Reviews for Lost Souls: Stories

The average rating for Lost Souls: Stories based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-11-08 00:00:00 Lisa Sica I think Hwang Sunwon is a magnificent story teller who has such a fascinating insight into the human psyche - his characterisation is strong and he manages to make the reader feel strongly about the protagonists. My favourite thing about his stories is that they are so real - there is no such thing as a happy ending all the time in life, and he acknowledges this with his tales of hardship through the Korean War and during the Japanese occupation and even the struggles faced after Liberation. I find the downfall in this collection of short stories is that: 1. Some of the stories are not that short. Some of the stories are laborious. 2. The personal appeal of some of these stories really varies for me. Some seem nonsensical and grotesque whilst others are tragic and poetic. That being said, sometimes you need to look beneath the surface to find the true meaning of these tales, such as The Dog of Crossover Village - the Afterword informed me that the dog could represent the persevering and enduring nature of the Koreans after their historical hardships. After I read that, I got it - prior, I had no clue what that story was about. I think it is really worthwhile reading this collection of stories, but be ready to put your critical and analytic hat on!

Review # 2 was written on 2011-09-28 00:00:00 Gary Sabedra Not since the Jungle Novels of B. Traven has there been such an indictment of the treatment of Indians by white landowners. Don Alfonso Pereira is in debt to his uncle Julio, whereupon Julio convinces him to talk his Indians into building a road so that gringos could tear down the forests and drill for oil. Written in 1934, Huasipungo by Jorge Icaza tells the story of the brutality, starvation, and natural disasters that come in the wake of Don Alfonso's road. The landowner refuses to show any weakness, and winds up doubling down on all the injustices he causes. At the same time, he rapes the young women from the huasipungos or Indian huts and insists on being extra cruel lest he be thought of being weak by the Indians and his partners. This Ecuadorian novel is not well known to Norteamericanos, but it should take its place beside the novels of Traven and Paraguay's Augusto Roa Bastos, Brazil's Jorge Amado, Guatemala's Miguel Angel Asturias, and Uruguay's Eduardo Galeano.