A pretty optimistic kid
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Description
Book Introduction
- A word from MD
-
A pretty funny novel by a stand-up comedianThe first novel by Won So-yoon, a name briefly stolen from the comedy world.
It's as blunt as stand-up comedy, but it's full of cool jokes and sharp insights.
He wittily expressed his own story of growth and his family's circumstances.
For a simple autobiographical coming-of-age story, the humorous lines that confront a world full of tragedy remain for a long time.
July 29, 2025. Novel/Poetry PD Kim Yu-ri
“There was no time for meaningful conversation.
“I was busy spending time doing trivial things.”
A rookie stand-up comedian
Learned from the hardships of the stage and the vulgar world
The Art of Jokes and Silence, the Art of Growth and Derailment
Fantastic punchlines from a stand-up comedian turned novelist.
It is impossible to describe this author or this novel with familiar expressions.
Because literature we have never experienced before from an author we have never encountered before has arrived before us.
Before becoming known through novels, Won So-yoon first met the public through YouTube content in the comedy genre.
'A woman who got into Seoul National University but couldn't join a club', 'A woman who has many people asking to see her personal statement, but not a single one asking to take a picture of her life', 'A woman who said that her house was robbed because the fact that she lives alone was a good appeal'.
Some of these videos captured the public's attention, garnering over 6 million views.
Won So-yoon, who is actively working as a stand-up comedian and is making a name for himself, sharply criticizes the duality of social perspectives with a humorous yet ironic style, presenting literary humor that is vivid but not simple, pleasant but not volatile.
The publishing world's heart is racing with the arrival of this long-awaited new language: intelligent satire, elegant yet genuine prose, and a deep sense of emotion.
“I was busy spending time doing trivial things.”
A rookie stand-up comedian
Learned from the hardships of the stage and the vulgar world
The Art of Jokes and Silence, the Art of Growth and Derailment
Fantastic punchlines from a stand-up comedian turned novelist.
It is impossible to describe this author or this novel with familiar expressions.
Because literature we have never experienced before from an author we have never encountered before has arrived before us.
Before becoming known through novels, Won So-yoon first met the public through YouTube content in the comedy genre.
'A woman who got into Seoul National University but couldn't join a club', 'A woman who has many people asking to see her personal statement, but not a single one asking to take a picture of her life', 'A woman who said that her house was robbed because the fact that she lives alone was a good appeal'.
Some of these videos captured the public's attention, garnering over 6 million views.
Won So-yoon, who is actively working as a stand-up comedian and is making a name for himself, sharply criticizes the duality of social perspectives with a humorous yet ironic style, presenting literary humor that is vivid but not simple, pleasant but not volatile.
The publishing world's heart is racing with the arrival of this long-awaited new language: intelligent satire, elegant yet genuine prose, and a deep sense of emotion.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
prolog
After running 10,713 laps around the track
open mic
eight apples
open mic
Let's live righteously
open mic
Epilogue
Preface by Park Hye-jin (literary critic, editor)
Humor is deeper than despair.
After running 10,713 laps around the track
open mic
eight apples
open mic
Let's live righteously
open mic
Epilogue
Preface by Park Hye-jin (literary critic, editor)
Humor is deeper than despair.
Detailed image
Into the book
From the age of eight, whenever I felt unhappy about going home, I would pack my bags and take a city bus to my grandparents' house, which was 30 minutes away.
Before departure, I announced my visit in a hoarse voice, and my maternal grandfather Cyril came out to meet me at the bus stop.
Cyril held my hand tightly with his thick one and we walked through the alleys of Yongdu Market.
He was too strong and walked too fast.
I kept pace with his pace, feeling slightly dragged along, and thought that I had suffered many injustices because I was young.
--- p.17
To be honest, for me, Maria, who comes from a Catholic family, death itself was not a decisive issue.
Even if I had to hold a funeral, it would be okay as long as there was an afterlife.
I assumed that was the case, so I greeted Cyril with, “See you later!”
But I began to have a sneaking suspicion that there might be nothing.
Cyril, who didn't even say he arrived safely and didn't come back.
Cyril, who spoke so much, could not have been so quiet in his soul.
“You know, I’ve died before.
Is it really so, so, nothing, that I can't even come to tell you, "It seems like there's nothing here."
--- p.28
When September came and the baby died, the mother lost her mind.
After preparing breakfast, he didn't even take a bite and didn't even watch his siblings and I eat with our chopsticks.
Mom sat with her back to the table and gazed blankly at the apartment rooftop.
The small, black back of my short-haired mother's head.
Looking at the back of that head, ten-year-old me blew on the soybean paste stew, brushed the rice glue off the corners of my mouth, and picked up the pickled radish incorrectly.
One day, I asked a question that struck me as a turning point.
“Mom, how long do you want to live?”
I asked a question to reassure myself.
If my mom answered “80!”, I would have done that calculation to make sure I would be at ease until she turned 80.
The forty-year-old mother answered.
“60?”
60 was too small a number for me.
A number so small I can't handle it.
I immediately hated my mother for making me imagine my twenties and thirties without her.
Only 60 years old. What a sad person my mother must be. Why is she so sad when we are here?
It's really sad to see a sad person.
I ran to the bathroom and threw up all the breakfast I had foolishly eaten.
--- pp.71-72
I graduated from Seoul National University.
Oh, didn't you hear? I graduated from Seoul National University.
It's a jackpot.
I'll talk about Seoul National University twenty more times before I finish.
I am a graduate of Seoul National University.
My family is a blue-collar family with a long history.
So look at me, look at me from head to toe.
I completely slipped down the ladder of social mobility.
Guys, learn the skills.
But I'm glad I come from a blue-collar family.
Would you like something a little more sturdy? By the way, did you know that 'prison uniforms' are also blue-collar?
--- p.183
As soon as I finished writing this, I playfully showed it to my mom.
The mother was speechless after reading her daughter's will.
As the silence grew longer, the meaning of the 'will' gradually became clearer.
Regret came flooding in.
When will I ever become a person who is not pathetic?
After a while, my mother smiled and spoke to me as if responding to a will.
“This article is also interesting.
But you see, I don't believe this article."
I answered, pretending not to know.
“You know, it’s all a joke.”
Before departure, I announced my visit in a hoarse voice, and my maternal grandfather Cyril came out to meet me at the bus stop.
Cyril held my hand tightly with his thick one and we walked through the alleys of Yongdu Market.
He was too strong and walked too fast.
I kept pace with his pace, feeling slightly dragged along, and thought that I had suffered many injustices because I was young.
--- p.17
To be honest, for me, Maria, who comes from a Catholic family, death itself was not a decisive issue.
Even if I had to hold a funeral, it would be okay as long as there was an afterlife.
I assumed that was the case, so I greeted Cyril with, “See you later!”
But I began to have a sneaking suspicion that there might be nothing.
Cyril, who didn't even say he arrived safely and didn't come back.
Cyril, who spoke so much, could not have been so quiet in his soul.
“You know, I’ve died before.
Is it really so, so, nothing, that I can't even come to tell you, "It seems like there's nothing here."
--- p.28
When September came and the baby died, the mother lost her mind.
After preparing breakfast, he didn't even take a bite and didn't even watch his siblings and I eat with our chopsticks.
Mom sat with her back to the table and gazed blankly at the apartment rooftop.
The small, black back of my short-haired mother's head.
Looking at the back of that head, ten-year-old me blew on the soybean paste stew, brushed the rice glue off the corners of my mouth, and picked up the pickled radish incorrectly.
One day, I asked a question that struck me as a turning point.
“Mom, how long do you want to live?”
I asked a question to reassure myself.
If my mom answered “80!”, I would have done that calculation to make sure I would be at ease until she turned 80.
The forty-year-old mother answered.
“60?”
60 was too small a number for me.
A number so small I can't handle it.
I immediately hated my mother for making me imagine my twenties and thirties without her.
Only 60 years old. What a sad person my mother must be. Why is she so sad when we are here?
It's really sad to see a sad person.
I ran to the bathroom and threw up all the breakfast I had foolishly eaten.
--- pp.71-72
I graduated from Seoul National University.
Oh, didn't you hear? I graduated from Seoul National University.
It's a jackpot.
I'll talk about Seoul National University twenty more times before I finish.
I am a graduate of Seoul National University.
My family is a blue-collar family with a long history.
So look at me, look at me from head to toe.
I completely slipped down the ladder of social mobility.
Guys, learn the skills.
But I'm glad I come from a blue-collar family.
Would you like something a little more sturdy? By the way, did you know that 'prison uniforms' are also blue-collar?
--- p.183
As soon as I finished writing this, I playfully showed it to my mom.
The mother was speechless after reading her daughter's will.
As the silence grew longer, the meaning of the 'will' gradually became clearer.
Regret came flooding in.
When will I ever become a person who is not pathetic?
After a while, my mother smiled and spoke to me as if responding to a will.
“This article is also interesting.
But you see, I don't believe this article."
I answered, pretending not to know.
“You know, it’s all a joke.”
--- p.260
Publisher's Review
Our family story is hilarious to the core.
Won So-yoon's novel, "A Quite Optimistic Child," was published in Minumsa's "Today's Young Writers" series.
"A Pretty Optimistic Kid" is an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a fledgling stand-up comedian just starting out on stage.
It's a fun, easy-to-read story, featuring upbeat characters that comfort our hearts, yet also foreshadows the emergence of a formidable new talent while not missing the cold hardships of life.
What would the childhood of someone who had to make people laugh with just one microphone on stage be like?
The novel centers around a family whose members each hide their own extraordinary qualities within the ordinary, and the protagonist who learns about life and the world by spying on them like a detective and gaining insight like a writer.
Grandfather Cyril, a devout Catholic who strictly observes prayer times, prays fervently for punishment of those he hates, and his mother, who regularly volunteers as a counselor to prisoners, somehow informs them in detail of his father's every move.
The various episodes surrounding three generations of a traditional Catholic family, including grandparents, parents, herself, and her older brother, shine with ironic fun to the point that not a single scene unfolds as expected.
It's so uniquely fun that it's hard to find a comparison.
The heartbreaking story of our family
Each episode, filled with cheerful, warm, and lucid humor, is punctuated by irreversible loss and the resulting sadness, adding depth to the laughter.
A few years before my birth, my mom and dad lost their three-year-old baby in a car accident.
In September, when the baby left, my mother often seemed to lose her mind, and I was always worried that my mother might have bad intentions.
I go to school with a heavy heart, patting my shoe bag, and even when I'm at school, when it's break time, I run to the phone booth and call my mom.
She checks in on how her mother is feeling on the other end of the phone, apologizes to her for what she did wrong, and promises to be a better daughter.
These are actions taken with the hope of giving my mother some hope to live.
The desire to be noticed, the desire to be loved more, the feeling of anxiety, and the unknown guilt that lies at the very bottom.
'I', who became a good model student, experiences the death of his grandfather Cyril and once again develops compassion and love for his mother and father, who experienced "something that was better not to have to experience as a human being."
Fresh self-care for a child who wanted to be a fun adult
"Toto at the Window" is an autobiographical novel written by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, a Japanese actress and MC, based on her childhood.
Toto, a curious girl, is expelled from elementary school as soon as she enters, but she transfers to a new school and learns how to survive by living with her friends.
Anne of Green Gables, “not pretty but lovely,” lives with her new family in Green Gables and begins to heal her fear of being alone again.
In our memories, there are children who grew up in their own way in a harsh world and, along with it, brightened the world.
"A Pretty Optimistic Child" is a character of this era who grows into a fun adult with a smile that is both sad and sad.
This child, who stimulates the childlike heart of all of us who desperately wanted to become a fun adult in the midst of the vulgar world and the tyranny of fate, delicately reads the shadows each family member carries, sometimes as a nagging observer, sometimes as an indifferent bystander, and mostly as a person who stamps his feet, and practices refreshing self-care by personally understanding the world.
The art of irony born from control and deviation, the big bang of stand-up comedy narrative!
Another notable feature of the novel is the short "open mic" chapters that appear between the coming-of-age stories of the past.
During the open mic portion of a stand-up comedy show, anyone can come up on stage and say whatever they want.
In this scene, which seems to have been copied straight from a stand-up comedy script, readers can vividly see, through countless jokes, how a "fairly optimistic child" who had both laughter and sadness, love and hate, grew up and became an adult.
Above all, you can experience the charm of deviation that is further stimulated within the unique form of control and regulation that stand-up comedy narratives possess.
The added bonus of stand-up comedy narratives is the anticipation of meeting a unique storyteller who is both everyday and political.
Won So-yoon's novel, "A Quite Optimistic Child," was published in Minumsa's "Today's Young Writers" series.
"A Pretty Optimistic Kid" is an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a fledgling stand-up comedian just starting out on stage.
It's a fun, easy-to-read story, featuring upbeat characters that comfort our hearts, yet also foreshadows the emergence of a formidable new talent while not missing the cold hardships of life.
What would the childhood of someone who had to make people laugh with just one microphone on stage be like?
The novel centers around a family whose members each hide their own extraordinary qualities within the ordinary, and the protagonist who learns about life and the world by spying on them like a detective and gaining insight like a writer.
Grandfather Cyril, a devout Catholic who strictly observes prayer times, prays fervently for punishment of those he hates, and his mother, who regularly volunteers as a counselor to prisoners, somehow informs them in detail of his father's every move.
The various episodes surrounding three generations of a traditional Catholic family, including grandparents, parents, herself, and her older brother, shine with ironic fun to the point that not a single scene unfolds as expected.
It's so uniquely fun that it's hard to find a comparison.
The heartbreaking story of our family
Each episode, filled with cheerful, warm, and lucid humor, is punctuated by irreversible loss and the resulting sadness, adding depth to the laughter.
A few years before my birth, my mom and dad lost their three-year-old baby in a car accident.
In September, when the baby left, my mother often seemed to lose her mind, and I was always worried that my mother might have bad intentions.
I go to school with a heavy heart, patting my shoe bag, and even when I'm at school, when it's break time, I run to the phone booth and call my mom.
She checks in on how her mother is feeling on the other end of the phone, apologizes to her for what she did wrong, and promises to be a better daughter.
These are actions taken with the hope of giving my mother some hope to live.
The desire to be noticed, the desire to be loved more, the feeling of anxiety, and the unknown guilt that lies at the very bottom.
'I', who became a good model student, experiences the death of his grandfather Cyril and once again develops compassion and love for his mother and father, who experienced "something that was better not to have to experience as a human being."
Fresh self-care for a child who wanted to be a fun adult
"Toto at the Window" is an autobiographical novel written by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, a Japanese actress and MC, based on her childhood.
Toto, a curious girl, is expelled from elementary school as soon as she enters, but she transfers to a new school and learns how to survive by living with her friends.
Anne of Green Gables, “not pretty but lovely,” lives with her new family in Green Gables and begins to heal her fear of being alone again.
In our memories, there are children who grew up in their own way in a harsh world and, along with it, brightened the world.
"A Pretty Optimistic Child" is a character of this era who grows into a fun adult with a smile that is both sad and sad.
This child, who stimulates the childlike heart of all of us who desperately wanted to become a fun adult in the midst of the vulgar world and the tyranny of fate, delicately reads the shadows each family member carries, sometimes as a nagging observer, sometimes as an indifferent bystander, and mostly as a person who stamps his feet, and practices refreshing self-care by personally understanding the world.
The art of irony born from control and deviation, the big bang of stand-up comedy narrative!
Another notable feature of the novel is the short "open mic" chapters that appear between the coming-of-age stories of the past.
During the open mic portion of a stand-up comedy show, anyone can come up on stage and say whatever they want.
In this scene, which seems to have been copied straight from a stand-up comedy script, readers can vividly see, through countless jokes, how a "fairly optimistic child" who had both laughter and sadness, love and hate, grew up and became an adult.
Above all, you can experience the charm of deviation that is further stimulated within the unique form of control and regulation that stand-up comedy narratives possess.
The added bonus of stand-up comedy narratives is the anticipation of meeting a unique storyteller who is both everyday and political.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Date of issue: July 18, 2025
- Format: Hardcover book binding method guide
- Page count, weight, size: 272 pages | 372g | 128*188*20mm
- ISBN13: 9788937477317
- ISBN10: 8937477319
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