With the Heart of a Ghost : Stories

by Lim Sunwoo
translated by Chi-Young Kim

ARC Review

The Unnamed Press | Ingram Publisher Services

Publication date: February 10, 2026

What It’s About

This is a debut collection of eight short stories that lands firmly in the space of Korean speculative fiction. The stories share a mood and are not connected by plot or characters. All are strange, unsettling, and often unresolved.

Ghosts, transformations, and otherworldly shifts appear without much explanation. A person becomes a tree. Jellyfish take over the world. A ghost turns up in a bun shop. These elements are folded into everyday life and just exist.

The stories don’t move toward neat endings. Instead, they pause in places that feel emotionally charged and unfinished.

What Stuck With Me

I thought the stories were good, but what stayed with me most was the feeling that I was always circling something just out of reach. Many of these stories feel metaphor-forward, but the metaphors aren’t handed to you. You’re left to try and figure them out yourself, and sometimes to wonder what, exactly, they’re pointing toward.

The jellyfish story is the one I keep thinking about. People turn into jellyfish, sometimes by accident, sometimes by choice. Families make decisions for aging parents. Others kill jellyfish out of fear, while some groups help people transform if they want to. It’s odd, sad, and honestly devastating. I kept wondering what the jellyfish represented, but I also wasn’t sure I needed a clear answer for the story to work.

That uncertainty runs through the whole collection. A man returns from mandatory military service heartbroken and turns into a tree in his ex’s apartment. Grief, resentment, exhaustion, and loneliness show up wrapped in surreal circumstances that feel calm on the surface and heavy underneath.

These are sad stories. There’s a steady melancholy to them, softened by moments of strange humor and empathy. Even when I wasn’t sure what a story was saying, I could feel what it was pressing on.

Would I Recommend It

Yes, for a specific reader.

This is for readers who are comfortable with unresolved stories and metaphor that isn’t explained. If you enjoy speculative fiction that leans sad, and unsettling rather than dramatic or plot-driven, this collection is likely for you.

If you need clarity, answers, or a sense of closure, this may be frustrating.

My takeaway: These stories don’t explain their meanings, but they definitely make you think.

Thank you to The Unnamed Press for the early read.

Where to Read It:

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