Title: Walking Practice
By: Dolki Min
ISBN: 9780063258617 (ISBN10: 0063258617)
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary:
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. (Goodreads)
Review:
Dolki Min is an artist and writer based in South Korea. Walking Practice is their first novel. Walking Practice is a story of a shapeshifting alien who has crashed into Earth with no way home (if their home is still even liveable). The alien used sex to attract humans (alternating between being the male persona and the female persona). Then following sex, the alien then consumed their date. The crux of the story is being guided through various dates – as they had to occur daily for the alien to be able to consume enough nutrients to stay alive.
While the story held my interest, at least well enough for me to finish the story, I did feel that this tale was not really for me. I felt as if the storytelling seemed to drag on – seeming repetitive. It was interesting to get the details of how they made themselves presentable to the human they were meeting.
The illustrations that were included in the story were stunning!
As a first story by author Dolki Min – I felt it was well told. If you are into science fiction, then I can see that this book would be right up your alley. So I say – give this author a chance.
