Book Review: The White Book
Saanvi Luitel
Book Review: The White BookIntroductionThe White Book is not like any other book I have ever read. It is written by Han Kang, a Koreanauthor who also wrote a famous book called The Vegetarian. But this book is completelydifferent. It does not have a hero, a villain, a big fight, or even a normal story with a beginning,middle, and end. Instead, it is like reading someone’s very personal diary or a long, quiet poem.The writer makes a list of white things—snow, rice, a newborn baby’s gown, a shroud,moonlight, blank paper. But as she writes this list, she starts feeling a strange pain inside her.This book is about her trying to understand why white things make her feel both calm and deeplysad at the same time. I chose to read this book because I was curious. How can a color hold somuch grief? I wanted to understand why the writer could not stop thinking about the color white,even though it hurt her to do so.PlotYou cannot explain The White Book by saying "first this happened, then that happened." Thereis no single storyline. The book is divided into very short chapters, and each chapter is namedafter one white thing. The writer talks about swaddling bands that wrap around a newborn baby.She talks about the white rice cakes her mother made. She talks about a white dog she loved as achild. She talks about fog, snow, and white candles lit in memory of dead people.The most important and heartbreaking part of the book is the story of her mother. Her motherwas very young, only 22 years old. She was alone in a freezing cold house, far away from anyhospital. Her mother gave birth to a tiny baby girl who was two months early. The baby was sosmall, and the mother sewed a tiny white gown for her. But the baby lived for only two hours.She died on the cold kitchen floor.The writer was not even born yet when this happened. That baby girl was her older sister. Butthis death has haunted the writer her whole life. Throughout the book, she imagines that deadsister. She imagines what her sister would have felt, what she would have seen, and what shewould have said if she had lived. The book is not a story about a happy life. It is a story aboutliving with a ghost, about carrying a grief that belongs to someone else, and about trying to findpeace in the color white.Critical AnalysisAfter reading this book carefully, I realized the main theme is "White: A Shield or a Wound?"At first, white looks like a shield. White is clean. White is pure. White is a fresh start. When thewriter paints her rusty, scratched apartment door white, she is trying to cover up the ugliness. Shewants to hide the scars. White is her shield against the pain of her daily life. When she lists ricecakes and snow, she is trying to find comfort in calm, quiet things. White is her way of trying tofeel safe.But as I kept reading, I realized white is actually a deep, bleeding wound. In the book, white isthe color of a premature baby's tiny gown. But that baby died, and the white gown became adeath shroud. White is the color of snow. But in a war movie the writer watches, the bombed cityis covered in white ashes from destroyed buildings. It looks like snow, but it is actually the dustof death. White is the color of the fog. But the fog hides the ghosts of the past, making the writerfeel trapped and claustrophobic.This is the painful truth of the book. White is not just a nice, peaceful color. For the writer, whiteis the color of death, of loss, and of loneliness. She wants to wrap herself in white to feel safe,but it suffocates her because it reminds her of everything she has lost.The most powerful example is the "Moon-shaped Rice Cake". In Korean culture, rice cakes areshaped like crescent moons and are white before they are cooked. They are beautiful, soft, andpure. But when they are cooked, they change. The writer realizes her dead sister was like thatuncooked rice cake. She was perfect, pure, and innocent. But she never got to "cook" in life. Shewas taken away before she could grow up. This simple food item carries the weight of a wholelife that never happened. It broke my heart to read that.The book also teaches us that grief can be inherited. The writer feels sad for a sister she nevermet. She carries her mother's trauma. She imagines the baby's last moments, her mother's tears,and the silence of that cold kitchen. It shows us that pain does not just end when someone dies. Itpasses down, like a heavy invisible backpack, to the next generation.There is something very unique at the end of this book that I have never seen in any other bookbefore. The writer leaves several completely blank white pages. At first, I was confused. Ithought maybe my copy was printed wrong. But then I understood.The writer has poured all her words, all her tears, and all her trauma onto the previous pages. Shehas written about her dead sister, her mother’s pain, the war, the fog, and the white ash. She hasgiven everything she had. By the time she reaches the end, she has no words left. She is empty.Those blank pages are not a printing mistake. They are a message. She is saying: "I have toldyou everything. Now, you carry the rest. Feel what I have felt. Sit in this silence with me." It is asign of extreme trauma. When someone has cried so much that they cannot speak, their silencesays more than any words ever could. Those blank white pages represent the emptiness of loss. Itwas such a powerful and emotional moment for me. I just stared at those empty pages for a longtime, feeling her pain.ConclusionWhen I finished The White Book, I did not feel happy. I felt quiet. I felt heavy. But I also feltgrateful. This book taught me that everyone carries invisible pain. Sometimes, we look at peopleand think they are fine, but inside, they are living with ghosts and memories. The writer taughtme that we do not have to run away from our sadness. We can sit with it, write it down, and try tounderstand it.The book ended by saying: "Now I will give you white things... No longer will I questionwhether I should give this life to you." This gave me a strange peace. The writer finally acceptedher grief. She accepted her dead sister. She accepted her trauma. And she decided to give thatlife—her life—to the readers. She is not hiding anymore. She is sharing her story, even if it ispainful. It taught me that accepting our sadness is the first step towards healing.RecommendationI strongly recommend The White Book to anyone who loves poetry, deep thoughts, and booksthat make you feel strong emotions. If you like to think about life, death, and family, you willlove this book. But I have to be honest: this is not a light, happy read. If you only like actionmovies, superheroes, or fast-paced stories, this book will feel very slow and confusing. Youcannot rush through this book. You have to read it slowly, sentence by sentence, like you aresipping hot tea on a rainy day.I would also recommend this book to someone who is going through a tough time, maybe feelingsad or lonely. Reading it will make you feel like you are not alone. The writer understands pain.She is sitting right next to you, silently telling you that it is okay to hurt, and it is okay to cry.For me, The White Book deserves 4.5 out of 5 stars. I am taking away half a star only becausesometimes the chapters jumped so much that I felt a little lost. But honestly, the emotions I feltwhile reading this book are worth more than a perfect star rating. It is a book I will never forget.
