Books on Gwangju make bestseller list
Some books about the May 18 pro-democracy protest have made the bestseller list this week as the tragic event, which took the lives of hundreds of people in the southwestern city back in 1980, marked its 40th anniversary Monday.
Award-winning author Han Kang’s “There Comes a Boy” made the Top 4 best-selling book list simultaneously Wednesday in the nation’s largest bookstore Kyobo Books and internet bookshop Aladin.
Han Kang’s novel revolves around the death of a middle school boy named Dong-ho. The boy was gunned down after armed soldiers fired on the public during the historic protest which occurred on May 18, 1980, months after military general Chun Doo-hwan took power through a coup.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun’s promotion helped the 2014 book regain attention particularly from younger readers.
“My life has been torn apart since your death because I couldn’t hold your funeral (because I failed to retrieve your dead body).” Chung quoted this sentence from the book which he said broke his heart, although the uprising took place four decades ago.
“I picked up the book to read it again during the weekend,” he wrote on social media Monday. “I feel like the book is soaked with the blood, tears, fear and anguish of the people of Gwangju. On May 21, 1980 when armed soldiers dressed in camouflage and helmets fired at the public, fellow citizens threw cooked rice at the soldiers instead of stone. They did so, maybe because they saw someone else’s children in the eyes of the soldiers without taking them for their enemies.”
Changbi Publishers released a limited edition of the book on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the traumatic event.
The publisher said demand for “There Comes a Boy” soars twice around this time of the year but this year the book sold more than five times that of the previous year. “About 80 percent of people who purchased the book were people in their 20s and 30s,” the publisher said.
Another book “Witnessing Gwangju,” written by former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer Paul Courtright and published by Hollym Books, has also benefitted from the anniversary. Both Korean and English editions were released.
According to the publisher, hundreds oc copies of the book (Korean edition) have been sold every day since it was published on May 1.
“Thirty- and forty-something readers make up the lion’s share,” the publisher said.
The Korean edition made the top 10 bestseller list on May 12 and 13, days before the 40th anniversary.
“Witnessing Gwangju” is Courtright’s memoir revisiting the 13 days of fear and gunfire in the southern city where he worked at a leprosy resettlement center as a Peace Corps volunteer.