Krys Lee: "Drifting House"

[dreamer_easy]

This may be the best collection of short stories I've ever read. In fact, I've been trying to review the book for ages. After reading Krys Lee's novel How I Became a North Korean last year, I returned to Drifting House and was surprised to discover I'd already read it, apparently cover to cover, probably in Rockville Library during one of our visits to the US. I bought myself a copy during this year's trip, only to have it vanish in the post. Now I've borrowed it from the library again (and it's overdue).

Each story came back to me as I read them, but the stories that had stuck in my mind were "The Salaryman" and the title story, "Drifting House". Most of the tales in the book consider some aspect of Korean society: immigration to the US, the trauma of the Korean War still felt generations later, the continuing US presence in South Korea. "The Salaryman", written in second person, forces you to accompany an office worker on his way down after the 1997 financial crisis in Asia, finishing with a punch that took my breath away. Lee often writes from the point of view of a child; "Drifting House" follows three siblings as they try to survive the journey across the border from North Korea into China.

The writing is precise and confident, detailed and absorbing. Korean words are peppered through the text, as well as literally translated phrases ("Have you eaten rice?"), but never in a way that would puzzle the reader. For me, the only off note in the anthology was in "A Temporary Marriage" - I just find it hard to believe a woman would eroticise her abuse.

These spoiler-free reviews are a bit frustrating because I can't get into the meat of a book. These reviews will tell you more:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/09/drifting-house-krys-lee-review

http://www.theshortreview.com/reviews/KrysLeeDriftingHouse.htm