A beautiful story that shares the love for your fellow man and how people can be drawn together by similar circumstances. A poor Japanese hunter rescues a military officer from a tiger in Korea. This becomes a bond between the two men for generations. The book follows the men and their families for roughly 50 years. Not a quick read but so heartwarming.

I thought this was a very good debut novel. Writing a narrative that spans decades is no easy feat. This isn’t the best attempt I’ve read, but it’s solid. Sometimes I felt like things got skimmed over, and it was kind of disorienting to revisit a character years later. I felt like we got so much of Lotus and Luna in the beginning, but then they dropped off when I wanted to glimpse more of their stories.

Overall, this story is beautiful, heartbreaking, and bleak at times- fully reflective of life. There are some gorgeous, gorgeous sentences and paragraphs throughout. I will totally read more of Juhea Kim’s work in the future.

To be completely honest, my repertoire of historical Asian fiction thus far has only been Amy Tan novels. I'm so glad I picked this one up! My knowledge of Korean history is sorely lacking, so I enjoyed learning about it. A well-written and wonderful book!

A fantastic history through novelization that charts the chaos of the Korean peninsula over a half-century. The novel within this history charts the path of two different lives as they live and learn through years of upheaval. Telling the story this way expertly allows us to grasp the micro while we move through the more familiar history of the macro.

What I loved most about this book was the context of gave me in better understanding global issues during the time before, during, and after world war 2. As an American, so much of the history of that time is taught through an exclusively US lens so I found the book to be such an effective way to expand my thinking and perspective of that time. At times it seemed to get a little slow, however Juhea did an amazing job weaving all of the storylines together that in the end made you realize how important each part was. Thanks to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Richly detailed and beautifully written historical fiction about the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 20th century. Alternating viewpoints between a young girl sold to concubines and a young boy from the mountains who comes to the city to make his way in the city show a world that is both gorgeous and gritty, sensuous and violent. I knew very little about this time period in Korea's history and learned a lot by reading this novel.

Beasts of a Little Land is a fantastic book set in Korea during the Korean Independence Movement, so you get to see this story unfold from many different characters. Jade is one of the main characters; she is 12 and is being trained to become a courtesan. She meets and befriends JungHo, an orphan who lives with a group of other kids like him.
Even though there are a lot of characters, it was easy for me to follow. I love reading stories about dynamic relationships, they are very organic, and the way they evolve feels so natural. I could relate to a lot of these well-thought-out characters.
I enjoyed the writing style and highly recommended this book if you love Epic Historical Fiction.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Kim crafts a moving story about life, love, friendship, and identity against the backdrop of the Korean independence movement during the early 20th century. With effortless prose, she encourages readers to dive deeper into the complex realities faced by her characters.

This sweeping epic set in Korea follows the intertwined lives of several characters spanning decades and weaves in the Korean war for independence.
I had a hard time finishing this book, but I can see why it has won numerous awards. It was a bit sadder than my mental health could handle at times. But in all this really is a story about love and redemption and that kept me interested enough to purchase and keep picking this book up until I made it through to the end.
If you enjoy sweeping tales where the characters struggle against the world to find redemption and happiness then this book is for you.
I look forward to seeing what Juhea Kim comes out with next.

Though quite delayed on the review, I would still like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the original dARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is not a book for my elementary students but I would recommend it for high school and up. Definitely for adults who love historical fiction.

Beasts of a little land is a work of historical Fiction about an era that I really knew nothing about. It’s a sweeping novel with wonderful character development, covering many decades in Korea.
I had some trouble at first remembering who was who at first, so it took me a while to get into it, and did take me a while to finish. However it was very interesting and I enjoyed this story from beginning to end.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy.

This was a bittersweet story. A lot of things happened to the main character as we follow her from a girl being sold to a special house to later on when she's more well-known, befriending someone who will be in her life for a long time.

"Her imagination ran its circular course inside familiarities - a fountain rather than a river, particularly when it came to thinking about her own life."

"There are just two things in the world that give you true confidence. One is overcoming difficulties on your own, and the other is being deeply loved. If you experience both, then you will be confident for the rest of your life."

While heart-wrenching and infuriating, this debut novel is stunning and one that I'll remember for a long time. It made me realize just how little I knew of the Korean Independence Movement and colonial Japan. The story is a sweeping epic that focuses on the criss-crossing of lives, as well as the specific challenges and difficulties that the people in Korea's history had to face.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for the advanced readers copy!

Beasts of a Little Land is beautifully written. The struggles and hardships of the time were eloquently described and brought about an understanding of each characters part in the story.

I enjoyed parts of this one but it ultimately left me wanting more. Great writing and facinating story!

The opening sentences of Beasts of a Little Land open into a lush and beautiful world of old Korea, gripping the reader and not letting go until long after the book is finished. This tale will convince you that this is one of the best books of year and a must read.

This book is excellent, but it is not a happy read, there will be no fairytale ending at the end of this book. What the reader is left with is a deep compassion, sadness, and understanding of what war and poverty can do to generations of people. In an attempt to broaden my reading horizons I have been trying to read literature from cultures that I am less familiar with, in this case both Japanese and Korean cultures. I feel like I learned so much about both in this book, and not all good which I also appreciate from the author. I’m not sure that this would be one I would bring into my classroom, but certainly one I would be recommending to my friends.

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim
Publication date: December 7, 2021

Date read: February 22, 2022



With Korea under Japanese control, much of the country is starving. Jade’s family sells her to a courtesan school in the city, setting her life on a course that we will follow from her training, to her successes, and finally to the horrors of war. We also follow a young beggar boy, two Korean businessmen with very different political views, and two Japanese military officers. Spanning from 1917 to the end of the Korean War, this is an epic story about destiny and love, both for individuals and for a country.

This is a hard book to rate. It’s very well-written with some beautiful prose. The characters had a lot of depth and felt very real. Just like in real life, even the characters we were rooting for were both good and bad, and everyone went through their share of highs and lows. I also liked that the life of the courtesan was not overly glamorized in this story. It showed how success in the profession led to money and power while in their prime, but none of the courtesan characters had a typically happy life once their prime was past.

I also loved how we got multiple points of view throughout the book, from alternating chapters. And I enjoyed how some characters interacted from the start, but some didn’t fit into each other’s lives until the end. This was a fascinating time in history to learn about and one about which I knew very little. And I thought the decision to have some chapters told from the POV of Japanese characters added to the story, and helped establish the Japanese rule of Korea as the main villain of the book.

I’m not sure how I felt about the Epilogue - I almost wish it wasn’t there. It’s not that it’s bad, but ultimately felt to me that it belonged in a different book.

This is not a fast read. It’s about difficult topics and is a very slow burn. I don’t think there are a lot of readers I would recommend it to, although I thought it was very good. You have to have a real desire to learn about the history of this part of the world. A beautiful book, but not for everyone.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Trigger warning: sexual assault, rape, physical assault, murder, war, mass death, violent death, torture, masterbation, mysogeny, drug addiction, necrophilia, starvation

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

An epic but intimate consideration of cultural change in Korea over the course of a century in an extended family's lives. BEASTS OF A LITTLE LAND is, among other things, a defense of and plea for the working wonders of cultural diversity on this planet. Substantially uplifting.

Beasts of a Little Land follows multiple characters during half a decade, including the Japanese occupation of Korea and its independence.

It is a beautiful historical fiction novel in which both the historical context and the storylines shine. The way Juhea Kim intertwined the destiny of her characters made my heart sing.

It was at times reminiscent of Memories of a Geisha and Pachinko, yet its own tale all together- worthy of every page.