THE SECOND CHANCE CONVENIENCE STORE by KIM HO-YEON is universal, real, moving, even if it's a million-copy bestseller from Korea (Harper PerennIal)

The SECOND CHANCE CONVENIENCE STORE is a novel about a convenience store that’s a million-copy international bestseller from Korea. Unless a Noble-winner, books from Asia aren’t often translated for our audiences. Because of the bestseller status, I cynically expected this story to be simple, sentimental, outside our sophisticated book culture of ideas and bestselling romantasy novels. Yet the characters and setting are so unexpected, real and heart-rending, it crosses our western cultural expectations. Stories of  “second chances” are rare, especially if failure involves “cliches”–addictive behaviors, homelessness, mental illness or other misfortunes better left to the Salvation Army.

We may be subconsciously superstitious; a “cross-your heart “prayer (there but for the grace of God/chance go I), when we pass unfortunates in the street or drop a dollar in a plastic cup. Korea isn’t all that different. Like us, they are believers in the romance of success; making money, achieving fame. Many rich famous people in the U.S. shun failure, as though it’s contagious and condemn the disadvantaged, as though poverty is a character flaw. 

The hero of this book, Dok-go lives in Seoul Station, a train station,as do other homeless people. He looks bad, can’t remember his past and always wants a drink. When he finds a pink purse with documents, he decides to call the owner. Mrs. Yeom, a retired history teacher is amazed when she gets a call from him.  And she witnesses the end of a fight for that purse. Surprisingly, he quizzes her to make sure she’s the owner and refuses a cash reward.

The owner of a neighborhood convenience store, she offers the down-on-his-luck stranger a free meal at her convenience store. He travels with her and then enjoys a lunch box that hasn’t expired. She tells him whenever he’s hungry to come and eat a meal for free. Later, when he stops a robber in the store, she offers him a job on the night shift. 

As time goes on, he wins over the other part-time employees and neighborhood people, providing a ready ear to listen to problems and useful advice. He also improves the store, saving the business from  from ruin. Eventually he takes on his own alcohol consumption and counsels others. Life seems to be moving upward, until Mrs. Yeom’s “good for nothing” son arrives. Scheming to take over the store, he hires a detective to uncover the mysterious Dok-go’s past. 

In THE SECOND CHANCE CONVENIENCE STORE human laws exist alongside chance or fate. The 70 year old school teacher has faith in herself. She’s war, when she sees the homeless man, but hopeful she will receive her purse. Despite how he looks and smells, she knows he is all right

Among the local people who visit the store is a young woman in her late twenties, Inkyeongan. An actress aged out of ingenue roles, a playwright without hits, she’s in an extended “dry period.” At a dark waystation in her life, she’s not exactly a believer in “second chances”. On her tiny food budget, she visits the store for the microwave.  She also observes that Dok-go is not just a scary big man but a person who can figure out people. She sees in his gathering of people, a new form of community.

The Convenience Store and Mrs. Yeom experience a kind of metamorphosis, as does Dok-go. Within the community of the store, he’s not just a helper and bodyguard, but a kind of watchman of the soul. He shares the food platters, keeps people free of alcohol, as well as himself. Gradually his memory returns– for better and worse.  What happens to the store, Mrs. Yeom and her son, Inkyeon, and Dok-go follows the trajectory of lived experience. A delightful read. 

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HO-YEON KIM has worked as a novelist, playwright, and comic book writer. Considered a complete storyteller, he won the 9th Segye Literature Prize (offered by Segye newspaper in 2013 and 2021 and was awarded Yes24 Book of the Year and Millie Audiobook of the Year. His work stands out for the humanity conveyed by his characters and for stories that remind us of our own lives. He lives in Seoul.