The White Book by Han Kang

Is one of your goals for 2025 to read more? There are lots of strategies for easing back into reading if it’s a habit you’ve shelved for a while. One is to start with a short book…

Enter The White Book by Han Kang. It’s a minimalist’s dream, filled with lots of white space that allows the piece to breathe, yet each word on the page feels purposeful. Based on the death of the author’s sister who died moments after birth and artfully centered around the colour white, it’s a contemplative book that reads like a poem. Reading it feels like a multilayered meditation with many lines that pull you back in for a second moment of contemplation.

Best known for her novel The Vegetarian, Han Kang was recently awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. Have you read any works by this author?