... a perfect slice of Koreana; a touching, somewhat depressive narrative full of nostalgia that shows the underbelly of a nation through the life of characters inhabiting society's bottom rung ... suffused with a subdued sense of nihilism that comes from being poor and having no viable options ... Sok-yong brilliantly shows the ennui young South Koreans are forced into by the system ... a superb look at South Korea filtered through a variety of lenses ... By offering such an array of narratives and framing them within the politics and culture of Korea, Sok-yong proves once again that fiction can be the best way to tell devastating truths.
A regretful, bittersweet exploration of modernisation, which picks away at the country’s past and present, slowly becoming a moving reflection of what we gain and lose as individuals and a society in the name of progress ... Sora Kim-Russell’s translation becomes a real virtue as the build-up of anecdotes and memories from Minwoo’s past gradually layer into a powerful yet modest and profound meditation on personal responsibility and what a fulfilled life might mean ... never trips over into nostalgia or sentimentality ... [Sok-yong's] writing is laced with the hard-won wisdom of a man with plenty left to say.
Points of view alternate in Hwang’s brilliantly executed novella nesting story within story—each with the perfect amount of exposition topped with vivid specificity ... Hwang gives voice to the powerless. (In a stunning scene that must have scarred Black Shirt forever, a teenager protests his family’s forced eviction by charging headfirst into the still-swinging metal arms of an excavator that has come to demolish their home.) ... When the clicking into place of disparate narratives finally occurs—which it does all the more satisfyingly for being very late, the unassuming 29-year-old is exposed as the true agent of this novella. Even if she has to resort to catfishing Park, she is determined to play out Cha’s unfinished love story. By so doing, she materializes an audience for only one of the many neglected voices that have been swept under the rug of history.
Gently told ... The book is on the verge of something, and despite the gentle care in Hwang’s storytelling, there is an urgency to his words. Dusk is a short-lived time of reflection when pink clouds split the dying sunlight. Aptly named, At Dusk is made up of this gorgeous setting light as Minwoo pauses to look around at a Seoul he no longer recognises; just enough time to take it all in before everything goes dark.
Highly engaging ... The reader does not need to be au fait with South Korea’s post-second-world-war history to enjoy this novel ... Hwang has written this novel in a charming conversational style while still allowing for the distinctive voices of the three central characters ... Hwang makes it easy to identify with each of his characters – we feel their pain and share in their happiness. and forgive their mistakes and misunderstandings. And as they share their past with us, we gain a better understanding of the social and political background of the times and the day-by-day lives of South Korean people.
Not exactly nostalgic, Minwoo's narrative is a deep dive into the rough years of growing up in that hardscrabble neighborhood -- and the transitions in South Korean life and society over those years ... leaves just enough questions open ... effectively presents the rapid change of South Korean life and society, with Minwoo covering decades of change -- and both those who were successful, and those got left behind or fell by the wayside along the way -- while Woohee's story is more limited to the near-present-day. The episodes from their lives that are highlighted -- some barely more than incidental-seeming -- work well, as Hwang mostly doesn't force the issues too much. It makes for a solid portrait of changing times and society, with a number of strong characters as examples, most notably the two very different narrators.
... quietly probing ... The disappointed, lonely, middle-aged, middle-class man is hardly rare in fiction, but the manner in which Hwang Sok-yong allows us to grow our understanding of his main character gives the novel much of its appeal ... intriguing.
... indelibly, adroitly anglophoned by Seoul-based Kim-Russell ... A piercing modern tale about all we can never know about our loved ones and ourselves.
Minwoo's reexamination of his past serves as a reminder of the communities destroyed in the search for a better, more modern Korea, the lives disrupted and displaced, and the people left behind ... Subtly political, deeply humane, a story about home, loss, and the cost of a country's advancement.
