In her new novel, bestselling Korean author Cho Nam-Joo dissects the life of a young woman after all her dreams are shattered.
Mani believes that someone who has never had to wear a squat toilet has no right to comment on life. She is in her mid-30s and lives in one of the poorest districts of Seoul, one of the typical “moon districts”. The little houses stand on steep hills and are very close to the moon.
It’s teeming with families, every room is full of people. When someone is cooking somewhere, you can smell it in the neighboring houses. Mani’s childhood dream was to become a gymnast; her role model is the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci, who was the first to achieve the highest score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games. Mani wants to become an Olympic champion and marry a man with a flush toilet – but things turn out differently. Her life flows past her. When we meet Mani, her dream is buried. Mani has no children, which is shameful anyway, and she also loses her job.