Once the Shore

Very interesting set of short stories set on a Korean island by a Korean-American writer. These stories delighted me with their poetry and the depth of Yoon's imagination and perception.

These are muted, spare stories of loss set on an island in Korea. Most deal with the lives of villagers, - fishermen, the women who dive for mussels and clams, a woodcarver, and others. Their grief is unnoticed by the wider world and endured stoically because they have little other choice. I found these stories moving and melancholy.

Wonderful prose, but syrupy slow and a bit surreal

Wonderful prose, but syrupy slow and a bit surreal

Wonderful prose, but syrupy slow and a bit surreal

Paul Yoon ’02 makes his literary debut with a short story collection, Once the Shore (Sarabande Books), about residents of an imaginary island somewhere off the coast of South Korea. In his eight stories, Yoon introduces characters who live over a span of half a century, several of them working in modern tourism jobs or more traditional fields of fishing, farming, and diving. Yoon often writes about individuals who have suffered great losses in their lives. His imaginary world was inspired by a handful of sources he happened to read, and he did little research for the book.

In the celebrated title story, a horrific accident at sea becomes the catalyst for an unlikely friendship between an American widow and a young waiter at a coastal show more resort.

This lyrical work was included in The Best American Short Stories 2006. Another story, “And We Will Be Here,” in which a troubled woman takes care of an unconscious soldier, was included this year in the Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories collection.

In her review of the collection in The New York Times, Joan Silber writes that “the beauty of these stories is precisely in their reserve: they are mild and stark at the same time. … Most of the collection’s characters move through events with a resignation or forbearance rare in contemporary fiction. Once the Shore is the work of a large and quiet talent.”
Book by Paul Yoon '02.

Book by Paul Yoon '02.

Link to New York Times short interview with Paul Yoon: http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/stray-questions-for-paul-yoon/ show less

Quiet stories. Imagery. Snowy.