Review: A Slow Walk through Jeong-dong

A Slow Walk through Jeong-dong by Michael Gibb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another book I'm reading during COVID so I can vicariously travel, using it and google streetview (or Kakaomaps) as a guide. 

This is excellent. I wish more travel books were written in this manner. I took copious notes on the locations and their history. Some of the coffee shops and restaurants seem to be gone, but otherwise I can't wait until I'm back in Seoul and can take an afternoon to follow this itinerary. 

I keep hoping the author will do the same for other parts of Seoul, but I guess that is too much to ask. 

Some random notes I took:

Jeongno gil used to be called Legation Street, when Western countries first set up their embassies

Horace G. Underwood founded Chosun Christian College (which joined another school to become Yonsei)

Mary F. Scranton founded Ewha girls' school

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Review: Evening Proposal

Evening Proposal by Hye-Young Pyun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These stories all seem to share a theme of being lost, whether physically or as in losing control over one's direction in life (or both). The atmosphere is similar for each story, and there are definitely certain themes (monotonous work, one's employment not mattering, travel, being stuck in a situation and not being able to get out, etc.) I'm sure there are parallels that I'm not catching, as well, like the life of the rabbit probably being a metaphor for the life of the protagonist.

Regardless, I enjoyed these. I wish I had spaced each story out a bit more, so I could come back to them with breaks in between. I might do that the next time I read Pyun's Hye-young's work.



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