{"id":106035,"date":"2025-07-30T23:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T23:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/106035\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T23:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T23:15:09","slug":"bourkes-bookshelf-a-tomorrow-better-than-today-brainerd-dispatch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/106035\/","title":{"rendered":"Bourke’s Bookshelf: \u2018A tomorrow better than today\u2019 – Brainerd Dispatch"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRAINERD \u2014 I must confess the cover of this latest read might have factored into my decision to read it. But how can a bookworm like myself say no to something so beautiful?<\/p>\n

\"Theresa<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know much about the story going in, but I soon found myself swept away into the magical world of Korean folklore.<\/p>\n

Written by South Korean author You Yeong-Gwang and translated into English by Canadian-based translator Slin Jung, \u201cThe Rainfall Market\u201d is a book of \u201cwhat ifs.\u201d What if I were rich? What if I went to the best college? What if I worked for the top company? What if my entire life were different?<\/p>\n

Yeong-Gwang explores all of those \u201cwhat ifs\u201d through the eyes of a desperate teenager. He weaves in the fantastical dokkaebi, legendary creatures from Korean mythology, creating a story unlike anything I\u2019ve ever read in the Western world.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Rainfall Market\u2019 by You Yeong-Gwang (2024)<\/p>\n

Serin yearns for a different life. One where she can be a typical teenager \u2014 where she\u2019s not poor, her little sister didn\u2019t run away and she has friends to confide in.<\/p>\n

She needs to get to the Rainfall Market.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a thing of myth, the Rainfall Market. An abandoned house on the edge of Rainbow Town, it\u2019s said to be the place where all your hopes and dreams could come true. All a human\u2019s got to do is send in a letter detailing their misfortunes.Then they could receive a ticket giving them admittance to the market during the rainy season. And that\u2019s where they could pick an entirely new life to live, one with everything they\u2019ve ever wanted.<\/p>\n

When a golden ticket with Serin\u2019s name on it arrives just ahead of the rainy season, she knows this is her one chance to change the trajectory of her life and finally be happy.<\/p>\n

But what she doesn\u2019t realize is how tricky picking a new life can be. Does she want to be rich? Well-educated? Employed with a prestigious company? Marry the love of her life? Surely any of those paths would lead her to happiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rainfall Market\u201d is a story of childhood naivety and desperation, laced with friendship and hope, mixed with a magic both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Serin\u2019s search for happiness is something I think we can all relate to and offers a lesson in gratitude and appreciation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Theresa<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Theresa Bourke started working at the Dispatch in July 2018, covering Brainerd city government and area education, including Brainerd Public Schools and Central Lakes College. She can be reached at theresa.bourke@brainerddispatch.com<\/a> or 218-855-5860. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRAINERD \u2014 I must confess the cover of this latest read might have factored into my decision to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":106036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6216,33973,1022,68162,68163,68164,171,68165,68166,68167,67,132,68,68168,68169],"class_list":{"0":"post-106035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-book-recommendations","9":"tag-book-reviews","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-books-you-have-to-read","12":"tag-bourkes-bookshelf","13":"tag-can-you-suggest-a-good-book","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-great-reads","16":"tag-must-reads","17":"tag-the-rainfall-market","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-what-book-should-i-read-next","22":"tag-you-yeong-gwang"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}