Winter temperatures freeze the radiator pipes in Old Park’s guesthouse, specifically in the narrator’s side of the building, forcing her to move into a room next to Kerrand. And yet, as her time with Kerrand progresses, it unlocks what our narrator calls her unfamiliar self, which considers the world beyond Sokcho. She’s also devoted to her mother, the only fishmonger in the city with a license to prepare a mouthwatering delicacy - the poisonous blowfish - and to her boyfriend who’s attending modeling school in Seoul.
The girl narrates in a confident yet gentle voice, sure of herself and her love for her native Sokcho, its brightly painted roofs, fishy smells from the market stalls and restaurants, and winter isolation. All I saw was the white space between the lines, the light absorbed by the paper, the snow bursting off the page, real enough to touch.” Looking again, I realized I didn’t see the ink. In moments like this one, author Elisa Shua Dusapin emphasizes her edifying theme of what we fail to see that’s right in front of us. He tells her what matters is the light shaping what you see. One day he teaches her to see the exceptional in his drawings achieved by working in shades of grey. He hesitates, reluctant to allow an opening into his raw imagination, but then agrees. In return for acting as his tour guide, the narrator requests Kerrand show her his sketches. It’s tactile knowledge and visions he’s collecting for his art. It would seem to be he’s flirting, except Kerrand also brushes his fingers over a tree trunk, across an ice-covered rock, along stone statues at the temple. During these times together, he brushes his fingers against her shoulder, warms her cold fingers in his hand, compliments her red dress. Kerrand invites her to have dinner with him at a quiet fish stand. They travel to the observation point and museum at the north-south border, and to a temple built into cliffs above the sea. She speaks fluent French from her school studies (her absent father is French) and so becomes the perfect answer to Kerrand’s need for someone to show him the region. The story is told in brief chapters, building a bewitching interplay between Kerrand and the unnamed girl.
Winter in Sokchois the 2021 National Book Award winner for translated literature.
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