City of ash and red : a novel

Originally published in Korea as Jaewa Ppalgang in 2010 by Changbi Publishers For fans of J. G. Ballard & early Ian McEwan, a tense psychological thriller & Kafkaesque parable by the author of The Hole―called “an airtight masterpiece” by the Korean Economic Daily. Distinguished for his talents as a rat killer, the nameless protagonist of Hye-young Pyun's City of Ash & Red is sent by the extermination company he works for on an extended assignment in C, a country descending into chaos & paranoia, swept by a contagious disease, & flooded with trash. No sooner does he disembark than he is whisked away by quarantine officials & detained overnight. Isolated & forgotten, he realizes that he is stranded with no means of contacting the outside world. Still worse, when he finally manages to reach an old friend, he is told that his ex-wife's body was found in his apartment & he is the prime suspect. Barely managing to escape arrest, he must struggle to survive in the streets of this foreign city gripped with fear of contamination & reestablish contact with his company & friends in order to clear his reputation.But as the man's former life slips further & further from his grasp, & he looks back on his time with his wife, it becomes clear that he may not quite be who he seems. City of Ash & Red is an apocalyptic account of the destructive impact of fear & paranoia on people's lives as well as a haunting novel about a man’s loss of himself & his humanity. Hye-young Pyun (b. 1972) earned her undergraduate degree in creative writing & graduate degree in Korean literature from Hanyang University.Sora Kim-Russell is a literary translator based in Seoul. Her recent publications: Kim Un-su’s The Plotters & Hwang Sok-yong’s At Dusk. She has taught literary translation at the Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference, Literatur NAMED AN NPR 2018 GREAT READ For fans of J. G. Ballard and early Ian McEwan, a tense psychological thriller and Kafkaesque parable by the 2017 Shirley Jackson Award winner?called "an airtight masterpiece" by the Korean Economic Daily . Distinguished for his talents as a rat killer, the nameless protagonist of Hye-young Pyun's City of Ash and Red is sent by the extermination company he works for on an extended assignment in C, a country descending into chaos and paranoia, swept by a contagious disease, and flooded with trash. No sooner does he disembark than he is whisked away by quarantine officials and detained overnight. Isolated and forgotten, he realizes that he is stranded with no means of contacting the outside world. Still worse, when he finally manages to reach an old friend, he is told that his ex-wife's body was found in his apartment and he is the prime suspect. Barely managing to escape arrest, he must struggle to survive in the streets of this foreign city gripped with fear of contamination and reestablish contact with his company and friends in order to clear his reputation. But as the man's former life slips further and further from his grasp, and he looks back on his time with his wife, it becomes clear that he may not quite be who he seems. From the bestselling author of The Hole , City of Ash and Red is an apocalyptic account of the destructive impact of fear and paranoia on people's lives as well as a haunting novel about a man's loss of himself and his humanity "For fans of J. G. Ballard and early Ian McEwan, a tense psychological thriller and Kafkaesque parable by the author of The Hole--called 'an airtight masterpiece' by the Korean Economic Daily. Distinguished for his talents as a rat killer, the nameless protagonist of Hye-young Pyun's City of Ash and Red is sent by the extermination company he works for on an extended assignment in C, a country descending into chaos and paranoia, swept by a contagious disease, and flooded with trash. No sooner does he disembark than he is whisked away by quarantine officials and detained overnight. Isolated and forgotten, he realizes that he is stranded with no means of contacting the outside world. Still worse, when he finally manages to reach an old friend, he is told that his ex-wife's body was found in his apartment and he is the prime suspect. Barely managing to escape arrest, he must struggle to survive in the streets of this foreign city gripped with fear of contamination and reestablish contact with his company and friends in order to clear his reputation. But as the man's former life slips further and further from his grasp, and he looks back on his time with his wife, it becomes clear that he may not quite be who he seems. From the bestselling author of The Hole, City of Ash and Red is an apocalyptic account of the destructive impact of fear and paranoia on people's lives as well as a haunting novel about a man's loss of himself and his humanity"-- Provided by publisher NAMED AN NPR GREAT READ OF 2018 From the Shirley Jackson Award–winning author of The Hole , a Kafkaesque tale of crime and punishment hailed by Korea's Wall Street Journal as "an airtight masterpiece." Distinguished for his talents as a rat killer, the nameless protagonist of Hye-young Pyun's City of Ash and Red is sent by the extermination company he works for on an extended assignment in C, a country descending into chaos and paranoia, swept by a contagious disease, and flooded with trash. No sooner does he disembark than he is whisked away by quarantine officials and detained overnight. Isolated and forgotten, he realizes that he is stranded with no means of contacting the outside world. Still worse, when he finally manages to reach an old friend, he is told that his ex-wife's body was found in his apartment and he is the prime suspect. Barely managing to escape arrest, he must struggle to survive in the streets of this foreign city gripped with fear of contamination and reestablish contact with his company and friends in order to clear his reputation. But as the man's former life slips further and further from his grasp, and he looks back on his time with his wife, it becomes clear that he may not quite be who he seems. From the bestselling author of The Hole , City of Ash and Red is an apocalyptic account of the destructive impact of fear and paranoia on people's lives as well as a haunting novel about a man's loss of himself and his humanity. For fans of J. G. Ballard and early Ian McEwan, a tense psychological thriller and Kafkaesque parable by the author of The Hole—called "an airtight masterpiece" by the Korean Economic Daily. Distinguished for his talents as a rat killer, the nameless protagonist of Hye-young Pyun's Ashes and Red is sent by the extermination company he works for on an extended assignment to the headquarters in C, a country descending into chaos and paranoia, swept by a contagious disease and with garbage collecting on the streets. No sooner does he disembark than he is whisked away by quarantine officials and detained overnight. Isolated and forgotten, he realizes that he is stranded with no means of contacting the outside world. Still worse, when he finally manages to reach an old friend he is told that his ex-wife's body was found in his apartment and he is the prime suspect. Barely managing to escape arrest, he must struggle among the rat-infested, garbage-filled...