With the Heart of a Ghost

A ghost reflects one’s feelings, a jellyfish longs for a life she never lived, and estranged friends share homemade meals in a busy city. With the Heart of a Ghost: Stories offers moving, heartfelt reflections on loss, grief, and personal transformation.

This debut short-story collection by South Korean author Lim Sunwoo, translated by Chi-Young Kim, includes eight stories centered on characters living in cities where genuine connection can be difficult to find. Yet each story shows how people continue to seek understanding, comfort, and belonging despite loneliness and emotional distance. Through small, everyday moments, the book reveals unexpected joy, tenderness, and clarity.

With touches of fantasy and magic, the collection opens a window into the emotional lives of its characters. It explores the lengths people will go to in order to avoid pain or sadness, while also showing how grief can lead to self-awareness and a deeper human connection. I especially appreciated the book’s emotional depth. Sunwoo shares the minute details of her character’s everyday lives – from the ordinariness of their daily routines to the heaviness of unspoken frustrations.

As a Filipino American grappling with the discontents of life in the diaspora, I read the book through a decolonial lens. Set in Seoul and other parts of Korea, this translated work offers a small but meaningful window into the loneliness of modern existence.