Violets

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In this novel by Man Asian Literary Prize winner Kyung-Sook Shin, a neglected young woman experiences the violence and isolation of contemporary Korean society. Set amidst the frenzied modernization of late-twentieth-century South Korea, Violets is the story of San--a protagonist so unsure, ostracized, and odd by society's ruthless standards that she barely registers as stumbling through life. Following a violent childhood rejection, San is set upon a troubling path of stifled desire and isolation. One hazy summer in 1990s Seoul, she finds work at a flower shop. There, she meets a curious cast of characters: the mute shop owner, her brash coworker, and sexually aggressive male customers. Fueled by a quiet desperation to jumpstart her life, San plunges headfirst into obsessing over a magazine photographer and spirals into danger. In her signature stark prose, bestselling author Kyung-Sook Shin explores psychic deterioration, misogyny, and marginalization, and lays bare the agony of erasure.