A beautifully written book, that addresses a lot of very important topics and issues. The main character was hard to connect to and sometimes I struggled to follow the plot, but I really enjoyed the physics referenced as well as the dealings with heritage, culture, and loss. The prose was beautiful and made this overall feel very introspective and special.

Folklorn is a story about the physics, folklore, inherited trauma, and rediscovering love and the self through grief. It follows Elsa Park, a Korean-American scientist doing a PhD in Antarctica and Sweden who re-connects with a (literal) ghost of her past when she is called back home after her mother's death. Magic rooted in folklore blends in modern present day as her mother's story-telling allow her to learn about love, culture, and understanding family.

This is a weird one to review because I struggled through the first 60% of the book (a whooping 60%, yes). It's a slow book with a lot of pieces that slowly come together, which I found to be enjoyable and interesting (most of the times), yet I found the main character to be very unlikable and frustrating. It's weird considering we read the story from her perspective and you would expect I'd dislike his preposterous brother, but it was quite the contrary. My favorite bits were everything involving family dynamics and the introspection and references about the immigrant/expat life.

Unfortunately, this book did not work for me. I never connected to the characters and the plot was too disjointed for me to really enjoy it. I ended up finishing the book, but thought multiple times about stopping. I really like the concept, but I felt at the end that it didn't accomplish what I thought it set out to do.

This is a story about Elsa, a Korean-American woman whose mother told her that the women in their family are destined to relive folktales.

This book was very well written, and thoroughly explored the themes of racial/cultural identity, family ties, and mental illness. I really enjoyed Oskar's character, and I enjoyed seeing him and Elsa learn from each other and work through their respective identities--his as a Swedish-raised Korean adoptee, and hers as a Korean-American raised by her dysfunctional birth parents. I was rooting for Elsa throughout, but many of her earlier interactions with Oskar made me dislike her. I was glad to see her grow and make peace with herself, her mother, and their stories.

I will admit it took me a while to get into the story. It is a unique book, which can be both off-putting and engrossing. I thought the premise was very interesting, but it just didn't grip me at the start. By the time I hit the midpoint of the book, I found it much more engaging and finished in one sitting. I am glad I stuck with it.

What a wonderful, brilliant story. This will definitely be a best seller. This was a new author for me and now I will definitely be on the outlook for anything they write.

Folklorn is an incredible story. It is beautifully written and engaging from beginning to end. The author leaves you no choice but to feel this story on a personal level.

The character of Elsa is fantastic. The novel considers race, nationality, and identity through her eyes, as a Korean-American, and how that lived experience colors her perception of herself and the world around her. The way her perspective is transposed onto everything feels completely realistic. The examination of generational trauma and how it affects Elsa, explored through Korean folklore, is masterfully done. Despite the magical realism in the tale, her emotions feel so raw and her actions just feel so real. I don’t know how someone could read this without feeling connected to the character and her journey.

Folklorn was fascinating to the point that I found myself thinking about it between reads. Although I wanted to know how everything ended, I stretched it out to savor it. At no point during reading did my mind wander, as it is written in such an arresting fashion. The story overall was quite emotional… in a way that broke my shriveled, brittle heart open (just a bit!).

A truly impressive novel with a wholly unique premise; this is one I feel I could recommend to any of my friends. YOU! You there, pick up this book and read it.

I finished this book about two weeks ago and I'm still mulling it over. This was such a weird, unexpected, interesting, fascinating book that tries out a lot with its genre-crossing and accomplishes it all. There's fairytale/folklore fantasy, mental health issues, intersectionality of race and gender, explorations of "otherness" and "foreignness," and a touch of horror, all by an OwnVoices author. I'm so delighted I was given the opportunity to read this, as poorly put as my review may be, but I highly recommend it.

A caveat: I personally know the author of this book. She and I were part of a writing workshop in which we critiqued a section of this book in an earlier draft.

This book is a rollercoaster! The reader is never quite sure what is reality, or imagination, or a supernatural experience, or some kind of shared memory of cultural folklore. It's an entertaining read, and at the same time it feels like it could be a fascinating assigned reading in a folklore class.

Review copy provided by Erewhon Books.

"How are you doing?" a family member asked, and I said, "This book about Korean family and identity is making me ache for Stockholm." "No, your entire personality is making you ache for Stockholm," was the response I got, and it was not entirely wrong, but it was not entirely right either, Angela Mi Young Hur absolutely did have a hand in these feelings with the descriptions she wrote of walking across the bridge into Gamla Stan in the winter.

But the rest of the book, the experience of this book. Okay. This is about Elsa, a neutrino physicist doing a postdoc in Antarctica (to begin with). It's about Elsa, who is someone's daughter and someone's little sister and trying to figure out what it means for her to be someone. And particularly it is about Elsa's relationship with the folktales her Korean immigrant mother has told her--who and what is she descended from, what does it all mean, who is this mysterious girl/woman who has been part of her life since childhood but seems to be invisible to everyone else.

It's a fascinating book, and it's a singular one. There's no way you can say, "Oh, another one of those." I am particularly intrigued to see what Hur decides to do next, because this doesn't feel like a book that can have a sequel or a direct companion volume. It feels like she is going to launch herself into something else equally unique, and I am so excited to see it, and in the meantime so excited to have this one to revisit. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC, though I feel awful about not being able to continue it. I had to DNF at 20%.

Now, this is NOT a terrible story or anything, I think it's just not for me. This has a lot of political and social themes that are hard to understand and connect with. It's also pretty dark, like dark humor surrounding racism, so that's also hard to swallow.

The writing style jumping back and forth in time also makes it difficult to follow.

Again, it's a well-written story with complex thematic elements, I think it's just not my kind of book.

Folklorn is an interesting novel that is hard to define on what entirely it consists of - it combined family history, myths, racial issues, fact vs. fiction, and so much more. It's so hard to fully review based on everything it covered and speaks to.

From an overall perspective, I felt like this book was beautiful and gave such great character (Elsa) to follow. I feel like culturally, the story really presented some raw cultural issues and the presentation of intergenerational trauma woven with what's real and what's imaginary was just...intense. There's not another word I can use to describe it.

Some parts were a little dull and I got lost and disconnected at certain points, which was a real disappointment and reason for less stars.

Thank you NetGalley, author, and publisher for providing the ARC of this book.

Folklorn is a magical tale that was honestly a whirlwind for me. It follows a Korean woman, Elsa navigating through her life as she deals with identity, grief, the prominent impact that still affects her, of growing up in a predominantly white society, and discovering more about her own parents and family.

My initial opinion about this was so positive. I loved the writing style, how atmospheric it was and how well set the tone was. The contrast of scientific knowledge and stories from her childhood was such a great dynamic to read about, but soon, the seemingly lack of plot and meandering made me loose the initial fascination i had. Honestly I would’ve DNF-ed this at one point, but then one of the most impactful scenes hit me and oh boy that was something. The realism with racism was executed so well. Every sentence, down to every word on that scene was so powerful. It portrayed so much of the racism that exists in the day-to-day life and it was such a huge build up to Chris’s character; Elsa’s brother, which leads to my next point; character work. I enjoyed the character work so much, being in Elsa’s head really made her voice so distinct and unique. Chris too was so unique and so well realized within the story, and he isn’t even a pov character. I also want to point out how well done the family dynamic was. It was so realistic and well put together. And finally the stories. Wow that was beautiful. It outlines so much of the misogyny, and the son-preference that the story itself explored really well. At first you don’t see any connection or relevance but then suddenly like Elsa, i felt a need to reread all of the stories ; the folklore, her mother left.

I do have some nitpicks especially since i felt it being boring around the middle but that’s just my personal opinion on meandering stories with no apparent plots. I also did not particularly enjoy the romance aspect, it was okay but i didnt feel anything towards it.

All in all this was a brilliant read and i cannot recommend this enough. Please give folklorn a try cause it do be having PRETTY powerful scenes.

Thank you to Erewhon Books for granting me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Great concept and plenty to appreciate in this tale of multi-generational mythic woe. Alas, the highly academic, yet immature, myopic narrator severely hampers the readability and enjoyment of Folklorn.

Unfortunately, I no longer wish to review this book as the first few chapters did not reel me in. Though the novel seems very promising, I simply do not enjoy the writing. Thank you for the opportunity.

This was well written in a stream of consciousness, slow-paced way. It's a book to read without hurry, in my case I kept waiting for the present story to continue but it would instead always go towards the past in flashbacks again and again, a family past rooted in myth and magic.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Erewhon Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Growing up, Elsa Park’s mother told her countless tales of sacrificed and drowned girls in Korean legends and warned her that she, too, was doomed to share their fate.

Now Elsa is a particle physicist stationed at a neutrino observatory in the Antarctic. However, one day her childhood imaginary friend suddenly reappears, and upon learning that her mother has tragically passed away, she journeys back home to try and reconnect with her mother and confront her past through the folk stories she grew up on.

Steeped in magical realism, Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur is a lyrical story about a first-generation immigrant dealing with inherited trauma from her war-torn parents. It’s a very heavy, contemplative book. Not only does it explore the importance of myth and family, but it also tackles Elsa’s displaced sense of cultural identity in a way that feels extremely raw and personal.

There is so much going on in this book, and yet it all beautifully synthesizes beautifully together. All in all, Folklorn is an unforgettable well-crafted, genre-bending masterpiece that interweaves folklore, particle physics, and history. I cannot recommend it enough.

A wild genre mashup of a novel. Folklorn weaves a bit of Sci-Fi, fairy tale, fantasy, magical realism and family saga together to create a truly unique narrative. I especially enjoyed the integration of Korean folk tales into this story. The take on racism is raw and unflinching but the story's look at mental illness is antiquated.

This book is a very intimate insight into both cultural and personal identity told through a lens of horror magical realism. It blends a unique mix of physical locations - we visit Antarctica, Sweden and the US, while the heart of the story is deeply haunted by South Korean history and folklore. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to this book.

This book was truly beautiful. The exploration of grief and race and womanhood and so much more was so eloquently done. At times the writing could get a bit intense and confusing, but the story was so captivating and real that I honestly didn't mind. Elsa's journey was fascinating, from her mother's stories to her exploration of physics, and I really loved the discussion of family that filled the whole book. The ending was magical and profoundly bittersweet and I loved how the whole book just seemed so connected. Folklorn is such an important book and was truly an enchanting discussion on so many things that I couldn't even begin to fully list out.

Thanks to Erewhon and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book. The scope of this novel was larger than I anticipated. Elsa Park a physicist is haunted by the ghosts of her past and the myths and folktales her mother past on to her. She starts seeing an imaginary girl who speaks to her about some family secrets and its unclear whether she is haunted by a ghost or is simply loosing her mind. Her brother is a schizophrenic so she might be suffering a similar affliction rather than being haunted by shamanistic lore.

Her mother once told her the the women in the family were cursed. To figure if her imaginary friend is a spirit guide and if her "ghost mother pulling strings from beyond the grave" she delves into Korean folk tales that were passed on by her catatonic mother “You’ve read her—she’s more myth than woman. She fell asleep before I could get to know her as an adult. My childhood memories are all mixed up, mistranslated.”

Another subject this novel delves into is Epigenetic trauma. What it means growing up as second gen in America with all it's racial tensions and systematic racism while trying to live up to their parents unrealistic expectations.. Here is how her brother Chris sums it up: "Fucked-up immigrant culture, combining the worst of two countries—all about social perception, can’t find worth in herself so she depends on her kids to reflect it for her. But I could never redeem all the shit’s she’s been through."

The Korean stories are mostly about children sacrificing themselves for their parents sake, like the virgin thrown into the bell in it's forging. Other tales are the wood carpenter who steals a fairy's robes so that she stays with him and bares him children, a tale of twin sisters one dead at birth the other wrongfully accused and killed by her step mother and step brothers who comes back to avenge herself, and also the tale of a gumiho daughter who wishes to become human. Helping her explore the Korean lore is Oscar a fellow academic and a Korean adoptee who has some unresolved issues of his own.

Despite the description this is not a fantasy novel but a very realistic meditation on immigration, making sense of the parents stories that are somewhat lost in translation and cultural gaps between first and second generation.