One Hundred Shadows

In a part of Seoul, South Korea, marked for demolition and full of people who live on the wrong side of the tracks, shadows are beginning to walk away in this haunting but hard to follow at times novel. People are warned not to follow their shadows, but some do follow their shadows, have long and philosophical conversations with their shadows about life, death and what it all means.

Amongst the turmoil, especially as the neighborhood is marked for demolition, and eventually gentrification, as a sign of progress, Eungyo and Mujae, who both work at an electronics repair shop, can only watch as their community fades against corrupt politicians, unscrupulous developers and people who have lost all hope.

This book may be hard for some readers to follow, the lack of quotation marks may be a hinderance as well, but it is an excellent exploration of those who live at the bottom rung of the ladder in a rich world country at the cusp of growing gray, especially as people who lack the means to hold onto their little plot of land.