Blair's Reviews > The White Book

This short book is structured as a series of meditations on 'white things', from snow and white birds to the more abstract: silence; spirit; the concept of 'laughing whitely', a Korean phrase which describes forced, mirthless laughter. The narrator is living in an unfamiliar country, where she knows little of the language, and finds herself reflecting on the brief life and death of her sister – a baby her mother delivered herself at the age of 22; a child who lived for mere moments. The narrator wanders an unnamed city, trying to see the world through the eyes of a sister she never knew. At their best, the bite-sized chapters are striking and moving; at their weakest, they read like Instagram poetry. I found The White Book too ambient to have any lasting effect on me, though it contains many moments of quiet beauty.

TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr