Walking Practice

By Dolki Min

Book Overview

"Min's novel is shocking and horrifying and hilarious and intimate. A real antidote." - Bryan Washington, bestselling author of Memorial and Palaver

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

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0063258625
• ISBN13: 9780063258624
• Release Date: March 2024
• Publisher: Harpervia
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Couldn't Put It Down

An alien crashes on Earth and has to eat humans to survive. A person struggling to deal with loneliness and connection in a place and time where so many others are also fighting that fight, each reaching out to each other through a phone screen. A being, feeling alienated with a body that does not navigate the world with the ease of everyone around them. It's all here and more, a story told to us by one charming, hilarious lead. I tore through this book in one sitting. So good.