Lemon - Kwon - Yeo Sun
Translated by Janet Hong

𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 2002, 𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏-𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓-𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑲𝒊𝒎 𝑯𝒂𝒆-𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒚 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔: 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝑱𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒋𝒖𝒏, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌-𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒊, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒖, 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅.
𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝑫𝒂-𝒐𝒏, 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓. 𝑼𝒏𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝑫𝒂-𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕, 𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅.

I’ve actually found this book really difficult to review. I found it difficult to grasp and I found it confusing at times. It is told at different points in time from the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on's classmates, but I wasn’t always sure who’s voice I was hearing as I read. Da-on is trying to make sense of her sisters death, we see what the intervening years have done, the hopes that have been damaged and lives changed. I was struck by the hollowness of Da-on and the struggle she had to come to terms with her sisters death, life afterwards and how she could go on.

‘𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧.’

Although written as if it is a crime novel, it mainly explores grief and guilt. It felt quite unique and unlike anything else I have read. Da-on and Han Manu were easier characters to get to grips with than the others, who were often not named for some time. The descriptions are acute and sharp, I read it in a morning but I felt it warrants a re-read, I am not sure if this is because of translation or because of my own understanding or reading of it.
This is not my usual read, I found it challenging but stimulating and I am pleased to have read it.

I read this book due to an interest in South Korean culture. I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to but don’t know why.
The book deals with the death of teenager Kim Hae-on . We never learn who murdered her in 2002 but an awful lot about the impact her death had on her family and people who knew her right up until 2019.
I think I need to read it again at a later date to try to understand why the book received such wonderful reviews from other readers. I must be missing something. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it but maybe didn’t understand some of the more subtle elements of the story.

I'm a firm believer in judging a book by its cover. Like the artwork for Lemon, the story is abstract, surreal and yet strangely bright and simple. The book opens with a young man being questioned about the murder of a young woman but this is as far as the investigation goes, and even then, this is in the imagination of the victim's sister.

The plot is straightforward: a young woman student is found dead and no one is caught for committing her murder. The years pass and life goes on but the ripples from her death continue. The story is told from a few perspectives, which are sometimes confusing in that the first person narrator is not clear. Mostly it is from her younger sister but also from a classmate and young romantic rival, with a follow-up of the life of the young man questioned in the opening of the book.

It is far from a crime thriller but a story about grief, life and death and how people navigate around this. An intense and original book with a psychological challenge, it is often poetic but always engaging. Worth a reread to appreciate the true quality.

Compelling and original, this short, literary crime novel is thought-provoking and gives the reader an insightful look at family life and relationships in Korea. The story begins with the death of a young girl. Initially, there are two suspects, but there is insufficient evidence against either, and the case remains unsolved.

The victims' younger sister is still grieving years later and decides to find out what happened. Told from her viewpoint and that of two people who knew her sister, the impact of the death on them is explored. It's a complex read despite its brevity, and some things become clearer on re-reading.

I received a copy of this book from 'Head of Zeus'- Apollo via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Lemon is most definitely a book which is dividing opinion but, for me, it was right up my street. It is a short book but my goodness does it pack in a lot in each page. We know that Kim Hae-on was tragically and horribly murdered in 2002 but who was responsible? We know there were two leading suspects but never enough evidence to charge either of them so sadly the case could never be conclusively solved. Over the course of seventeen years we dip in and out of different times and perspectives from a few characters. Sometimes it is not immediately clear who is speaking but this is deliberate. We gain information from each chapter which might be directing us towards an answer or perhaps sending us off on our own tangents. It is quite a descriptive read and we get a some insights into the culture and social expectations. None of the characters are overly likeable but there is something about each which made me curious and I thought a lot about their individual situations and how this murder impacted upon them.

It is a story which is hard to review as there is a lot of subtext and nuance within the writing and I believe that a lot of it is intentionally open or slightly unclear to allow the reader to form their own opinions and theories then come to their own conclusions. For me, this was part of the beauty of this book – it made me pause and consider what I was reading and try to piece together possible clues and work out if I was misleading myself or being misled! I would most definitely recommend this for anyone who enjoys a puzzle and doesn’t need, or want, to have everything nicely parcelled at the end. You will find yourself continuing to mull things over long after the final page is turned and the book is closed!

What an impossible novel to attempt to categorise. Lemon is a literary mystery in every sense; beautifully composed but oddly obscure. In a disorienting story told from three perspectives, we observe the effects of a violent murder on the victim’s family and the two plausible suspects in the years that follow the crime. It’s a story of multiple lives shattered, where the passage of time only amplifies the pain.

The author explores the lifelong consequences of grief and guilt, and of what happens when people obsess on what they have lost: ignoring the living to commemorate the dead. The author expresses ugly concepts in beautiful language; strikingly accomplished for a debut (even if it’s not a full-length novel).

Translated crime fiction can often be challenging – that’s why we read it, after all, to experience a fleeting sense of an alien culture, an unseen society. Lemon requires particular attention. I’ve no doubt that the translation is first-class, because the prose itself is both poetic and philosophical.

But it is also frustratingly abstract and distanced, like the wisp of an idea which you can’t quite articulate. It reminded me of Miss Smilla’s Feeling For Snow, but Lemon provided few moments of cross-cultural insight in the way that the breakthrough Scandinavian novel did. It felt more like an unreasonable invasion of privacy into the misery which trauma can create. Many people compare Lemon to the film Parasite, and perhaps they’re correct. I also found that film to be an essentially empty shell, an intellectual exercise in the spectacle of distress.

Short, thought-provoking, but not especially satisfying.

6/10

Lemon is one of those books that almost defies description. Is it a murder mystery? Literary fiction? An exploration of grief and remorse? All three? Beautifully translated from Korean by Janet Hong, this book leaves an indelible impression. It’s short, but it’s packed with so much as three different voices tell you about the impact a violent death of eighteen year old Hae-on had upon their lives. It’s a novel with no resolution, because life doesn’t come in neatly wrapped packages with all questions answered. Life is messy, a constant mystery; enemies become friends and vice versa. It reminded me so much of the podcast Serial in it’s central question of ‘who killed Hae-on?’, but also on the devastating impact on those within the vicinity of such a violent end: family, friends, acquaintances. Like shockwaves emanating from the central incident, everyone is affected. A thoroughly absorbing read. I loved it.

Unfortunately for me this was really difficult to find a way into. It's sold as almost a thriller but really is more of a meditation on grief. It seemed to be trying something interesting with structure. Sadly it ended up a disjointed story with many switching perspectives that was quite challenging to keep a grasp on. I did really like the writing style itself and could imagine enjoying something from the author. But this one just didn't work for me, especially with such a short length which made it hard to really connect with anyone.

I enjoyed this somewhat erratic book, I didn’t find it confusing to read and kept up with it quite nicely. I finished this one quick as I couldn’t put it down.

Three narrators, all three grieving for murdered Hae-On. Who would do such a thing?
A short novella at only 200 pages long but I raced through it. A haunting and gripping story.

‘At last a door that had been shut for a long time was opening, and radiant light came flooding in. And so began the revenge of the yellow angel. Lemon, I muttered. Like a chant of revenge, I muttered: Lemon, lemon, lemon.’

My thanks to Head of Zeus Apollo for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘ Lemon’ by Kwon Yeo-sun. It was translated from the Korean by Janet Hong.

‘Lemon’ is a literary crime novel that explores the reverberations that follow in the wake of an unsolved crime. In 2002 Kim Hae-on, an ethereally beautiful nineteen-year-old, was murdered in what became known as the High School Beauty Murder. There were two suspects: Shin Jeongjun, a rich boy who had a rock-solid alibi, and Han Manu, a delivery boy that the police had tried unsuccessfully to pin evidence on, much to their frustration. The case went cold.

Seventeen years pass and Hae-on’s younger sister Da-on, remains paralysed by grief and uncertainty. She sets out to find the truth about what happened to her sister, no matter the cost.

The novella shifts between the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on's classmates: Yun Taerim, who had considered Hae-on a rival, and Sanghui, who had been fascinated by Hae-on’s beauty. While somewhat of an outsider, Sanghui interacts with Da-on over their mutual interest in poetry and literature. I found Sanghui the most relatable of the three women.

While this crime is at the heart of ‘Lemon’, Kwon Yeo-sun uses the murder as a way to explore the ramifications of Hae-on’s death upon the lives of her family and others who knew her.

I was absolutely blown away by ‘Lemon’, finding its plot amazing and Kwon Yeo-sun’s writing powerful, atmospheric, and compelling. Yet I will admit that as I reached the end I was a bit perplexed about a few things. Given its length, I decided to return to the beginning and on my second reading these elements slotted into place. In this respect I felt that it was a far more challenging read than the usual whodunnit and so required a closer reading.

On a side note, while never a good idea to judge a book by its cover, ‘Lemon’ has such a striking one that it immediately drew my attention.

I expect that ‘Lemon’ will stay with me for a long time. I may recommend it as a 2022 selection for my reading group given its combination of beautiful writing, richness of ideas and strong characterisations. I also wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up long/short-listed for the 2022 International Booker Prize.

Highly recommended.

Once I decided this wasn't a mystery and more about how a murder affects the people involved, I still found it hard going at times. This could be because of the translation.

Lemon 🍋
Kwon Yeo-Sun, and translated by Janet Hong

"What happened in the summer of the Korea-Japan World Cup wasn't over. And it never will be. It will go on endlessly, until the end of Da-on's life, or maybe beyond that. Not being able to put an end to an incident so horrific – I couldn't begin to imagine that kind of weight on a life".

This was an interesting one. A lot of questions (and not a lot of answers). A lot of complex themes navigated and negotiated. A lot that didn’t make sense. A lot that was poignant and brilliant. It was a lot packed into 176 pages.

The novella is written from the perspective of three woman during the 17 years following the murder of Kim Hae-On, a beautiful & mysterious teenager in a yellow dress. Hae-on is last seen sitting in the passenger seat of Shin Jeongjun's car by Han Manu, a boy returning home after work. Although both suspects attend the same school, they are separated by wealth, privilege and protection. Ultimately neither boy is arrested for the crime.

If you're looking for a murder mystery, you won't get one here. If you want to learn more about Hae-on, you'll be left searching. She is a ghost, whose absence is palpable.

Instead you will be thrown into the stories of those who were left behind.

The first chapter was a masterclass in setting up a story and it’s themes. Details about the murder are revealed through the retelling of the interrogation of Han Manu. It is slowly revealed that the omnipresent narrator is, in fact, Da-On, Hae-on’s younger sister. The veracity of the story is immediately thrown into question. The "imagined scene" in Da-on's mind is coloured by her own guilt. This chapter explores the unreliability of memory, the pervasiveness of grief, the injustice of class, and the fragility of self when confronted with an unspeakable tragedy. It sets up the whole novella perfectly.

The balance of the novella is narrated by Da-on, Sangui Eonni (an old school friend) and Yun Taerim (the girl who later marries Shin Jeongjun). I was in awe of Yun Taerim's chapters. They are her stream of conscious discussions with her psychologist. In a weird brilliant twist, we never hear the psychologist's response (to the extent they get a word in). These passages are chaotic and raw. We are given a snapshot of an unravelling mind who inadvertently gives things away. It is through these chapters we get a glimpse of what may have happened, but it’s never confirmed.

Lemon is ultimately a story about grief, mixed in with a bit of existential dread. It demands a re-read.

Thank you for Zeus and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this translation in exchange for a honest review. Reviews have been posted to Goodreads (@annaliseygirl) and Instagram (@buddstreetbooks)

This was a really quick read and I enjoyed it from the very beginning. It was a little confusing at times, but it was beautifully and sympathetically written. I would definitely recommend this to anybody who is looking for something a little bit different, or is used to reading translated books

Lemon is a beguiling exploration on the long-term effects of a terrible crime on several individuals connected to the victim: her younger sister, a classmate, a romantic rival and the man falsely accused of the crime. It transpires that one of those individuals may actually be the murderer, who has gone unidentified and unpunished - by the law at least - for almost 20 years.
On the last night of June 2002, when South Korea is at the peak of its national fervour while co-hosting the (soccer) World Cup, 19-year-old student Kim Hae-on is brutally murdered, devastating her family and those who loved her.
Hae-on was stunningly beautiful but seems, according to her sister's description, to have been neurodivergent to some degree and hence more vulnerable than other young women her age. While a suspect was identified soon after her death, nobody has ever been prosecuted and what happened to Hae-on remains a mystery to those who remember her.
The direction of Hae-on's surviving younger sister, Da-on's life has been significantly influenced by her sister's untimely death, and she has taken some rather extreme measures in the course of dealing with her grief and attempting to exact her vengeance on the person(s) responsible. Four of the eight chapters of the novella are related from Da-on's perspective and give the reader glimpses of her unusual relationship with her late sister, on how she processes her grief and rage, and how she takes action in an effort to right past wrongs.
The alternating chapters are told from two alternate perspectives. First, that of Sanghui Eonni, a former classmate of Hae-on's, who also knew Da-on and encounters her on a couple of occasions in the years after the murder. His recollections have the character of an objective observer - he admired Hae-on's beauty, but was never particularly close to her. Secondly, we encounter two one-sided phone conversations in which the speaker is Yun Taerim. She was also a former classmate of Hae-on's, and a beautiful young woman in her own right, but was jealous of the admiration Hae-on received from mutual romantic interests, in particular golden boy Shin Jeongjun, in whose car Hae-on was last seen.
As the narrative unfolds, and Da-on confronts Han Manu, the unfortunate witness who was unfairly accused of the murder in 2002, the reader comes to a realisation around where the actual culpability for Hae-on's death lies.
There's a rawness to the prose, which effectively highlights the trauma from which several of the characters suffer. Kwon Yeo-Sun' s depiction of sensory experience is exquisite and her exploration of the long-ranging emotional toll Hae-on's death has had on the protagonists is nuanced and sensitive. A few passages sounded a little clunky when read in English, but as I don't speak Korean, I can't say whether this reflects on Kwon Yeo-Sun's own writing style or on the quality of translation. I found the novella's structure - both the multiple perspectives and the multiple time-points - a powerful means of exploring the various themes and characterisations.
I'd recommend Lemon to readers of literary fiction and/or psychological mystery who seek to challenge themselves with something a little different.
My thanks to the author, Kwon Yeo-Sun, publisher Head of Zeus, Apollo and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this intriguing title in advance of its publication on 14 October 2021.

This story, set in Korea, begins with a boy being questioned about a murder and continues over the next seventeen years as incidents prompt memories, more or less true, more or less relevant. Reading these the reader is led towards a resolution of the mystery: Who killed Kim Hae-on and why? She was eighteen and ‘unforgettably beautiful’; ‘bliss personified’; friendly but not overly so; a moderately clever, final year, high school student. Death was due to a cranial injury as a result of blunt force trauma. There is no obvious motive and none of the evidence adds up, so the police have to mark the case as unsolved.
The book is mostly told by and from the viewpoint of Kim Da-on, the younger sister of the murdered girl, much cleverer but also much plainer who, in the aftermath, undergoes cosmetic treatments to make her look like Hae-on (a transient but possibly significant action). Around her the main potential suspects circulate: the poor boy being questioned above; the rich boy who had driven her around in his car; the second most beautiful girl in school. Other possibles appear to be minor. The book (closer to a novella than a novel) is clearly a murder-mystery, but it is also a psychological examination of the disruptive effect the death has on all of these characters, and their friends and families.
The book is translated from the Korean original by Janet Hong and the resulting text is lyrical, even poetic, and philosophical. Korean words and names are important to the story (there are a couple of footnotes clarifying some aspects) and it is likely that some nuances may be lost on native English speakers lacking the cultural background – I certainly felt that I was missing a bit of the motivation. The latter point has an effect on the reader’s appreciation and I can see that some readers would read it as a novelty, but with a lack of engagement. On the other hand it is beautifully written and an intellectual challenge. Most UK readers, I feel, would think that this was a three star, but there will be many who appreciate its finer qualities and might go for five. I’ve settled for four.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Early last year it was announced that Head of Zeus had won a four-way auction for Kwon Yeo-Sun’s English debut Lemon, translated by Janet Hong. The short story comprises less than 150 pages and explores the themes of trauma and grief as well as class and privilege in the landscape in modern-day Korea through the plot of an unsolved murder case.

Following the High School Beauty Murder, two suspects quickly emerge. The first of these is rich kid Shin Jeongjun, whose car Hae-on was last seen in, and the other is delivery boy Han Manu from a far more modest background, who witnessed her there just a few hours before her death.

Rather than focussing on the murder or an examination into the police investigation, Lemon explores the fall out caused by the death of Hae-on, in particular its aftermath on her family, frends and even the suspects. This is a very unconventional story which regularly switches timeframes over a period of seventeen years. It also takes perspectives from three different people who knew the victim. These are Hae-on’s younger sister Da-on, and two of Hae-on’s classmates. Taerim who went on to marry Shin Jeongjun, and Sanghui. As the dialogue does not always make it clear which narrator is picking up the story so this does mean that at times it can appear puzzling to the reader.

Taken from the viewpoint as simply a ‘murder mystery’ Lemon could be seen as not wholly fulfilling yet the story features some illuminating and unsettling prose while it also portrays some interesting standpoints on grief and guilt. The greatest pain is it seems is not knowing and some aspects of the mystery appear to be taken to the grave. While Hae-on does not feature directly in the story, her presence is everywhere, yet closure on her death is the one thing that appears unattainable. Through her younger sister Da-on and her mother, we can reflect on the loss and the perpetual change in their lives. I could not escape the desire that perhaps the characters had focussed on what they still had rather than what they had lost.

A murder mystery, not exactly a thriller, that provides an excuse for a lyrical exploration of grief, trauma and guilt. Hae-on is murdered but the culprit is never found. As we follow her younger sister and the young people connected to the murder, the novel explores the impact of trauma and eventually hints at possibilities and solutions that are never made explicit but are left to the reader to guess, as if this was an enigma. I found Da-on’s narrative compelling and what she does to her body to cope harrowing. Hae-on's characterisation is really intriguing and has left me wanting to know more, imaginining what she was like, which is probably what this enigmatic book is meant to do: provide pieces of a puzzle and let the reader complete it. The novel is certainly beautifully written, but I also found it slightly confusing as the chapters are told in alternating voices that are not easily identifiable at first, which accounted for some frustration. A good book for attentive readers relishing beautifully written literary prose and a sense of indeterminacy but not if you are looking for a propulsive thriller.

My thanks to Head of Zeus for an arc in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley.

At this book’s core is the murder of a teenage girl, as we look at how this event affects the lives of her sister and the two prime suspects across the years. Though set up like a thriller, however, this is in fact a quiet look at grief, and a dissection of the social landscape in modern-day Korea.

There are interesting ideas at play here, but the execution lacks emotional intensity, the central mystery somehow feeling both predictable and superfluous.

A swift read, it’s the kind of book I failed to find many specific faults with, but which ultimately left me feeling cold, contemplating what could have been given the strength of the initial concept.

Thank you to the publisher for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Back in the summer of 2002, during the FIFA World Cup, Korea is buzzing as they are the hosts. At the same time, Kim Hae-on is murdered. There are a couple of suspects - the guy whose car she was last seen in, and the guy who sees her in the car. But there are alibis and contradictions and so no one is brought to justice and the case goes cold.
Years later and her sister Da-on is still struggling to get over her loss. She's done some wild things to compensate but still needs desperately to know the truth of what happened. Told in a multiple timeline format, not always chronologically, from three main perspectives, we start to piece some things together and scratch around the truth.
This was a strange book for me. It's clearly mentioned in the blurb that, although the story is centered around a crime and its aftermath, the getting to the bottom of who did what and why is not the aim. Instead the book focusses on the fallout and aftermath and what the death of Hae-on means to those around her. Family and friends, suspects too. Focussing on the emotions surrounding what happened then and is still happening now, also looking at how it changed the paths of those concerned and how they began to question their own mortality.
Well. I gave it a good go and I did finish the book - probably helped as it wasn't too long - but I can't say that I really enjoyed it. It was interesting to see how people changed because of what happened, how it affected them. But the lack of any kind of conclusion did leave me feeling wanting. I suspect that there was stuff that went right over my head that maybe could have left me less wanting but that I just didn't get. Maybe there were things that were literally lost in translation. Either way it did fall a little flat for me.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.