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Author
Cho Nam-joo조남주
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Publisher
Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.문학동네
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Year Published
2020
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Category
Literary Fiction 순수소설
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Target User
Young adult 청소년
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Period
Contemporary 현대
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Description 작품 소개
The greenness of youth which has passed.
The stories of when it was hard and lonely but possible to be together.
TANGERINE GREEN is a new full-length novel by Cho Nam-joo, the author of the book that caused social sensation by exploding the discourse on difference and discrimination, Kim Ji-young, Born 1982. When reading Cho’s works, readers might ask themselves, “Who wrote my story here?” – that is how sensitive she is in drawing empathetic narratives from an individual. With her latest novel, she now focuses her attention on the existence of each and every fruit that passes through times of green waves through high and low temperatures. This is the story of us, just like tangerines that bathe in sunlight and endure wind to fill themselves up with flavor and aroma. The book contains the affectionate gaze of the author, who does not easily define the period of adolescence or transition but wishes to instead "look at it with its own significance and meaning,” without “disparaging it as something that will pass anyway, as something insignificant, as a process that everyone goes through."
The newest sensation from Cho Nam-joo, the author of Kim Ji-young, Born 1982
We can take our time finding the answer; we’re still growing up.
So-ran, Da-yoon, Hae-in, and Eun-ji are best friends who are always together. They met with each other in a movie club. Those who went on a trip to Jeju Island before their third year of middle school make a promise on a rather impulsive basis and put it in a time capsule and bury it. There was a reason behind this promise that might change in the future, and the novel alternately unravels the inner affairs of the four children surrounding this promise. They all have their own unspeakable problems with friends and family.
The novel alternates between the four children’s accounts of the events surrounding this promise. Just like a cursor hovering over a calmly flowing timeline and peering into a paused scene, the author carefully scans the characters' minds and surroundings – So-ran, who had to go through a baffling end to her friendship with her longtime best friend without anyone offering her consolation, Da-yoon, who is lonely despite receiving school-wide expectations and everyone’s favorable attention, Hae-in, who is hurt from a broken family and her father with whom it is impossible to communicate, and Eun-ji, who has memories of being cut out from a group of friends without knowing why. The children building up their present time amid disjointed relationships, crevices of subtle and unspeakable feelings, and the hopelessness of not being able to speak up for themselves will resonate with our own selves, as we hold onto our branches with our own strength while our fruits endure scratches and scars in our ordinary days.
Answer anyone who asks, “Just what is it that you lack?” with
“What’s hard is still hard. Things like that can happen.”
To unravel stories from teenagers’ perspective, the author interviewed kids around that age, read newspaper published by teenagers, and searched for books or documentaries for teenagers to shape the characters in the novel as best as she could.
In troubled relationships, in the midst of feelings that is so subtle and unspeakable, and in the hopelessness of not being able to speak their voices, these children are growing up. Like them, we all overcome our wounds from other days and keep getting stronger as we live our lives.
Growing up is sometimes a burden, and oftentimes lonely. I hope this book can offer a piece of comfort and solace to those who have gone through unfamiliar and difficult times. _Spring 2020, Cho Nam-joo
Reference
Author Bio 작가 소개
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