In âa spectacular display of intelligence and feelingâ (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Paul Yoonâs collection of short stories ranges throughout the worldâfrom the Hudson Valley to the Russian Far Eastâacross periods of time after World War II, hailed as a "genuine work of art...tough and elegant and true" (The Boston Globe).
In The Mountain, award-winning and acclaimed author Paul Yoon reveals his subtle, ethereal, and strikingly observant style with six thematically linked stories, taking place across several continents and time periods and populated with characters who are connected by their traumatic pasts, newly vagrant lives, and quests for solace in their futures. Though they exist in their own distinct worlds (from a sanatorium in the Hudson Valley to an inn in the Russian far east) they are united by the struggle to reconcile their traumatic pasts in the wake of violence, big and small, spiritual and corporeal. A morphine-addicted nurse wanders through the decimated French countryside in search of purpose; a dissatisfied wife sporadically takes a train across Spain with a much younger man in the wake of a building explosion; a lost young woman emigrates from Korea to Shanghai, where she aimlessly works in a camera sweat shop, trying fruitlessly to outrun the ghosts of her past.
In this "fantastic collection" (Los Angeles Times), âPaul Yoonâs dazzling use of wordplay, pacing, and the quiet authenticity of his charactersâŚmakes him one of the most evocative writers working todayâ (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). With The Mountain, âYoon proves himself a literary alchemist, transforming tragedy into beauty with deft reminders of our universal connectionsâŚJoining such luminaries as Jhumpa Lahiri, Junot DĂaz, and Alice Munro, Yoon has undoubtedly earned membership in the exclusive coterie of todayâs finest writers of the short formâ (Library Journal, starred review).