그들이 떨어뜨린 것

This short story collection caught my interest on a blog where it had been highly recommended and described as being used in high school literature classes.

Each story focuses on a teenager and what’s going on in their lives— they are usually facing some sort of crisis or problem. The overarching theme of “what they dropped” is seen in each one. Each story also has a short 해설 by the author, explaining her inspiration or takeaways she wished the readers understood. These were my favorite parts— some stories did not interest me at all (e.g. the girl who REALLY wanted a certain pair of jeans, but no one understood her~~!), but I always enjoyed the author’s thoughts.

This was also not the easy read I thought it would be. Some stories were easier than others, but they included a lot of specific verbs, adjectives, and adverbs I’d never seen before. Reading this as a ebook with lookups made it fine to read, but I may have DNFd if it were a paperback lol. The situations the characters find themselves in aren’t complicated though, it’s more of their internal monologue.

I highly highly recommend the first short story in which a teacher tells a story to his students. It recalls his time in Gwangju during the Gwangju Massacre/Uprising. I totally cried and thought it was a great story, especially including the author’s note. The other short stories paled in comparison.

The other stories are as follows: A girl finds herself able to see a fuzzy creature following her around…but no one else can see it. Somehow, she’s not afraid. A girl with a disability/disease that makes others avoid her, finds herself writing a ‘book of curses’. A girl struggles with the fact that her parents don’t understand her true desires. And a boy attempts to take his own life, but fails.

The stories may leave you with a heavy heart, but I think teenagers and anyone who has been a teenager would be able to empathize with their stories in someway.