Elegantly written and deceptively humorous, Dolki Mins bombastic debut novel, Walking Practice, is a haunting examination of survival, gender, and the complexity of the human experience. A tremendous literary achievement. Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes
Walking Practice is an unforgettable survival story of an alien trying to survive as a human on a hostile planet. This unique and imaginative, weird and delicate sci-fi is a considerate exploration of our social structures: the gender conventions, queerness, and discrimination against the weak. A radical, darkly funny, spine-tingling story, perfect for fans of Matt Haigs The Humans and Michel Fabers Under the Skin. J.M. Lee, bestselling author of Broken Summer
"Surreal, compelling, and utterly unique." Buzzfeed
"Walking Practice explores the burden of gender expectations, the struggle of having a flesh prison body, having to feed yourself and wanting to be loved, and even the awkwardness of dealing with other people on the subway. But what really makes this story sing is the uniqueness of the narrators voiceboth compelling and witty....It is moving and funny, critical and crass. This one is for anyone who is made to feel like an alien in their own body." Tor.com
Through this weird, funny, deeply earnest book about a killer alien who doesnt fit in on Earth, Min has crafted a queer novel about feeling out of place in ones body and its surroundings... The evident pleasure with which Min has drawn this character makes for a vibrant and memorable fictional encounter with an otherness thats not, in the end, so different." The New York Times Book Review
"An alien arrives on Earth, hungry for love. The narrator of Mins dark satire is a shape-shifting alien who crash-landed here 15 years ago. In that time, its sampled all sorts of sustenance on our planet, but only human flesh truly satisfies. So it uses dating apps (username: Hunting4luv) to quell its cravings for sex and sustenance....Entertaining and surprising....A slim, sui generis allegory on romance and its discontents." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Who would come up with a story about a shapeshifting alien who crashlands on Earth, learns to walk by hunting humans and then is forced to confront their sins of survival while critiquing humankinds marginalization of Others? Dolki Min, thats who. And who would read such a story? You, if you know whats good for you." Ms. magazine
Theres bleak comedy aplenty in Dolki Mins Walking Practicewhich makes sense, given that protagonist Mumu is a shapeshifting alien who chats with unwitting guys on the internet and then devours them. But this isnt simply an exercise in the overlap of horror and humor; instead, Mumus observations on human gender roles and the fraught nature of nearly every interaction in the narrative give this book a substantial narrative weight, even as the text and translation also factor in some playfulness. Words Without Borders
"On the surface, this smart debut novel (translated from the Korean by Victoria Caudle) is a fun story about an alien who finds men on dating apps and eats them to stay alive. But underneath lies a potent critique of gender norms and an exploration of what it feels like to not fit in your body or your surroundings." New York Times' Books We Recommend
