A Comma, Not a Full Stop: Reading Kim Sung-han Again

I first knew Kim Sung-han’s name in connection with his later writing about product ownership at Coupang. His earlier book, A Comma, is about what happened before that work. It follows a student who had become very good at moving on to the next challenge and had to learn when to pause.

What the Admissions Letters Leave Out

The schools and opportunities accumulate quickly: Phillips Academy in Andover, captaining a Korean national lacrosse team as a teenager, accepting Sciences Po after getting into the London School of Economics, and later offers for graduate study. I could barely imagine the first move abroad at that age, let alone the choices that followed it.

The details that held me were the preparations. Kim describes how he got ready for boarding-school interviews, what happened in them and what he found when he went to study in France. An admissions letter tells you the decision. His account gives you some of the days on either side of it.

Success and the Cost of Keeping It Up

The book also describes anxiety and panic symptoms during years when things seemed to be going well. He remembers being urged to work harder when he was already finding it difficult to continue. A reader can feel how far apart an impressive record and the experience of living through it can be.

One expression came to mind while I read, ubocheolli. The image is an ox going a thousand li at its own pace. It made me think about how long a person can go on moving before checking whether they are going where they mean to go.

Reading My Own Review Ten Years Later

The first time I read the book, I wanted to learn to write something that could move another person. I also imagined working for an international organization. Looking back a decade later, I had kept at the writing, been recognized for my blog and published two e-books. I was putting older pieces on a new WordPress site and writing new ones alongside them.

The plans for an international organization had been harder to keep. The pandemic hit my finances and disrupted what I had hoped to do about graduate study. I was beginning to think that the goal itself might need to change. Reading the old review helped me see the part of the plan I had carried forward. It also gave me a chance to reconsider what came next.

A comma allows for what has already been said and leaves a little space before the next part of the sentence. I understand the title better now than I did the first time.