The Thornback Fish Book by Kim Joo-Young - Bookswagon
The Thornback Fish

The Thornback Fish


     0     
5
4
3
2
1



International Edition


About the Book

The Thornback Fish is an English translation of the Korean novel, Hong-O. It was translated by Ae-cha Ko and the late Daniel Friedlander. It was originally written by Kim Joo-young. Kim Joo-young is one of Korea's best selling authors. Hong-O has sold around 250,000 copies since its publication in January of 1998. The English name of this novel is The Thornback Fish and runs a little over 100,000 words. Our translation won the Daesan Foundation Grant for Literary Translation, the highest award in Korea for literary translation at the time. Upon its publication, the novel won the Daesan Foundation Award for Literary Excellence (roughly equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize in the US). The author, Kim Joo-young, received a $25,000 prize. The novel examines the hardships and sacrifices that a woman would have been forced to make in the Korea of the past as an intrigue part of the novel. The work is also a Bildungsroman of a thirteen-year old boy growing up in a mountain village just after the Korean Civil War. As Sae-young's Mother struggles to keep the household that her husband has abandoned, Sae-young, the thirteen-year-old hero and narrator of The Thornback Fish, rises above the depression and poverty and want surrounding him through the beauty of his imagination. As others suffer through the pains and passions of separation from their loved ones and the longing for their return, Sae-young projects the inner love and beauty within himself onto the rich, bountiful world he envisions. He experiences love for the first time through the feelings he develops for Saam-Nyeah, a vagabond who breaks into the family's house one morning to escape a snowstorm. The time is post-Civil War Korea (the late 1950s). The setting is a rural village, high in the Taebaek Mountains of southeastern South Korea. The Thornback Fish is a quest for unconditional friendship, the desperate longing for companionship, and the story of how individuals, isolated and alone, ultimately rise above the lingering damage of abandonment and find their way back to the warmth of humanity. Sae-Young's love for Saam-Nyeah emphasizes this theme and causes him to grow and mature in the course of the novel. The Thornback Fish might be generally described as The Private World of Walter Mitty meets the Waltons. The story takes place in and around a small mountain village in Korea during the late 1950s, a time when the Korean nation is struggling to recover from the havoc of the Korean War. It is, therefore, a time of great wanting, both physically and spiritually. The theme of wanting and loss and how people deal with their feelings of emptiness is the central theme of the novel. Nature is an important part of this novel, as the actions of the characters mimic the behavior of both the wild and domestic animals surrounding them. The romantic attachments that the animals make closely resemble those of the characters in the novel. Another aspect of nature's role is snow, which serves to metaphorically unite the many different feelings and impulses that Sae-young's mother is experiencing. The novel's greatest strength lies in its "neutrality." It isn't overly "Korean" in its perspective but deals with more universal themes. Themes with which people from any society or culture will be able to easily relate.


Best Sellers



Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9781493748518
  • Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
  • Publisher Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
  • Height: 229 mm
  • No of Pages: 386
  • Series Title: English
  • Weight: 562 gr
  • ISBN-10: 1493748513
  • Publisher Date: 13 Nov 2013
  • Binding: Paperback
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: N
  • Spine Width: 20 mm
  • Width: 152 mm

Related Categories

Add Photo
Add Photo

Customer Reviews

REVIEWS      0     
Click Here To Be The First to Review this Product
The Thornback Fish
Createspace Independent Publishing Platform -
The Thornback Fish
Writing guidlines
We want to publish your review, so please:
  • keep your review on the product. Review's that defame author's character will be rejected.
  • Keep your review focused on the product.
  • Avoid writing about customer service. contact us instead if you have issue requiring immediate attention.
  • Refrain from mentioning competitors or the specific price you paid for the product.
  • Do not include any personally identifiable information, such as full names.

The Thornback Fish

Required fields are marked with *

Review Title*
Review
    Add Photo Add up to 6 photos
    Would you recommend this product to a friend?
    Tag this Book Read more
    Does your review contain spoilers?
    What type of reader best describes you?
    I agree to the terms & conditions
    You may receive emails regarding this submission. Any emails will include the ability to opt-out of future communications.

    CUSTOMER RATINGS AND REVIEWS AND QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TERMS OF USE

    These Terms of Use govern your conduct associated with the Customer Ratings and Reviews and/or Questions and Answers service offered by Bookswagon (the "CRR Service").


    By submitting any content to Bookswagon, you guarantee that:
    • You are the sole author and owner of the intellectual property rights in the content;
    • All "moral rights" that you may have in such content have been voluntarily waived by you;
    • All content that you post is accurate;
    • You are at least 13 years old;
    • Use of the content you supply does not violate these Terms of Use and will not cause injury to any person or entity.
    You further agree that you may not submit any content:
    • That is known by you to be false, inaccurate or misleading;
    • That infringes any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy;
    • That violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation (including, but not limited to, those governing, consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising);
    • That is, or may reasonably be considered to be, defamatory, libelous, hateful, racially or religiously biased or offensive, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing to any individual, partnership or corporation;
    • For which you were compensated or granted any consideration by any unapproved third party;
    • That includes any information that references other websites, addresses, email addresses, contact information or phone numbers;
    • That contains any computer viruses, worms or other potentially damaging computer programs or files.
    You agree to indemnify and hold Bookswagon (and its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.), harmless from all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of a breach of your representations and warranties set forth above, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.


    For any content that you submit, you grant Bookswagon a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable right and license to use, copy, modify, delete in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and/or sell, transfer, and/or distribute such content and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium or technology throughout the world without compensation to you. Additionally,  Bookswagon may transfer or share any personal information that you submit with its third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc. in accordance with  Privacy Policy


    All content that you submit may be used at Bookswagon's sole discretion. Bookswagon reserves the right to change, condense, withhold publication, remove or delete any content on Bookswagon's website that Bookswagon deems, in its sole discretion, to violate the content guidelines or any other provision of these Terms of Use.  Bookswagon does not guarantee that you will have any recourse through Bookswagon to edit or delete any content you have submitted. Ratings and written comments are generally posted within two to four business days. However, Bookswagon reserves the right to remove or to refuse to post any submission to the extent authorized by law. You acknowledge that you, not Bookswagon, are responsible for the contents of your submission. None of the content that you submit shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of Bookswagon, its agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners or third party service providers (including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.)and their respective directors, officers and employees.

    Accept

    New Arrivals



    Inspired by your browsing history


    Your review has been submitted!

    You've already reviewed this product!