Mater 2-10

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZEInternational Bookernominated virtuoso Hwang Sok-yong is back with another powerful story an epic multi-generational tale that threads together a century of Korean history.Centred on three generations of a family of rail workers and a laid-off factory worker staging a high-altitude sit-in Mater 2-10 vividly depicts the lives of ordinary working Koreans starting from the Japanese colonial era continuing through Liberation and right up to the twenty-first century. It is at once a powerful account that captures a nations longing for a rail line to reconnect North and South a magical-realist novel that manages to reflect the lives of modern industrial workers and a culmination of Hwangs career a masterpiece thirty years in the making. A true voice of a generation Hwang shows again why he is unmatched when it comes to depicting the grief of a divided nation and bringing to life the cultural identity and trials and tribulations of the Korean people.