No One Writes Back : A Lonesome Traveler's not-so-lonesome journey featuring Letters and unusual humans he encountered along the way
A young man who left home with nothing but his mp3, a novel and his blind dog. He wanders around from one motel to another - never settling. He finishes his day by writing a letter describing his day. The recipients of his letters are people he met along his way - people whom he didn’t call by name but by numbers, and his family members... I was really hyped when I saw the synopsis. Letters? Traveller who travels with nothing but his book and mp3 and his dog? Count me in. Even though the book was different than what I expected it to be, it secured its place in my heart slowly but surely. The narrator, Jihun, talks about his life very nonchalantly, as if there's nothing unusual about it. However, his upbringing, his lifestyle, his travels, people he met on the way - they are anything but usual. They might have seemed dramatic, even, if not for the matter-of-fact tone that he used. As he continues with his journey, we get to know about different people whom he encountered on the way as well as about himself, his family and his relationship with them - little by little, through his letters and through his monologues. Eventually, we come to learn about why he left home and chose to travel. For me the most fascinating part of the book is the letter-writing aspect, as I personally love letters very much. Jihun struggles with talking due to stuttering, but writes letters to strangers. He compares it to journalling, but unlike regular journalling, his letters containing his daily life updates were just betweens two people - him and the letter recipient. It's such a beautiful concept. This book has a Haruki Murakami flavour in it. Maybe it lies in Jihun's narration, his way of describing his life down to littlest details. Maybe it's the ordinarily described unordinariness. Whatever it is, I can't help going back to the book once in a while.