RIVER OF FIRE and Other Stories, by O Chonghui. Translated by Bruce and Ju-chan Fulton. Columbia University Press, 2012, 224 pp., $27.50 (hardcover)
I can't remember a book of fiction that felt as much like a force-feeding as this one has. It seems only fair to say that O Chonghui enjoys a considerable reputation in her native South Korea, and my negative response may reflect nothing more than my failure to read her deeply enough.
She is, we are told in an afterword, "the elder stateswoman of contemporary Korean fiction, a writer who enjoys critical success, if not widespread popularity, and who is proving increasingly influential among younger Korean writers."