‘A Song from Afar’, set in Russia when the narrator looks back on a senior in college who was much like a sister to her. For the time they spend in the camp and together, they find solace in each other. Each of them having issues to take care back at home. In ‘Hanji and Youngju’, we have an uncanny friendship, love and relationship among 2 people from vastly different backgrounds at a camp. It could not be allowed to slip away carelessly like the other moments dumped and scrapped into the past. In the silence, I realized how much I was clinging to this moment. Now for some seconds, now for some minutes, we walked without a word to each other, picking up slugs that had crawled out to the road and throwing them back into the tall grass. In ‘Sister, My little Soonae’, the narrator’s mother looks back on her relationship with her sister and regrets of the past on her death bed. ‘ Xin Chào, Xin Chào ‘ encompasses a friendship between a Korean and Vietnamese family turned sour over the period due to ghosts of Vietnam war. Stretching across years, it defines innocent friendship, familial relationships, ambitions and hope along with focus on mental health. The titular story ‘ Shoko’s Smile’, my favorite among the stories, showcases the friendship between an exchange student from Japan – Shoko, the narrator and her Grandpa. I truly believe certain books come to you when you need them the most like a warm hug and a soothing pat on your head.

With the underlying themes of friendship and loss primarily among the various stories, I found solace in the book when I needed it the most. I read Shoko’s Smile – Stories by Choi Eun-young translated from Korean by Sung Ryu narrated by Greta Jung, Janet Song and Jackie Chung in August and like the memories of the aftertaste of your favourite food, I keep thinking of the stories particularly the titular story) every now and then. “I dig my hands into the cold sand and gaze at the black, shimmering sea.

Shoko's Smile by Choi Eunyoung