Novelist Shin returns with lighter material

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Shin Kyung-sook

Shin Kyung-sook’s follow-up to "Please Look After Mom’’ a heart-wrenching novel of familial loss and female sacrifice that made her international known, is dramatically more light-hearted.

Published by Munhakdongne, Shin’s ``Moonlit Tales’’ is a collection of 26 short stories she serialized in a literary review journal from 2008 to 2010, while she was working on her novels ``Yi Jin,’’ ``From Somewhere Afar the Phone Keeps Ringing for Me’’ and “Mom.”

Shin is known for the depth and complexity she gives her characters, and her intellectual and penetrating arguments on family life and society. Moonlit Tales, however, shows her less serious side.

Most of the stories in the new book are short ― some of them just six pages long ― and make for light reading. Her biting insight is still there and there are some memorable sentences, but it’s obvious Shin made an effort to be more witty and humorous and less emotionally tolling.

Mom, a story of an elderly mother and her family’s search for her after she goes missing in a crowded train station, told in four different voices (her daughter’s, her son’s, her husband’s and herself), sold more than 2 million copies in Korea alone.

``When I met my readers, they often asked me whether I will ever write stories that were humorous and fun to read. I first thought the questions were silly, but I warmed to the idea on capturing the sparkling moments of our lives during a stroll one night under the moon,’’ Shin, 50, told reporters at a news conference Thursday.

She said she loved writing these short stories. Some read as if they were based on Shin's personal experience, but the author remained coy, just describing them as the tales of different people sharing time and space. Her capture of the ordinary moments is not fancy, but they show a slice of modern people’s elaborate lives.

"I wrote these stories on the spur of the moment as if taking photos. These are about every instant of life which could be forgotten if not documented," Shin said.

She is also preparing for a new full-length novel. "I am conflicted over two stories. One is an omnibus of four people's interconnecting lives and the other is the story of a blind person. I will make up my mind and start writing soon," Shin said.

Many of Shin's works have been translated into foreign languages. Mom was published in more than 30 countries including the United States, France, Germany, Japan and China. Shin said the book was recently released in Russia and India and waiting for publication in Serbia and Romania. The U.S. release of her 2010 book "From Somewhere Afar the Phone Keeps Ringing for Me" is slated for April 2014.

However, Shin is not burdened by her international reputation in conjuring new stories. "I don't think about how it will be translated and what international publishers will think about it," she said. "I will continue to write in my style, but it is interesting imagining how foreign readers accept Moonlit Tales. I hope they will laugh when they read this book."