A perfect world without misunderstandings
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Description
Book Introduction
"The tragedy unfolds among those who completely trusted themselves." A new work by Choi Jeong-hwa, a writer who plays with anxiety: "A Short Story." [Mind Walk Short Story Series] The eleventh book, 『A Perfect World Without Misunderstanding』, a collection of short stories by author Choi Jeong-hwa, who sensitively captures the cracks in everyday life and the ripples of relationships, has been published. Choi Jeong-hwa, winner of the Young Writer's Award, received praise upon her debut, saying, "Readers will remember the name 'Choi Jeong-hwa' as a special novelist," and expectations were high. Choi Jeong-hwa, who has lived up to expectations through short story collections such as “Extremely Introverted” and “Everything in Its Place,” and novels such as “The Missing Person” and “White City Story,” fully demonstrates her capabilities in short stories as well through “A Perfect World Without Misunderstanding.” Choi Jeong-hwa's "A Perfect World Without Misunderstanding," which contains 16 stories, features the unique and detailed illustrations of illustrator Choi Hwan-wook, who has broadened his artistic horizons through collaborations with various companies, providing a more sensory reading experience. The author's gaze into the inner world of characters in a story shorter than a short story is even more intense. The seemingly peaceful daily life is subtly shaken, and the seemingly familiar relationships between family and lovers are in fact incredibly unfamiliar. This chilling truth is unraveled through Choi Jeong-hwa's unique imagination. |
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index
Author's Note
Have you ever had that happen?
Table 17
Garland
Three lies
phobia
neighbor
smell
Consistent and impossible
Three Winters
A man named Gianluigi Bonucci
repairman
experimental group
mouth
Everything is so close
sweater
fiddler
The ideal distance between him and the world is 5 meters.
Mr. K runs away
Have you had a drink?
Have you ever had that happen?
Table 17
Garland
Three lies
phobia
neighbor
smell
Consistent and impossible
Three Winters
A man named Gianluigi Bonucci
repairman
experimental group
mouth
Everything is so close
sweater
fiddler
The ideal distance between him and the world is 5 meters.
Mr. K runs away
Have you had a drink?
Detailed image
Into the book
Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever, even once, craved to return to a past that caused you pain, leaving you with no choice but to abandon your present happiness?
--- p.25
My husband and I love each other very much now, but someday we may not be like that.
But I don't think that something like that, something that will probably happen in the future, should affect us in this moment.
--- p.33
Transparency is, so to speak, the loss of the will of a being to reveal itself to another being, and that is the same as death or nothingness.
--- p.54
The moment Suji leaves and the door closes, my heart sinks and I feel that five years have passed very quickly.
When I think about how old I am, how I am not human, like a vampire living in a castle, how I cannot associate with them, and how I wish I could just die, the five years I have known her pass by like five minutes on a summer vacation.
Those five minutes are so beautiful, brilliant and sparkling.
--- p.56
I told you so.
Not everything you see is real, and don't respond to everything you hear.
Didn't I tell you this a long time ago?
--- p.75
My wife closes her eyes as the camera shutter closes to capture the most beautiful moment.
As I watch her feel the soft breeze on her skin, I forget for a moment that I had been sniffing just a moment ago, that unpleasant smell I couldn't explain, and that things between us are not the same as they used to be.
--- pp.82~83
I don't think goodwill and kindness always mean consideration for the other person.
Sometimes, intentional indifference can be the best way to understand someone.
--- p.97
Why did I ever think life had to be so passionate?
If it wasn't hot, I would have thought it was fake.
Why did you get so angry, raise your voice, and get so close to the other person that they felt uncomfortable?
Did you feel relieved when you made a mistake and saw or felt strange?
--- p.119
Why did I do that?
I try to explain it in various ways, but people don't always know exactly what they do or why they do it.
The things people say about themselves are often far worse than not hearing them at all.
Of course, what he said about others was even more terrible.
--- p.150
But at some point, I don't know if that conversation was necessary.
Even if you have a good idea of what you are thinking, expressing it verbally is just as important as understanding your thoughts through gestures or facial expressions.
--- pp.169~170
He was often fascinated.
Sometimes it was a ratio, sometimes a color, and more often a shape.
He loved the patterns of water droplets left in a cup after drinking, or the angles of the wrinkles quietly flowing down a hanging curtain.
--- p.186
If you played someone only the note "sol" over and over again, would they still hear it as "sol"? At the time, I was hearing only the note "sol" over and over again, but that single note, that repetition, was more colorful than any fancy scale.
--- p.25
My husband and I love each other very much now, but someday we may not be like that.
But I don't think that something like that, something that will probably happen in the future, should affect us in this moment.
--- p.33
Transparency is, so to speak, the loss of the will of a being to reveal itself to another being, and that is the same as death or nothingness.
--- p.54
The moment Suji leaves and the door closes, my heart sinks and I feel that five years have passed very quickly.
When I think about how old I am, how I am not human, like a vampire living in a castle, how I cannot associate with them, and how I wish I could just die, the five years I have known her pass by like five minutes on a summer vacation.
Those five minutes are so beautiful, brilliant and sparkling.
--- p.56
I told you so.
Not everything you see is real, and don't respond to everything you hear.
Didn't I tell you this a long time ago?
--- p.75
My wife closes her eyes as the camera shutter closes to capture the most beautiful moment.
As I watch her feel the soft breeze on her skin, I forget for a moment that I had been sniffing just a moment ago, that unpleasant smell I couldn't explain, and that things between us are not the same as they used to be.
--- pp.82~83
I don't think goodwill and kindness always mean consideration for the other person.
Sometimes, intentional indifference can be the best way to understand someone.
--- p.97
Why did I ever think life had to be so passionate?
If it wasn't hot, I would have thought it was fake.
Why did you get so angry, raise your voice, and get so close to the other person that they felt uncomfortable?
Did you feel relieved when you made a mistake and saw or felt strange?
--- p.119
Why did I do that?
I try to explain it in various ways, but people don't always know exactly what they do or why they do it.
The things people say about themselves are often far worse than not hearing them at all.
Of course, what he said about others was even more terrible.
--- p.150
But at some point, I don't know if that conversation was necessary.
Even if you have a good idea of what you are thinking, expressing it verbally is just as important as understanding your thoughts through gestures or facial expressions.
--- pp.169~170
He was often fascinated.
Sometimes it was a ratio, sometimes a color, and more often a shape.
He loved the patterns of water droplets left in a cup after drinking, or the angles of the wrinkles quietly flowing down a hanging curtain.
--- p.186
If you played someone only the note "sol" over and over again, would they still hear it as "sol"? At the time, I was hearing only the note "sol" over and over again, but that single note, that repetition, was more colorful than any fancy scale.
--- p.203
Publisher's Review
“Have you never done that?”
An anatomy of the mind shown by characters who encounter strange moments
In "A Perfect World Without Misunderstanding," characters suffer from various obsessions or are caught up in strange incidents.
However, there is no clear causal relationship between the characters' obsessions or events.
Like a kind of surrealist film, fantastical events occur and obsessive characters confront them.
In "Table 17," a man named 'I' gets divorced after his wife cheats on him with a regular customer. He becomes obsessed with Table 17, where his regular customer often sat, and drinks at that table until late every night after the restaurant closes, thereby slowly destroying his current marriage.
That job is not boring at all.
Every time I reminisce about the past, it hits me anew, and I feel like it's my real life.
That's me, the one that fits me perfectly, without any part that's out of place.
_From “Table 17”
The inexplicable incident is well revealed in the short story "The Neighbor."
I, who moved into a small villa called 'Ant Village' where sixteen households live, am constantly concerned about my neighbor who lives in unit 303.
The neighbor mentions my phone conversation from last night and even talks to me through the window.
He comes out to the vacant lot in front of the villa, hangs his laundry, takes a nap on the floor, and grates on my nerves by exposing his entire life.
There is clearly a wall between me and my neighbor, but it feels strange as if it doesn't exist, and the unpleasant feeling that my neighbor knows all about my feelings.
Choi Jeong-hwa gradually heightens this tension and makes us face 'me' and my neighbors.
That could be the case.
It can feel like that.
Because I've seen countless people pass through this villa.
Among those people there was someone like you.
(…) When stress increases, you start to see things that aren’t there.
I can hear it.
You shouldn't be fixated on what you see.
Don't focus on what you hear.
Just because you see something doesn't mean it's real.
You shouldn't respond by saying you heard it.
_From "Neighbor"
The strange events connect with the anxiety felt by the characters, and the anxiety woven by the characters further reveals the contradictions of life.
The truth that life is not organized or logical is revealed by the characters in Choi Jeong-hwa's novels through their constant struggle with anxiety.
“I don’t think goodwill and kindness always translate into consideration for others.”
A dry and insightful gaze that delves into the truth of life.
The characters in the novel, who seem to be obsessed with compulsion and anxiety, do not, however, only show hysterical behavior.
Each insightful word about relationships, which is thrown around somewhat dryly, hits home with weight.
This may be connected to the author's perspective on life.
Clumsy, awkward, and sometimes pushy behavior when dealing with others.
In other words, the author's gaze toward people's weaknesses is generally filled with compassion.
Why did I ever think life had to be so passionate?
If it wasn't hot, I would have thought it was fake.
Why did you get so angry, raise your voice, and get so close to the other person that they felt uncomfortable?
Did you feel relieved when you made a mistake and saw or felt strange?
_From "A Man Called Gianluigi Bonucci"
Lastly, among the short stories included in this book, there are two works based on real-life figures, Im Hyeon and Choi Min-woo.
There is a unique fun in imagining the real-life appearance and the characters in the novel.
An anatomy of the mind shown by characters who encounter strange moments
In "A Perfect World Without Misunderstanding," characters suffer from various obsessions or are caught up in strange incidents.
However, there is no clear causal relationship between the characters' obsessions or events.
Like a kind of surrealist film, fantastical events occur and obsessive characters confront them.
In "Table 17," a man named 'I' gets divorced after his wife cheats on him with a regular customer. He becomes obsessed with Table 17, where his regular customer often sat, and drinks at that table until late every night after the restaurant closes, thereby slowly destroying his current marriage.
That job is not boring at all.
Every time I reminisce about the past, it hits me anew, and I feel like it's my real life.
That's me, the one that fits me perfectly, without any part that's out of place.
_From “Table 17”
The inexplicable incident is well revealed in the short story "The Neighbor."
I, who moved into a small villa called 'Ant Village' where sixteen households live, am constantly concerned about my neighbor who lives in unit 303.
The neighbor mentions my phone conversation from last night and even talks to me through the window.
He comes out to the vacant lot in front of the villa, hangs his laundry, takes a nap on the floor, and grates on my nerves by exposing his entire life.
There is clearly a wall between me and my neighbor, but it feels strange as if it doesn't exist, and the unpleasant feeling that my neighbor knows all about my feelings.
Choi Jeong-hwa gradually heightens this tension and makes us face 'me' and my neighbors.
That could be the case.
It can feel like that.
Because I've seen countless people pass through this villa.
Among those people there was someone like you.
(…) When stress increases, you start to see things that aren’t there.
I can hear it.
You shouldn't be fixated on what you see.
Don't focus on what you hear.
Just because you see something doesn't mean it's real.
You shouldn't respond by saying you heard it.
_From "Neighbor"
The strange events connect with the anxiety felt by the characters, and the anxiety woven by the characters further reveals the contradictions of life.
The truth that life is not organized or logical is revealed by the characters in Choi Jeong-hwa's novels through their constant struggle with anxiety.
“I don’t think goodwill and kindness always translate into consideration for others.”
A dry and insightful gaze that delves into the truth of life.
The characters in the novel, who seem to be obsessed with compulsion and anxiety, do not, however, only show hysterical behavior.
Each insightful word about relationships, which is thrown around somewhat dryly, hits home with weight.
This may be connected to the author's perspective on life.
Clumsy, awkward, and sometimes pushy behavior when dealing with others.
In other words, the author's gaze toward people's weaknesses is generally filled with compassion.
Why did I ever think life had to be so passionate?
If it wasn't hot, I would have thought it was fake.
Why did you get so angry, raise your voice, and get so close to the other person that they felt uncomfortable?
Did you feel relieved when you made a mistake and saw or felt strange?
_From "A Man Called Gianluigi Bonucci"
Lastly, among the short stories included in this book, there are two works based on real-life figures, Im Hyeon and Choi Min-woo.
There is a unique fun in imagining the real-life appearance and the characters in the novel.
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Publication date: September 15, 2021
- Format: Hardcover book binding method guide
- Page count, weight, size: 204 pages | 342g | 135*193*16mm
- ISBN13: 9788960906938
- ISBN10: 896090693X
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