I’m Waiting for You: And Other Stories

This title from one of South Korea’s foremost writers features four short stories. Two focus on lovers attempting to meet each other back on Earth for their wedding day. Small mishaps ensue and create travails that the lovers must separately endure; as the centuries pass, they wonder whether they will see each other again. The remaining stories revolve around godlike beings who created the Earth. They use humankind as a teaching tool, exploring what happens when one of them begins to question the natural order of the gods’ realm. All four stories feature philosophical musings about universal themes: love, waiting, and wanting; creation, destruction, and existence. The epistolary nature of the lovers’ story gives readers a chance to empathize with the characters; to feel the dilemmas, the triumphs, and the lows of the two lovers. The straightforward narrative of the gods’ featurette is a surreal swirl of ideas that weaves the reader through the tale.