When Adam Opens His Eyes

Book excerpt: First published in 1990, this is a sensational and highly controversial novel by one of Korea’s most electrifying contemporary authors, which plows through contemporaneous Korean mores with aplomb. First published in 1990, this is a sensational and highly controversial novel by one of Korea’s most electrifying contemporary authors. A preposterous coming-of-age story, melding sex, death, and high school in a manner reminiscent of some perverse collision between Georges Bataille and Beverly Cleary, the narrator of this book plows through contemporaneous Korean mores with aplomb, bound for destruction, or maturity—whichever comes first.