Private Life of Plants [Paperback]

The Private Life of Plantsis about the ways in which desire can both worsen and mitigate our flaws. We meet amputee sons whose mothers cart them from brothel to brothel; we meet brothers who love their brother's lovers, and whose lovers in turn are stolen away by the husbands of their sisters. Sexuality in all its ugliness and wonder is put under the microscope by Lee Seung-U, who reminds us that love may come in various forms, but that it is, nonetheless, a force that unifies us all . . . whether we like it or not. 'All trees are incarnations of frustrated love.' So avers this beguiling novel by the writer whom J.M. Clezio has called Korea???s most likely Nobel Prize contender....Almost certainly the oddest love story you???ll have read in a long time. Think of Murakami drifting into the lands of Borges and Kafka, and you???ll have some of the feel of this strange, enchanting tale. -Kirkus Reviews(Starred Review)