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No, she corrected herself. Exceptions exist in everything. And there's meaning in the act of trying (it's important to ascribe meaning to things!). If the process is enjoyable (albeit difficult!), results shouldn't be the focus.

— Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum, Shanna Tan

We're all inadequate, weak and ordinary beings. But because we're capable of being kind, for a moment — no matter how fleeting — we can be extraordinary.

— Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum, Shanna Tan

Silence settled comfortably between them. Yeongju enjoyed these quiet moments. She was glad to share space without needing to force a conversation. Small talk could be a considerate gesture, but most of the time, at your own expense. With nothing to say, squeezing the words dry leaves only an empty heart and a desire to escape.

Sharing space with Minjun taught her silence could also be a form of consideration, that it was possible to be comfortable without needing to fill the silence. Gradually, she learnt to get used to the natural quietude.

— Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum, Shanna Tan

That said, what counts as a good book? For the regular person, it’s perhaps a book they enjoyed. But as a bookseller, Yeongju needed to think beyond that.

She tried coming up with a definition.

• Books about life. Not something generic, but a deep and raw dive into life.

Recalling Mincheol’s mother’s red-rimmed eyes, she tried to elaborate further.

• Books by authors who understand life. Those who write about family, mother and child, about themselves, about the human condition. When authors delve deep into their understanding of life to touch the hearts of readers, helping them to navigate life, isn’t that what a good book should be?

— Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum, Shanna Tan

Black folks living under slavery and colonialism and in its aftermath have always imagined that freedom and liberation were possible. Here the distinction between freedom and liberation is that of individual freedom versus collective access to our full humanity. The former can be gained and felt on various levels, but the latter is an ongoing process. We can gain or hold various freedoms—for example, the freedom to vote, the freedom to marry, the freedom to choose abortion. But liberation is a collective effort in which, even after freedoms are won, continual regeneration and transformation are necessary. Liberation must entail resistance to the dominant oppressive systems that permeate our societies (e.g., capitalism, patriarchy, and anti-Black racism).

Thus there is constant tension, constant struggle. There are always forces, sometimes even within a social justice movement, that fight to kill the imagination of those actively engaged in the struggle (and for that matter to limit all thinking about radical possibilities). But oppressed people have always imagined that freedom is possible, and their imagination will not be vanquished. The Black radical tradition requires an ongoing and persistent cultivation of the Black radical imagination. It is within the spaces of imagination, the dream spaces, that liberatory practices are born and grow, leading to the space to act and to transform.

— Unapologetic by Charlene A. Carruthers (Page 25)

It is important to take great care and not compare oppression. That does not serve the goal of collective liberation. No one, besides our oppressors, wins in an argument about who got whipped the worst. Eradicating oppression requires us to identify connections, not sameness.

— Unapologetic by Charlene A. Carruthers (Page 31)