16 Top fiction books like The White Book by Han Kang

Cover of The White Book by Han Kang

The White Book

By: Han Kang

3.81

Format: 160 pages, Hardcover

Shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize From Booker Prize-winner and literary p…

"Now and then, the passage of time seems acutely apparent. Physical pain always sharpens the awareness."

-Han Kang, The White Book

"This life needed only one of us to live it. If you had lived beyond those first few hours, I would not be living now. My life means yours is impossible."

-Han Kang, The White Book

"And she frequently forgot, That her body (all our bodies) is a house of sand. That it shattered and is shattering still. Slipping stubbornly through fingers."

-Han Kang, The White Book

"There is none of us whom life regards with any partiality. Sleet falls as she walks these streets, holding this knowledge inside her. Sleet that leaves cheeks and eyebrows heavy with moisture. Everything passes."

-Han Kang, The White Book

If you liked the fiction plot in The White Book by Han Kang , here is a list of 16 books like this:

Cover of Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus

1. Kitchen

By: Banana Yoshimoto , Megan Backus

3.66

Format: 296 pages,

Banana Yoshimoto's novels have made her a sensation in Japan and all over the world, and Kitchen, t… read more

Similar categories in Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • short stories
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
Cover of Bluets by Maggie Nelson

2. Bluets

By: Maggie Nelson

4.22

Format: 72 pages, Paperback

Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color... A lyrical, philosophica… read more

Similar categories in Maggie Nelson's Bluets book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • essays
  • contemporary

3. I Have the Right to Destroy Myself

By: None , Chi-Young Kim

4.06

Format: None pages, Paperback

I don't encourage murder. I have no interest in one person killing another. I only want to draw out… read more

Similar categories in None's I Have the Right to Destroy Myself book and Han Kang's The White Book

4. Modern Family

By: None , None

4.34

Format: None pages, Paperback

Forty-year-old In-mo, a movie director who's been jobless for the past decade decides to move in wi… read more

Similar categories in None's Modern Family book and Han Kang's The White Book

5. 82년생 김지영

By: None

4.17

Format: 267 pages, Hardcover

read more

Similar categories in None's 82년생 김지영 book and Han Kang's The White Book

Cover of Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories by Cho Nam-Joo

6. Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories

By: Cho Nam-Joo

3.72

Format: 223 pages, Paperback

Eight women. Eight stories. One reality. A woman is born. A woman is filmed in public without c… read more

Similar categories in Cho Nam-Joo's Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • short stories
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
  • audiobook
"W samochodzie Seunghun podziękował mi i kilka razy poprosił, żebym jak najczęściej przyjeżdżała do Geumju. Chciałam zapytać, czy jej dzieci, czyli jego mama oraz ciocie i wujkowie, często do niej wpa…"

-Cho Nam-Joo, Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories

"– Ale rzecz w tym, że nie wyobrażam sobie świata bez babci. Nie liczę na cud. Po prostu chcę, żeby żyła. – Seunghun, ja chyba bym tego nie chciała na jej miejscu. Życie nie ma sensu, gdy nie można ni…"

-Cho Nam-Joo, Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories

Cover of Idol, Burning by Rin Usami

7. Idol, Burning

By: Rin Usami

3.23

Format: 144 pages, Hardcover

The novel that lit the Japanese publishing world on fire: From a breathtaking up-and-coming writer,… read more

Similar categories in Rin Usami's Idol, Burning book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
  • audiobook
"His existence and my witnessing of it were all I asked for."

-Rin Usami, Idol, Burning

"Maybe that was how a home broke down over the years, as the sound of doors slamming and chairs roughly scraping the floor built up like dust, and the slow drip of gnashing teeth and resentful grumbli…"

-Rin Usami, Idol, Burning

"Idol groups generally assigned each member an official color, which would be used for the light sticks that fans would hold up to show your support at a performance or for other individual merch. My …"

-Rin Usami, Idol, Burning

Cover of All the Lovers in the Night by Mieko Kawakami

8. All the Lovers in the Night

By: Mieko Kawakami

3.72

Format: 224 pages, Hardcover

Fuyuko Irie is a freelance copy editor in her mid-thirties. Working and living alone in a city wher… read more

Similar categories in Mieko Kawakami's All the Lovers in the Night book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
  • audiobook
"It only took me a couple of hours to realise that she was a woman of talents beyond anything I could imagine - even though I was a stranger to such talents myself."

-Mieko Kawakami, All the Lovers in the Night

"The light at night is special because the overwhelming light of day has left us, and the remaining half draws on everything it has to keep the world around us bright."

-Mieko Kawakami, All the Lovers in the Night

"When I felt sleepy I slept, and when I opened my eyes I got up, letting hunger dictate when to head to the fridge or kitchen cabinet to eat some of the things that I'd stocked up on. When supplies ra…"

-Mieko Kawakami, All the Lovers in the Night

"When I felt sleepy I slept, and when I opened my eyes I got up, letting hunger dictate when to head to the fridge or kitchen cabinet to eat some of the things that I'd stocked up on. When supplies ra…"

-Mieko Kawakami, All the Lovers in the Night

Cover of Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

9. Cursed Bunny

By: Bora Chung

3.78

Format: 251 pages, Paperback

Cursed Bunny is a genre-defying collection of short stories by Korean author Bora Chung. Blurring t… read more

Similar categories in Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • short stories
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
"Her husband had pursued an “alternative lifestyle"

-Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny

"One can break the curse, but it is impossible to cure their blindness from greed. They were always ready to wage another war"

-Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny

"But there I remained, standing in the bathroom, waiting for someone to miraculously find me, to release me from my ties to this life."

-Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny

"Once you experience a terrible trauma and understand the world from an extreme perspective, it is difficult to overcome this perspective. Because your very survival depends on it."

-Bora Chung, Cursed Bunny

Cover of Heaven by Mieko Kawakami

10. Heaven

By: Mieko Kawakami

3.80

Format: 192 pages, Hardcover

Hailed as a bold foray into new literary territory, Kawakami’s novel is told in the voice of a 14-y… read more

Similar categories in Mieko Kawakami's Heaven book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • audiobook
"Karena kau selalu dilukai, kau sungguh-sungguh memahami seperti apakah orang terluka."

-Mieko Kawakami, Heaven

"The more I looked at it, the less it seemed like something for a house. More like a tiny gravestone."

-Mieko Kawakami, Heaven

"You think about how other people feel. You're so kind. It makes sense. Because we're always in pain, we know exactly what it means to hurt somebody else."

-Mieko Kawakami, Heaven

"People are always dying. It's a perfect truth. No matter how we live our lives, we all die, sooner or later. In which case, living is really just waiting to die."

-Mieko Kawakami, Heaven

Cover of Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum

11. Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop

By: Hwang Bo-Reum

4.02

Format: 307 pages, Hardcover

Yeongju is burned out. With her high-­flying career, demanding marriage, and busy life in Seoul, sh… read more

Similar categories in Hwang Bo-Reum's Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Why? Because we only get one shot in life, and we're living it now."

-Hwang Bo-Reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop

"A life surrounded by good people is a successful life. It might not be success as defined by society, but thanks to the people around you, each day is a successful day."

-Hwang Bo-Reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop

"A life surrounded by good people is a successful life. It might not be success as defined by society, but thanks to the people around you, each day is a successful day'."

-Hwang Bo-Reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop

"A life surrounded by good people is a successful life. It might not be a success as defined by society, but thanks to the people around you, each day is a successful day."

-Hwang Bo-Reum, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop

Cover of Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

12. Minor Detail

By: Adania Shibli

4.20

Format: 144 pages, Paperback

Minor Detail begins during the summer of 1949, one year after the war that the Palestinians mourn a… read more

Similar categories in Adania Shibli's Minor Detail book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Man, not the tank, shall prevail."

-Adania Shibli, Minor Detail

"Não há como descartar a probabilidade de uma conexão entre os dois fatos, ou alguma ligação oculta entre eles, por analogia às relações que os seres humanos encontram entre as plantas, por exemplo, q…"

-Adania Shibli, Minor Detail

"Desde que tive ciência da minha incapacidade consumada de me mover de acordo com os limites, resolvi, finalmente, permanecer dentro dos limites da minha casa, tanto quanto possível. Agora, uma vez qu…"

-Adania Shibli, Minor Detail

"Toch zijn er mensen die in die logica − dus dat je je concentreert op de meest futiele details zoals stof op een bureau of vliegenpoepjes op een schilderij − de enige manier zien om de waarheid te do…"

-Adania Shibli, Minor Detail

Cover of Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi

13. Diary of a Void

By: Emi Yagi

3.51

Format: 213 pages, Hardcover

A prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about a woman in Japan who avoids harassment at … read more

Similar categories in Emi Yagi's Diary of a Void book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • audiobook
"Having a baby isn't easy. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's been two thousand years, and it's the same old story, right?"

-Emi Yagi, Diary of a Void

"I'm always so alone. I guess I should be used to it by now. That's the way it is from the moment we come into this world, but I'm still not used to it - how alone we all are."

-Emi Yagi, Diary of a Void

"Maybe that's making a family is all about: creating an environment in which people make space for one another - maybe without even trying, just naturally, to make sure that nobody's forgotten."

-Emi Yagi, Diary of a Void

"Until they arrived, while everyone else was transitioning to winter, putting on coats and sweaters, I was going to stick with my summer dress and my usual work blazer. Dressed in the dazzling flowers…"

-Emi Yagi, Diary of a Void

Cover of The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto

14. The Premonition

By: Banana Yoshimoto

3.43

Format: 133 pages, Hardcover

The internationally beloved author of Kitchen and Dead-End Memories returns with a beautiful and he… read more

Similar categories in Banana Yoshimoto's The Premonition book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • short stories
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
"I'd never known a love before that could blot out the world around like this."

-Banana Yoshimoto, The Premonition

"Later, for the first time in a very long time, I heard my aunt play the piano. Its tone was soft, and just like I remembered it. At the kitchen window one overcast afternoon, I watched its beautiful …"

-Banana Yoshimoto, The Premonition

Cover of I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki by Baek Se-hee

15. I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

By: Baek Se-hee

3.28

Format: 232 pages, Paperback

The South Korean runaway bestseller, debut author Baek Sehee's intimate therapy memoir, as recommen… read more

Similar categories in Baek Se-hee's I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • asia
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Togetherness means altruism, and altruism is what saves us from selfishness."

-Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

"For example, when you’re co-dependent on your partner you resent them, but when you leave your partner, you feel anxious and bereft."

-Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

"Fear increases when it's something that you keep to yourself. Instead of suffering alone, it can often be good to share it with someone else."

-Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

"What matters isn't what people say but what you like and find joy in. I hope you focus less on how you look to other people and more on fulfilling your true desires."

-Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

Cover of Almond by Sohn Won-Pyung

16. Almond

By: Sohn Won-Pyung

4.16

Format: 272 pages, Hardcover

This story is, in short, about a monster meeting another monster.  One of the monsters is me. … read more

Similar categories in Sohn Won-Pyung's Almond book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
  • audiobook
"We have to be tougher in this tough world."

-Sohn Won-Pyung, Almond

"Can the word "love" be thrown around so casually like that?"

-Sohn Won-Pyung, Almond

"I drifted off to sleep only at daybreak when the sky turned sapphire."

-Sohn Won-Pyung, Almond

"You're basically a blank canvas. Better to fill it up with good things rather than bad things."

-Sohn Won-Pyung, Almond

Cover of The White Book by Han Kang

17. The White Book

By: Han Kang

3.81

Format: 160 pages, Hardcover

Shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize From Booker Prize-winner and literary p… read more

Similar categories in Han Kang's The White Book book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • poetry
  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • short stories
  • essays
  • fiction
  • asian literature
  • contemporary
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Now and then, the passage of time seems acutely apparent. Physical pain always sharpens the awareness."

-Han Kang, The White Book

"This life needed only one of us to live it. If you had lived beyond those first few hours, I would not be living now. My life means yours is impossible."

-Han Kang, The White Book

"And she frequently forgot, That her body (all our bodies) is a house of sand. That it shattered and is shattering still. Slipping stubbornly through fingers."

-Han Kang, The White Book

"There is none of us whom life regards with any partiality. Sleet falls as she walks these streets, holding this knowledge inside her. Sleet that leaves cheeks and eyebrows heavy with moisture. Everyt…"

-Han Kang, The White Book

Cover of Concerning My Daughter by Hye-Jin Kim

18. Concerning My Daughter

By: Hye-Jin Kim

3.71

Format: 176 pages, Paperback

When an ageing mother allows her thirty-something daughter to move into her apartment, she wants fo… read more

Similar categories in Hye-Jin Kim's Concerning My Daughter book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Ir abrindo mão das coisas de que gostamos. Essa é a definição do verbo envelhecer."

-Hye-Jin Kim, Concerning My Daughter

"That child who sprang from my own flesh and blood is perhaps the creature I'm most distant from."

-Hye-Jin Kim, Concerning My Daughter

"Ela estudou tanto que, não tendo mais o que estudar, foi aprender o que não devia. Por exemplo: como negar o mundo, como ir contra o mundo."

-Hye-Jin Kim, Concerning My Daughter

"It's not my fault. It's not your fault. It's no one's fault. If we keep telling ourselves that, then who should all the victims of the world go to for their apology?"

-Hye-Jin Kim, Concerning My Daughter

Cover of Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin

19. Winter in Sokcho

By: Elisa Shua Dusapin

3.56

Format: 154 pages, Paperback

As if Marguerite Duras wrote Convenience Store Woman - a beautiful, unexpected novel from a debut F… read more

Similar categories in Elisa Shua Dusapin's Winter in Sokcho book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
"The rain hammered down, the sea rising beneath it in spikes like the spines of a sea urchin."

-Elisa Shua Dusapin, Winter in Sokcho

"How do you know when a story is done?" "My character reaches a point when I know he has a life of his own. I can let him go."

-Elisa Shua Dusapin, Winter in Sokcho

"How do you know when a story is done?’ ‘My character reaches a point when I know he has a life of his own. I can let him go."

-Elisa Shua Dusapin, Winter in Sokcho

Cover of Shoko's Smile: Stories by Choi Eunyoung

20. Shoko's Smile: Stories

By: Choi Eunyoung

3.94

Format: 272 pages, Paperback

A bestselling and award-winning debut collection from one of South Korea's most prominent young wri… read more

Similar categories in Choi Eunyoung's Shoko's Smile: Stories book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • short stories
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
"We should distinguish love from affection."

-Choi Eunyoung, Shoko's Smile: Stories

"I wish you the blessing of oblivion, and that you will find the strength to exist moment by moment."

-Choi Eunyoung, Shoko's Smile: Stories

"Film, art in general, only revealed it’s true face to hardworking geniuses, not hardworking mediocrities."

-Choi Eunyoung, Shoko's Smile: Stories

"Time passes, people leave, we become alone again. If we don't accept that fact, memory erodes the present and exhausts the mind until it ages us and ails us."

-Choi Eunyoung, Shoko's Smile: Stories

Cover of Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah

21. Untold Night and Day

By: Bae Suah

3.49

Format: 160 pages, Hardcover

A seductive, disorienting novel that manipulates the fragile line between dreams and reality, by So… read more

Similar categories in Bae Suah's Untold Night and Day book and Han Kang's The White Book

  • poetry
  • literary fiction
  • asia
  • fiction
  • contemporary
  • asian literature
  • adult
"In life there are wounds that like leprosy slowly eat away at the soul in solitude."

-Bae Suah, Untold Night and Day

"The door swung back so suddenly it severed them from their shadows, which were left behind like dark ghosts."

-Bae Suah, Untold Night and Day

"Whatever the intention or aim of the photographer, every photograph is a unique proof of identify, firmly declaring that human beings are ghosts."

-Bae Suah, Untold Night and Day

"Whatever the intention or aim of the photographer, Wolfi thought, every photograph is a unique proof of identity, firmly declaring that human beings are ghosts."

-Bae Suah, Untold Night and Day

18 best-selling contemporary books like The White Book by Han Kang

Transform Your Habits

Kitchen

Banana Yoshimoto , Megan Backus

3.66

Transform Your Habits

Bluets

Maggie Nelson

4.22

Transform Your Habits

Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories

Cho Nam-Joo

3.72

Transform Your Habits

Idol, Burning

Rin Usami

3.23

View all the books

19 best-selling fiction books like Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah

Transform Your Habits

Ms Ice Sandwich

Mieko Kawakami , Louise Heal Kawai

3.78

Transform Your Habits

Human Acts

Han Kang , Deborah Smith

4.37

Transform Your Habits

Greek Lessons

Han Kang

3.47

Transform Your Habits

Idol, Burning

Rin Usami

3.23

View all the books

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