Youngdu’s Accidental Reality
• Original title : 영두의 우연한 현실
• Price : 10,800KRW
• Product Dimensions :
153x210, 210pages
• Publication Date : 2009-03-24
• ISBN : 978-89-5828-353-9
Book Information & Summary
Written by Lee Hyun
The short stories published in this collection are like models in a pret-a-porter fashion show of Korea’s young-adult fiction. The author, Lee Hyun, has a journalist’s keen eye for capturing the era’s trends. Teenagers won’t even glance at something if it isn’t cool, so it is not so easy to talk to them through literature. Lee simply presents them with cool stories and seems to be able to talk with young adults, not preach to them.
She ceaselessly rises to the task and obtains successful results.
Youngdu’s Accidental Reality, the title story of this collection, is about a double life based on the parallel universe theory.
Though unfamiliar and confusing, like the movie The Matrix, this story’s theme is fascinating and provides a pleasurable read.
The collection includes five other great stories: in “Red Traffic Light,” a boy who raped his girlfriend defends himself by saying that he loves her; in” Roswell Warning,” a girl escapes her boring, daily life thanks to the arrival of alien creatures;
in “An Unreturned Love,” a high school girl who knows everything from A to Z about love theories is actually as timid as a rabbit when it comes to her own love for a boy; in “What He Had Left Behind,” the poor have no right to be sad about the loss of their family members; and” Hope to Win With the Wrong Answers” is a report on contemporary teenagers with strong personalities who feel no fear expressing their political opinions.
Through humor, science fiction, surprising twists, ironic criticism on the polarization of society, and a passionate pursuit for political rightness, this book is like a magazine or a talk show about Korean teenagers in the new millennium.
The short stories published in this collection are like models in a pret-a-porter fashion show of Korea’s young-adult fiction. The author, Lee Hyun, has a journalist’s keen eye for capturing the era’s trends. Teenagers won’t even glance at something if it isn’t cool, so it is not so easy to talk to them through literature. Lee simply presents them with cool stories and seems to be able to talk with young adults, not preach to them.
She ceaselessly rises to the task and obtains successful results.
Youngdu’s Accidental Reality, the title story of this collection, is about a double life based on the parallel universe theory.
Though unfamiliar and confusing, like the movie The Matrix, this story’s theme is fascinating and provides a pleasurable read.
The collection includes five other great stories: in “Red Traffic Light,” a boy who raped his girlfriend defends himself by saying that he loves her; in” Roswell Warning,” a girl escapes her boring, daily life thanks to the arrival of alien creatures;
in “An Unreturned Love,” a high school girl who knows everything from A to Z about love theories is actually as timid as a rabbit when it comes to her own love for a boy; in “What He Had Left Behind,” the poor have no right to be sad about the loss of their family members; and” Hope to Win With the Wrong Answers” is a report on contemporary teenagers with strong personalities who feel no fear expressing their political opinions.
Through humor, science fiction, surprising twists, ironic criticism on the polarization of society, and a passionate pursuit for political rightness, this book is like a magazine or a talk show about Korean teenagers in the new millennium.