구멍놀이 친구

I think the best thing about this book is how useful it is for learners: the simple grammar and everyday vocabulary make it ideal if you're looking for native material that's relatively easy to understand (though you may have to look up some onomatopoeia and words relating to nature). If you just want reading material for practice and aren't particularly bothered about the plot, this is a great book to start building some reading stamina.

However, I felt that the story itself was lacking - there is potential, but the way elements are put together makes the narrative seem fractured and unfocused.

The main character, 세아, is a young girl who goes on a trip to 제주도 with her mother to visit her grandmother (할머니) and great-grandmother (왕할머니), where she discovers a secret world when she peers through a whole in a stone wall. 세아 shares her discovery with 왕할머니, who enjoys listening to her great-granddaughter's adventures. Before she returns home, 세아 asks 왕할머니 not to become a star (a euphemism for dying), and 왕할머니 pinky promises.

I took the worlds 세아 visits to be imaginative manifestations of her feelings: 노란 나라 is a reflection of her excitement to be surrounded by the beauty of nature, and the happiness of being with 할머니 and 왕할머니; 바다 나라 shows her wonder regarding 왕할머니's role as a 해녀(海女) and 세아's desire to become closer to 왕할머니, whom she deeply admires; and the incident with the 상어 emerges from her anxiety about losing her 90-year-old great-grandmother.

The shared secret of the 구멍 나라 deepens the bond between 세아 and 왕할머니. After her adventure in the sea, 세아 is determined that she will learn to swim when school starts back, to be as brave as her great-grandmother, but this gives rise to her fear that 왕할머니 won't survive to be able to see it.

These elements were interesting in and of themselves, but the story lacks a strong narrative to tie the themes together, so it feels messy. The pacing is inconsistent: 세아's adventures in 노란 나라 and 바다 나라 are followed by conversations with 왕할머니; the 상어 incident and the aftermath feels much briefer in comparison, then 왕할머니 tries to tell a story about 별나라 but 세아 stops her, and suddenly it's time for 세아 to leave. It felt uncomfortable to read, a bit like being in a vehicle that speeds up then unexpectedly brakes, over and over.

Then there were the parts that felt wasted, that could have been fleshed out to add depth to the story, but weren't: the mother and grandmother barely appeared and didn't play any great role; the natural setting was only explored through 세아's imagination; 왕할머니's experiences as a 해녀 were only mentioned in passing. It's frustrating, because the current story feels almost like an outline for a lengthier, more interesting book.

The author adds a bit at the end about how the story came to be, and certain parts are dissatisfyingly literal - the scene of 세아 looking through the hole in the stone wall and seeing a world of yellow flowers was just a memory from the writer's past which they built a weak story around (I suppose my interpretation of that part was off the mark).

Overall, a great resource to start practicing reading, but underwhelming (nay, disappointing) from an entertainment perspective.