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ISBN
9788960908963
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Author
Jo Woori조우리
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Publisher
Maumsanchaek마음산책
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Year Published
2024
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Category
Literary Fiction 소설
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Updated: 2026-02-25
- Posted by Maumsanchaek on 2026-02-25
- Updated by Maumsanchaek on 2026-02-25
Description 작품 소개
SYNOPSIS
Eleven playful, tender stories about the extraordinary occurrences and minor revolutions happening every day, right under our noses.
The award-winning author of heartwarming and soul-stirring contemporary fiction, Jo Woori returns with a short story collection that explores lesbian life and love in bustling Seoul as well as the quiet magic hidden in plain sight all around us.
The collection opens aptly with “If You Open This Book,” which follows the dissolution of a relationship alongside the closure of a beloved local library.
In “Fairy of Shampoo,” which shares its title with a well-known 90s dream pop track, Soeun is wallowing in the depths of depression after the company she co-founded goes under. Her best friend Jiyoon manages to coax her outside for the first time in ages for a salon day. But Soeun quickly realizes that she’s been roped into Jiyoon’s latest mission to prove a theory she has believed for years—that people with superhuman abilities are all around them, including the hairdresser at this particular salon.
“The Secret of the Lam Dental Clinic” centers around another woman who is exceptionally good at her job. Lam Sojung is a dentist and clinic owner with excellent medical skills and terrible social ones. Narrated by the clinic’s mascot, a lamb plushie gifted to her by her niece that has the power to read patients’ minds and ease their oral pains, the story reveals that underneath her robotic demeanor, Director Lam does indeed have a heart.
The narrator of “Victoria Sponge Cake” is far less competent—an office worker who foolishly promises her girlfriend a Victoria sponge cake to celebrate their anniversary, figuring it will be easy enough to find in Seoul, the city of cafés. Yet when she learns just how in demand the Victoria sponge is, she must scramble to procure the cake last-minute from the new café that opened near her workplace and specializes in baking them. The only problem is the new café happens to be run by the narrator’s ex-girlfriend. More relationship woes abound in “Decaf Coffee and Non-Alcoholic Beer,” wherein two women are set up on a date by a mutual friend who insists they would make a great match only to learn they are polar opposites.
“The Spy Who Went to the Metaverse School” follows Hyeyoon, assistant to the head of a tech company running a top-secret pilot program for a virtual reality school. When Hyeyoon suspects that the company is engaging in shady practices that may pose a danger to the children selected for the pilot program, including her niece, she hatches a plan to infiltrate the metaverse school herself and disrupt the experiment from the inside.
In “Taro and Jihye,” a highly observant cat grows increasingly worried about his human’s deteriorating emotional state, while in “Madame G’s Horoscope,” graphic designer Yoojung finds herself inheriting the legendary horoscope column at the magazine where she works upon her supervisor’s retirement. As she learns the secret behind the column’s magic, she gains the confidence to take the helm and add her own touch to the fortunes.
“The Lunchtime Revolution” centers around Hyojung, a company worker whose only joy in life is the delicious food served free of charge in the company cafeteria. One day, when the food leaves a bad taste in her mouth for the first time ever, Hyojung takes matters into her own hands and launches a one-woman investigation into the cafeteria food’s sudden decline. “Milkdream,” meanwhile, is set at a silent protest outside the entertainment agency that houses Milkdream, a K-pop girl group that debuted on the cusp of the new millennium and recently saw a resurgence in popularity among a new generation. Fans of all ages, including Jooyoung, show up to demand better treatment for the Milkdream members. Yet the protest also brings Jooyoung’s memories of her teen fangirl days to the surface—including memories of harboring intense feelings for Hyunjung, the girl who introduced her to Milkdream, as well as memories of leaving the fandom heartbroken after learning that Hyunjung only ever had room in her heart for her idols. The story traces what happens when, years later, the two meet again at the protest.
The collection ends on a bittersweet note with “The Birth of Love,” in which the residents of an apartment complex bond and later grieve over the mysterious appearance and disappearance of a vaguely anthropomorphic mound of dirt on their property.
With feather-light prose and breezy humor, Jo Woori delves deep into the everyday lives of characters who feel and care deeply about the little things that are easily overlooked amidst the bustle of life in the 21st century—the sanctity of the school library, the quality of company-provided lunch, and the existence of superhumans in a seemingly mundane world.
The quiet quirkiness of the stories in this collection will delight readers of the odd yet ordinary tales of Hiromi Kawakami (Strange Weather in Tokyo, translated by Allison Markin Powell; People From My Neighborhood, translated by Ted Goossen), while the intimate glimpse into the everyday lives and desires of young people in modern-day Seoul will appeal to any readers who resonated with Sang Young Park’s Love In the Big City, translated by Anton Hur, which was longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jo Woori is the author of several acclaimed works, including the novels Last Love, Today’s Ceremony, and To Be Your Pride as well as the short story collections My Girlfriend and Her Girl Friends and Decaf Coffee and Non-Alcoholic Beer. The winner of the 2011 Daesan Literary Award for University Students, her work has been praised for the immense depth of her characters and the tremendous heart of her narratives. She writes the stories she most longs to read about women, queerness, and labor in contemporary Korean society.
Author Bio 작가 소개
There are no expectations.