{"product_id":"skull-water-paperback","title":"Skull Water - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eHeinz Insu Fenkl\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A fascinating story of a young mixed-race man caught between two cultures, not knowing what to keep and what to leave behind.\"--James McBride, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Heaven \u0026amp; Earth Grocery Store\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \"magnificent\" (Ha Jin), \"mesmerizing\" (James McBride), and \"magical\" (Marie Myung-Ok Lee) fever dream of a novel that interweaves the coming-of-age of a 1970s Korean-American boy grappling with his identity and the impact of intergenerational trauma.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrowing up outside a US military base in South Korea in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Insu--the son of a Korean mother and a German father enlisted in the US Army--spends his days with his \"half and half\" friends skipping school, selling scavenged Western goods on the black market, watching Hollywood movies, and testing the boundaries between childhood and adulthood. When he hears a legend that water collected in a human skull will cure any sickness, he vows to dig up a skull in order to heal his ailing Big Uncle, a geomancer who has been exiled by the family to a mountain cave to die.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInsu's quest takes him and his friends on a sprawling, wild journey into some of South Korea's darkest corners, opening them up to a fantastical world beyond their grasp. Meanwhile, Big Uncle has embraced his solitude and fate, trusting in otherworldly forces Insu cannot access. As he recalls his wartime experiences of betrayal and lost love, Big Uncle attempts to teach his nephew that life is not limited to what we can see--or think we know.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLargely autobiographical and sparkling with magical realism, \u003ci\u003eSkull Water\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of a boy coming into his own--and the ways the past haunts the present, in a country on the cusp of modernity, struggling to confront its troubled history. As Insu seeks the wisdom of his ancestors, what he learns, he hopes, will save not just his uncle but himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in South Korea to a German father and a Korean mother, \u003cb\u003eHeinz Insu Fenkl \u003c\/b\u003egrew up in Korea until he was twelve, and then in Germany and the United States. A professor of English at SUNY New Paltz, where he teaches creative writing, Asian and Asian American literature, and film, he is also a folklorist, who has edited anthologies of Korean folklore and translated seminal folktales and Buddhist texts. A section of \u003ci\u003eSkull Water\u003c\/i\u003e appeared in the\u003ci\u003e New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e. Fenkl lives in New York's Hudson Valley.\u003c\/p\u003e\n        \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 390\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.2 x 8.1 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 30, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41731397976199,"sku":"9781954118485","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/cc8fe2b203717b84755f36237ec62e57.webp?v=1734093627","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/skull-water-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}