Customer Reviews

Once the Shore: Stories

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just finished Paul Yoon's amazing debut story collection. It took me a while, because I knew from the start that I wanted to savor it. Now, I want to go back through and read it again. These are not your typical stories. They don't seem to work the way most stories -- at least most that I read -- do. You don't read these stories simply to find out what happens. You read them to exist in the world with the character while the events of that world are happening. In that, Paul Yoon is doing something unique and precious with his writing. I don't quiet know how to get at what these stories accomplish, except that they feel to me like they float, like the worlds they contain are somehow unmoored from the world I experience every day, as if they are floating on the sea that surrounds the island on which the stories are set. Reading this book, you can feel the world rock and sway with the current. These stories are dream-like that way, and they will linger with you as powerfully as the most meaningful and affecting of dreams.

I finally finished Paul Yoon's collection of short stories. It took a few months to read, mainly because I did not want the reading experience to end. This collection was amazing. Yoon writes with such graceful, elgant prose. His voice and control over his characters is amazing to read. All the stories were previously published and it's easy to see why. I'm very anxious and excited for more of Yoon's fiction. Lets hope he has a book coming out soon, but if not, I can and will turn back to the collection. This is a book you need to buy. Enjoy!

The book had a minor dent on it, It was brand new otherwise. Good purchase, It took longer to get to me than I anticipated but I got it the day I REALLY needed to read it.It all worked out, confusing stories though, too many and too many names to remember. The first half was more interesting than the second half although the second half had "newer" stories.

Yoon's collection is very imagistic, not in the sense of lyrical, but in the sense of tight prose that is spare. In this way it is unique and moving. There's not a lot of extra language here, which for me is refreshing. The stories are beautiful naratives with characters you believe, and whose actions are credible.

I adopted from Korea and thus have a special interest in learning more about the country.

They are great fiction, although a couple of them tie in actual events (e.g. the "Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision" fictionalized (to make the story work) as a Korean fishing vessel instead of a Japanese).

I've been checking out the book from the library and am still saving a couple stories for the next time.

I'm looking forward to whatever Paul Yoon will be publishing.

I will admit that the language in this book is beautiful. For some reason I thought this would be a sort of Korean "Walden Pond," but it is not. I only read the first two stories, and for me they are too sad and disturbing. With all the sadness in the world right now this is not the book for me.

I would like to not to rate the book at all because how can I rate a book I did not finish? I have written this review to help readers make a choice about reading "Once the Shore." Since I must give a rating, I have compromised with 3 stars.