Helen Keller once said: “Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world.” Yeon Somin calls it a “state of inertia in her latest novel, ”The Healing Season of Pottery.” This phrase mirrors Keller’s wise words on our ability to do much when we have a cause outside of ourselves.
The Passing of the Seasons
Jungmin quit her job as a broadcast writer after years of sleepless nights, countless deadlines, and grueling hours of traveling for work. She decided to lease a quiet place in Chestnut Burr Village, an hour’s drive from the busy city life of Seoul, South Korea. She signed the lease in the summer; in the fall, she pricked her finger on a chestnut burr—a significant symbol in the book—and she didn’t emerge from her hideaway till the following summer.After her extended hibernation, Jungmin emerged from her sterile cave to get some coffee and stumbled upon a pottery workshop instead. She is offered the brown beverage in one of the mugs made in-house. Though the coffee beans are mediocre, the cups they are served in elevate the flavor. “Coffee served in jade celadon cups … tastes better. Sweet coffee is served best in white porcelain.” Intrigued, she signed up for twice-a-week classes.
Pottery Lessons
For her first lesson, Jungmin has to decide what she wants to make. After discarding the projects that will need more advanced skills, she commits to making a plate.As Jungmin molds and forms, shapes and reshapes her clay, she gets frustrated when her plate doesn’t come out “perfect.” “Just think about getting 60 percent of the way there. No more, no less,” Johee, the owner of the Soyo workshop, advises.
Next, she learns that clay can be salvaged. When Jungmin gets frustrated by the third and fourth try at the wheel, Johee reminds her that the clay is soft, and repairs can be made—or she can easily start over with the same clay. She is allowed to make mistakes.
Even when the clay is “sopping wet” with overapplication of water, Johee calmly reassures her to just “wipe away its tears.” And with that, Jungmin comes to see herself as the piece of clay—clay that needed caressing, touching, and, perhaps, a little forgiving.
Wheel-throwing. Bluerasberry/CC BY-SA 3.0
Fighting Inertia
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During a blow-up at her previous job, Jungmin moved robotically, living life on auto-pilot. “She no longer felt indignation soar and had no more pent-up frustration. Only inertia. Inertia latched onto Jungmin like a parasite deftly eating away at its host.”
Her challenge is getting past this state of inertia.As she slowly learns to take care of herself and starts caring for the others at Soyo workshop, Jungmin realizes that “there was no miracle cure for inertia better than responsibility.”
‘Friends’—Minus the Couch
As Jungmin eases into her pottery classes, a revolving door of characters come in and out of the workshop for various reasons.Jihye, struggling to find a job, has decided to go to graduate school instead and spends her free time at the workshop. Jun, a high school student preparing for college, is at Soyo because his parents forced him to take up pottery to take over the family’s ceramics business. Gisik is busy with plans to switch careers and to set up his own pottery workshop. He has a very personal story for taking up pottery.
Suddenly, Jungmin is surrounded by people again—back in the land of the living. At the insistence of another workshop participant, she even adopts a cat.
The repartee, the light teasing, and the camaraderie evoke scenes from the TV sitcom “Friends”—without messy romantic entanglements. At the Soyo workshop, instead of a couch, students sit in front of a pottery wheel and talk about life.
But not everyone who walks in the workshop doors are a welcome sight. Juran, an estranged friend from her middle school days, shows up unexpectedly, jarring Jungmin. She realizes that as much as she tries to hide from her past, it has a way of catching up with her.
With her newfound friends and a renewed perspective on life, can Jungmin face some of the buried feelings and hurtful experiences from her past? Will she get past her defenses—the burrs that she’d surrounded herself with—to finally start a new life?
Universal Themes
Originally published in Korean, “The Healing Session of Pottery” infuses many of the cultural practices which readers may find familiar and universal. Aside from the wonderful conversations exchanged between members as they hang out at the workshop, the motley crew also bond over meals.It has been said that food is a language of love. Jungmin, who hardly cooks a proper meal for herself, gets talked into making curry, served on one of the plates she made. “The simple act of eating a proper meal was enough to feel that she was looking after herself.” This act of self-care is one many can relate to.
The Christmas gift-giving season has also been taken up by many cultures. and here, the practice furthers Jungmin’s healing. Despite South Korea being almost one-third Christian, the book presents the commercialization of the season rather than its deeper meaning. This may be off-putting to some readers.
The book, aptly titled “The Healing Season of Pottery,” is a strong reminder to get past the “winter seasons” in our lives, to find an activity that will stave off inertia, and to discover balance in life.
‘The Healing Season of Pottery’
By Yeon Somin and Clare Richards
Algonquin Books; Oct. 22, 2024
Paperback: 272 pages
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