FIVE BOOKS / January 21, 2023

Here, Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn offers a round-up of the notable new novels of the season, from buzzy debuts to hotly anticipated new releases from internationally acclaimed authors like Eleanor Catton, Han Kang, and Salman Rushdie.

Publishers Weekly / January 27, 2023

This brilliant, shimmering work is never at a loss for words even when exploring the mind of a woman who won’t speak, and its pursuit of an authentic, exquisite new form is profound. Once again, Kang demonstrates great visionary power. 

The New Yorker / January 30, 2023

The author discusses “The Middle Voice,” her story from the latest issue of the magazine.

Booklist / March 01, 2023

Han’s signature elliptical, incisive writing first introduces “she” and “he” as separate loners, each struggling in isolation. What might originally read like a bifurcated narrative deftly intertwines into a haunting exploration of tentative possibilities and yearned-for connections.

Ashley Hajimirsadeghi / March 07, 2023

A mute woman finds solace in her Ancient Greek teacher. 

Publishers Weekly / March 10, 2023

A Korean poet living in Seoul has stopped speaking. It’s not a protest, a neurological condition, or a conceptual artwork—the woman in question would like to speak but can’t. She visits a therapist, who asks about her childhood memories and recent dreams and twines them into an elegant hypothesis to explain her problem. “I understand how much you’ve suffered,” the therapist says. The woman knows, with “a serene certainty,” that the therapist is wrong; he doesn’t understand her. But who is going to help her now?

Harpers' bazaar / April 12, 2023

What is an identity? This box we put ourselves in, this hook on the wall onto which we hang all the parts of our lives, so sure the box is sturdy, and the hook won’t come out of the wall.

NPR / April 20, 2023

Greek Lessons will feel like a departure from Kang's previous English-translated novels. It's an intimate and vulnerable portrayal of two lonely, middle-aged characters who can't help but gravitate toward each other.

Scroll.in / May 14, 2023

Greek Lessons, Han Kang’s 2011 Korean novel, recently translated into English by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won, tells a story that challenges the normative role of language, exploring the possibilities of relationships forged by disparate experiences of loss and grief, plunging the reader into a liminal territory where language is not just cognitive but also sensory.

Book Riot / July 27, 2023

Every season I pour over the catalogs and galleys of new releases in translation and highlight some of the titles that I’m excited about for Book Riot.