in South Korea, exploring the complex aftermath of the event. This novel weaves together multiple perspectives, each grappling with grief, loss, and identity, and illuminating the profound effects of collective trauma on individuals and society. The narrative compassionately unravels the struggle to retain humanity amid brutal political repression.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate deeply moving narratives that explore the complexities of human suffering and resilience. Set against the backdrop of a historical event, it delves into themes of brutality, empathy, and the search for dignity amidst chaos. This gripping story is likely to resonate with readers who are drawn to profound and thought-provoking fiction that challenges the boundaries of human endurance.

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A riveting, poetic and unrelentingly powerful work from the author of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize-winning novel The Vegetarian.

WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE: a riveting, poetic and unrelentingly powerful work from the author of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize-winning novel The Vegetarian

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Gwangju, South Korea, 1980. In the wake of a viciously suppressed student uprising, a boy searches for his friend's corpse, a consciousness searches for its abandoned body, and a brutalised country searches for a voice. In a sequence of interconnected chapters, the victims and the bereaved encounter censorship, denial, forgiveness, and the echoing agony of the original trauma.

Human Acts is a universal book, utterly modern and profoundly timeless. Already a controversial bestseller and award-winning book in Korea, it confirms Han Kang as a writer of immense importance.

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Human Acts by Han Kang has been praised for its poetic and brutal language, offering a vital exploration of the Gwangju Uprising's aftermath. Reviewers describe it as powerful, disturbing, and an emotional triumph, with a narrative that captures the haunting conversations between the living and the dead. The novel is noted for its spare yet emotionally charged writing, making it an extraordinary examination of politics, violence, and humanity.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781846275975

Publisher: Granta Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 November 2016

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Granta Books

Contributors:

  • Translated by Deborah Smith
  • Translated by Deborah Smith

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 14.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 173g

Pages: 224

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About the Author

HAN KANG was born in Gwangju, South Korea, and moved to Seoul at the age of ten. She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. Her writing has won the Yi Sang Literary Prize, the Today's Young Artist Award, and the Korean Literature Novel Award. The Vegetarian, her first novel to be translated into English, was published by Portobello Books in 2015 and won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. She currently teaches creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.DEBORAH SMITH's translations from the Korean include two novels by Han Kang, The Vegetarian and Human Acts, and two by Bae Suah, A Greater Music and Recitation. In 2015 Deborah completed a PhD at SOAS on contemporary Korean literature and founded Tilted Axis Press. In 2016 she won the Arts Foundation Award for Literary Translation. She tweets as @londonkoreanist.

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