Walking Practice
Books | Fiction / Literary
3.5
Dolki Min
Squid Game meets The Left Hand of Darkness meets Under the Skin in this radical literary sensation from South Korea about an alien's hunt for food that transforms into an existential crisis about what it means to be human.After crashing their spacecraft in the middle of nowhere, a shapeshifting alien find themself stranded on an unfamiliar planet and disabled by Earth’s gravity. To survive, they will need to practice walking. And what better way than to hunt for food? As they discover, humans are delicious.Intelligent, clever, and adaptable, the alien shift their gender, appearance, and conduct to suit a prey’s sexual preference, then attack at the pivotal moment of their encounter. They use a variety of hunting tools, including a popular dating app, to target the juiciest prey and carry a backpack filled with torturous instruments and cleaning equipment. But the alien’s existence begins to unravel one night when they fail to kill their latest meal.Thrust into an ill-fated chase across the city, the alien is confronted with the psychological and physical tolls their experience on Earth has taken. Questioning what they must do to sustain their own survival, they begin to understand why humans also fight to live. But their hunger is insatiable, and the alien once again targets a new prey, not knowing what awaits. . . .Dolki Min’s haunting debut novel is part psychological thriller, part searing critique of the social structures that marginalize those who are different—the disabled, queer, and nonconformist. Walking Practice uncovers humanity in who we consider to be alien, and illuminates how alienation can shape the human experience.Walking Practice features 21 black-and-white line drawings throughout.Translated from the Korean by Victoria Caudle
Science Fiction
Horror
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More Details:
Author
Dolki Min
Pages
176
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published Date
2023-03-14
ISBN
0063258633 9780063258631
Community ReviewsSee all
"Walking Practice was the shortest book I've read in a while, but it felt like the longest. I didn't want to knock this book, and I still don't, but …I am? It had a strong start. Witty writing, with a zany main character who engages the reader head on. Filled with insight on what it is to be "different" than what society says we should be. I feel like younger readers who need to see that what is "normal", isn't "okay", and that they aren't alone in the world…could really enjoy this book.
The writing seems to be all over the place for the sake of "art", but I found it to be extremely arduous. The end seemed like it was supposed to be clever, but read to me as more of a messy cop-out. I feel like certain things may have been lost in translation but doubt that it makes a difference in how I feel about this story as a whole.
6/10 because some parts were enjoyable, if you like weird, dark humor.
"
Nena Colunga
"This was a weird one. It's written by a South Korean author so It's translated and it's a weird book already so... it's a little hard to follow sometimes. It's about an alien named Mumu that has crashed into the earth after their planet was exploded by enemies forcing them to escape. They have been living on Earth for around 15 years and have resorted to hunting humans. They tried eating all other sorts of food and nothing sat right with them until they started eating humans. They are very interesting... and lonely, that's one of the main themes of the book. They're very emotional in general swinging between moods at the snap of a finger. They look down on humans in general, rationalizing killing them because they are not on the same level. Their hunting consists of meeting up with a human having s*x with them, and then biting their head off and sucking them dry like a vampire. The reason the book is so weird is because of 1: how unstable Mumu is as a main character and 2: because the book is also laying underlying themes of gender roles and hookup culture at the same time. It does this through the insights that Mumu has as an outsider looking in on human culture as an unbiased judge. I can see that this book has lots going on, I think if I read this in a couple of years I could enjoy it more. As of now, I come out confused and a little disappointed. It was "eh" for me. Points for uniqueness though, it sure isn't like anything I've read before."
Cole Johnson
"Easy to read, digestible, absurd, comical, entertaining.  I find absurdity and brashness cathartic and comforting, because it allows me to air out the more unspoken and taboo aspects of my humanity. Reading this felt, I imagine, similar to the way Mumu must have felt when unfurling out of their human camouflage and back into the true, sprawled-out alien version of themselves."
Alea Coburn
