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Overwhelmed by Family Alchemy: The Water by Kim Soom scrap
by Shin Junebong
October 20, 2014
Author Bio 작가 소개
Kim Soom
Kim Soom has a distinct style. Her previous works were noted for their meticulous, detailed dissection of objects that led to grotesque imagery. For instance, in her first novel, Idiots, Kim depicts a father who, having a hard time readjusting to reality after returning from a Middle Eastern construction job in the 1970s, buries himself in sand.
The Water, her third full-length novel, takes her narrative a step further. The objects that correspond with the characters overwhelm their humanity. In other words, the characters come to embody the characteristics of the objects that symbolize them. The novel is about a six-person family living on a former reservoir that used to hold three million tons of water. The mother, a central character, represents water. Her aquatic attributes are manifested through the metamorphoses of her being. The mother turns from water to ice with no particular provocation or warning. She sometimes turns into an ambiguous, vague cloud of vapor. The father stands for fire, the narrator stands for salt, “my twin” stands for gold, and the youngest sister stands for air. The dynamics between matter apply to the dynamics of the family as well. The mother (water) turns dry and lifeless living with the father (fire). The protagonist (salt) feels inferior to her twin sister (gold), but her crystallized edges become rounded when she is with her mother. The father attempts alchemy with the younger twin, and the youngest, neither visible nor tangible, becomes engrossed in religion.
The novel is thus a family narrative with an interesting fictional world that likens characters to matter rather than limiting itself to entertainment or lessons on morality.
Writer 필자 소개
Shin Junebong
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