The Guest, written by Sok Yong Hwang, is about a man’s journey into his past, starting in New York and ending in North Korea. The book’s title, sonnim in Korean (손님) also refers to its second meaning, namely small pox, which went rampant during the Korean War. “Guest exorcisms”, in the form of shamanic rituals, were often performed to fight this foreign intruder. During this epidemic, two more guests (Communism and Christianity) got infected and started butchering each other.
It is a good novel for anyone interested in Korean history and culture.
Der Gast
