Untold night and day: book review


Book review 

Title: Untold night and day
Author: Bae Suah
Genre: Fiction/Translation (Korean)

Untold night and day is not just a book. It’s an experience. 

It tells the story of a woman named Ayami that takes place in Seoul over the course of a night and day. Ayami works at the box office at Seoul’s audio theatre and it’s her last day at work. She spends the night roaming around the streets with her boss, looking for a woman named Yeoni and another woman poet. Somewhere in this search, the story shifts to an ambiguous space, oscillating between dreams and reality. 

What’s interesting in this book is the shifting timelines and points of view. The story starts as Ayami’s story and then move on to another person’s point of view which links back to Ayomi’s tale. Readers wonder what exactly is Ayomi searching for. The plot unfolds into multiple layers and presents a rather blurry world. Sort of like Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland. Things are not what they appear to be. 

One of the strengths of the book lies is the intense and philosophical dialogues between the characters. Another intriguing factor is the mention of Iranian author Sadayat’s acclaimed book The Blind Owl. There are quite a few similarities between this and Untold night and day. Both travel on blurred images of reality and dreams. Reading Untold night and day can be disorienting. There are elements of magical realism, reality and dreamlike situations. Nevertheless an interesting work of literature.

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