The White Book

I read somewhere that you can do a meditation exercise by noticing objects around you with a single color.

There was a day I tried yellow: the leaves, the post office box, the traffic light,…

This book is like a meditation practice by the author. She sweeps through her memories using a single color: white—from past to present, from Warsaw to Seoul to her hometown, from her adulthood to childhood, with a distant view of herself.

It is embedded with sad memories but does not bring sadness. The white color forms patches of memories that overlap without borders, giving a feeling that nothing will last, but also grounding you in that present—a grace inside sadness connected to her sister’s death shortly after birth.

Snow, white bird, white dog, baby clothes, mourning clothes, silence, morning dew…

Brought to us by Nobel laureate Han Kang, this book uses short, poetic reflections and the color white to turn deep sadness into something quiet and peaceful.