Very unique

Slow at first but short novel which packs a punch! Going to need time to think about this one.

It looks at the emotional aftermath of a schoolgirl’s murder but as you read, you realise it's an intricate puzzle which suggests a very different crime. On top of this, there's a commentary running through of South Korean society and the faultlines between north and south.

All in around 200 pages.

This book just wasn’t for me. I was intrigued by the plot line but the way it was written just didn’t work for me and k struggled to keep up with who the narrator was at any one point. I also felt like the dialogue and writing we’re particularly natural and I don’t feel like that was because this was a translation, I think it’s just the author’s style. A disappointing one for me and if it had been longer I wouldn’t have finished it.

In 2002 nineteen-year-old Kim Hae-on was murdered and seventeen years later her sister Da-on is still trying to find justice and closure. Her sister’s murder shook the school and the people around her but the case went cold. The only two suspects could not be pinned down for the murder. Shin Jeongiun had a solid alibi and the second, Han Manu, there was insufficient evidence.

The injustice of her sister's murder never let Da-on go as she spends her time trying to uncover the mystery in the hope to finally find out the truth.

This story is told from three different points of view, Da-ons and two of her classmates, as well as crossing points in time from 2002 and present day, which I must admit it was written in a way which I found a little bit confusing. It switched between the different voices from chapter to chapter without giving much indication as to who was talking, but I felt that that was purposely done, so as not to imprint on the reader the true face of the killer. The story also doesn’t come to a neat ending as the loose ends are left to the reader to tie up. I have my suspicions but I’m not entirely sure it is right.

In all, this is an interesting short murder mystery novel, and although you may think it will take the path of a typical murder investigating route, it instead follows the path of grief, bringing to light the different ways it affects the individuals involved as they attempt to move on with their lives.

Thank you @headofzeus for inviting me to be part of this book tour

This is a captivating and thrilling book. It is wo well written and I really enjoyed it. I had high expectations for this book and wasn't let down. A superbly written and excellent book.

A quirky little book that I found tricky to navigate. More a collection of snippets of time than a full plot, this is definitely an unconventional read however still enjoyable. The structure of this story was a struggle for me but the overall tale of grief was interesting and very thought provoking.

I am sorry to say that I did not enjoy this short novel. Not because it was poorly written, but because I found it so bleak and awkward, and it made me feel sad to read it. A young woman's sister was murdered several years ago, and this is the surviving sister's account of how life unfolds in the years following, including the connections she makes with people who were significant in her sister's life.

Would only recommend to those who enjoy bleak, depressing, quirky fiction. 3/5 stars.

An intriguing premise: life in the aftermath of he murder of the beautiful but unpleasant Hae-on.
The how is only alluded to, the why seems irrelevant, and the question of by whom is never quite clear. This story which details the emotional fallout resulting from Hae-one’s death seemed strangely cold and lacking in heart. Whether this is intentional, or due to the translation, I am not sure.
I expected more intrigue and depth of feeling, and although the characters wee interesting, I was not invested in them, which left me feeling disappointed with this book
Thanks to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review

This book is a fleeting thing, showing the aftermath of the murder of a high school student and the different perspectives people can have on one person. I liked the fragmentary structure and atmosphere and the novella tells a gripping story that leaves you thinking.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lemon is author Kwon Yeo-sun’s English language debut novella, a book described in the marketing as a literary thriller, and categorised as such in most of the places it can be pre-ordered from. But in her native South Korea, Yeo-sun has a reputation for writing unconventional stories, playing with form and, therefore, being known as an author who is sometimes difficult to read.

If you go into reading Lemon with none of that knowledge about Kwon’s previous work, then this novella is likely to baffle you – just as it baffled me. Books have to be put into categories, of course. They just do, there is no getting around it. But by suggesting that Lemon is a literary thriller, and focusing on the ‘murder mystery’ element of the story, the book is being done a disservice. People who like thrillers will pick it up and not get what they expect at all, which might not be a good thing. And people who don’t like thrillers will miss out on a novella that has some beautiful prose, and interesting statements to make about grief, guilt and tragedy.

In fact, in a book where the catalyst is a mysterious unsolved murder, the murder is actually the least interesting thing about the whole story.

In the summer of 2002, in the hazy days when South Korea was hosting the FIFA World Cup with neighbour Japan, 19 year old Kim Hae-on was murdered. She was last seen, allegedly, in the car of Shin Jeongjun, a rich boy with a rock solid alibi. The other boy who claimed to have seen her in the car was Han Manu, a delivery boy on whom none of the evidence could ever be pinned. Lemon tells the story of the seventeen years following the murder, each ‘chapter’ told from the perspective of Da-on, Hae-on’s younger sister, and two of Hae-on’s classmates. Taerim, who went on to marry Shin Jeongjun, and Sanghui, who barely knew Hae-on but did know Da-on.

There is little plot in Lemon. Each chapter captures a single moment in time – a chance meeting, or a phone conversation, for example. In the background of each chapter is Hae-on’s death, and the long shadow the mystery has cast over the lives of the people in our story, even in the chapters such as Taerim’s where the link seems more tenuous than it is with Da-on or Sanghui. Hae-on may be dead, but her ghost is there, haunting every page. When she was alive, she seemingly had little impact on people. In her death, she is much more present.

And that is really what Lemon is about. It’s about the grief and the guilt that can haunt a person, and how that grief and guilt manifests over the years. At times, the novella is almost impenetrable. From one chapter to the next, the reader doesn’t know which narrator is coming next. It can take several pages before we know who we are with once again. No matter how atmospheric the writing might be – and it is atmospheric – it is a fault of the storytelling to leave the reader so high and dry. Many people will abandon this novella, and I wouldn’t even try particularly hard to stop them.

But it has to be said that pressing on with it, tolerating the lack of clarity, reveals some fascinating character moment. Da-on, Hae-on’s sister, is by far the most interesting and complex of the narrators. She has never really got over Hae-on’s death, and takes some drastic, bizarre actions to try and deal with the grief and the guilt she feels. Their relationship was strange, Da-on charged with her older sister’s care, and she clearly feels resentment at that as well as an overwhelming need to try and clear up. She is the one most interested in solving the murder, which makes sense. But we get the feeling she is also the one who is going to suffer the most if the case was ever resolved.

Lemon is a strange book that is going to suffer for being miscategorised, and is in danger of being very misunderstood too.

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.

Told at different points in time from the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on's classmates, Lemon is a piercing psychological portrait that takes the shape of a crime novel and is a must-read novel of 2021.
A short read although it is about a murder the story is much more than that about grief and trauma. The book is confusing at times and the characters at times are unclear .I struggled with this book it appeared a bit of a jumble.

This is not a thriller, despite what the blurb seems to imply. Yes, it's a murder mystery, and an intricate one at that, but the book is much more of a social commentary on South Korea and a a raw study of grief. Not an easy read, but an original one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this book thinking it would be a tale of murder and revenge, and those themes appealed to me as we approach the darker months of the year. That's not what this book is. Lemon offered something surprising and, in many ways, better.

Narrated by three women touched in some measure by the murder of Hae-on when she was a teenager, Lemon is the story of the ones left behind. It's about spiraling uncontrollably and grief that looks very, very ugly. Despite the dark topic, Kwon Yeo-Sun's prose is beautiful in a disconcerting way that made me squirm in my seat.

It struck me how little we know of Hae-on considering she is an all-consuming presence in the book. Who was she? Was she really as aloof and unconcerned as the women in her life believed her to be? And why did she leave the house the day of her murder? When it came to Da-on, the main narrator, I was divided. At times I felt compassion and sadness for her traumatic experiences, and others I was astonished to feel suspicious of her. Da-on's grief doesn't feel genuine all the time. Her obsession with Hae-on's murder seems to be inseparable from her self-centered personality. The thought I most often had while reading was: Did she ever truly care for her sister?

As you can see, this book left me with many unanswered questions. If you want clear-cut answers, Lemon might not be for you. I personally don't mind this that much, and though I finished it thinking it could have done with a little more closure it's a good reminder that sometimes there can be none, no matter how hard we look for it.

‘The imagination is just as painful as reality’
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Hands down one of the most beautifully written books I’ve had to privilege to read this year. Definitely one of my favourites also. A wonderful and interesting look on death/murder and how grief affects us in different ways
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In the summer of 2002, when Korea is abuzz over hosting the FIFA World Cup, eighteen-year-old Kim Hae-on is killed in what becomes known as the High School Beauty Murder. Two suspects quickly emerge: rich kid Shin Jeongjun, whose car Hae-on was last seen in, and delivery boy Han Manu, who witnessed her there just a few hours before her death. But when Jeongjun’s alibi checks out, and no evidence can be pinned on Manu, the case goes cold.
Seventeen years pass without any resolution for those close to Hae-on, 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.
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The book changes between 3 perspectives, that of Hae-on’s sister and then those of 2 of her classmates, all struck in different. Ways by Hae-on’s beauty and untimely death. The novel poses as a crime novel, but truly is so much more. Kwon Yeo-Sun takes this well known format but uses it to explore grief, trauma, privilege and loss of both someone you held dear but also the life you were expecting to have. A true must read for genuinely everyone. I can’t think of anybody who I wouldn’t recommend this one to!!
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Thank you so much to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the arc! I feel very lucky to have had a chance to read this one early!!

In 2002, teenager Kim Hae-on was murdered. It became known as the high school beauty murder. There were two suspects; Shin Jeongjin (who had a good alibi) and Han Manu (whom no evidence could be pinned). The case went cold. 17 years pass without justice, grief takes its toll on everyone - particularly her sister, Da-on. The story is told from the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on’s classmates. Ultimately the author uses a crime novel structure and sets out to explore privilege, jealousy and trauma.
The premise sounds exciting, right? I read it as I was scrolling on NetGalley and requested it immediately. The cover is also stunning. I was absolutely delighted when I received it.
But to be honest I was quite disappointed with how this was executed. It felt like the translation was almost a bit clunky in comparison to other translated fiction I have read. It is not made clear who’s perspective we are reading from, making the book have a stop-start kind of pace. The start had me gripped, but by the end I felt I hadn’t really seen the aspect of privilege explored in much detail. The crime-thriller element also felt quite lacking, which is what the blurb emphasises. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters because the structure had me feeling more and more confused as I read on.
The one thing that definitely stands true to the blurb is the exploration of trauma and grief. The author delves into Da-on and her mother’s deep loss of Hae-on and how they struggled to cope, especially with the lack of answers they had. I think this aspect of the book was done very well.
Overall, I was unfortunately disappointed with this book. It felt very disjointed to me and just did not live up to what I had expected.
Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This short quirky Korean novel is billed as a thriller, but it‘s really not. There is a murder and we do explore whodunit but it‘s more a study of grief, and the meaning of life (and death).

The story is told from 3 different POVs, which made it difficult to follow sometimes but still a satisfying read.

3.5 stars

In the summer of 2002, when Korea is abuzz over hosting FIFA World Cup. nineteen year old Kim Hae-on is killed in what becomes known as the High School Beauty Murder. Two suspects quickly emerge: rich kid Shin Jeongjum, whose car Hae-on was last seen in, and delivery boy Han Manu, who witnesses Hae-on in the passenger seat of Jeongjum's car just a few hours before her death. But when Jeongjum's alibi turns out to be solid, and no evidence can be pinned on Manu, the case goes cold. Seventeen years pass without any resolution for those who ;oved Hae-on.

In this novella, we learn how life and death can affect people. We follow the before and after the death of Hae-on. Hae-on's sister, Da-on, her mother and Hae-on's classmates find they can't get over the emotional impact that Hae-on's death brought. The story is told from multiple perspectives. You have no idea who is telling the story most of the time. I could not put this novella down. It's quite an addictive read.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HeadOfZeus and the author #KwonYeosun for my ARC of #Lemon in exchange for an honest review.

Translated from its original Korean, Lemon is an atmospheric crime story from Kwon Yeo-Sun. It focuses on the murder of 19-year-old student, Kim Hae-on in the summer of 2002. Last seen in a yellow lemon dress, her murderer is never caught, although two boys were prime suspects at the time.

We follow Kim Hae-on’s sister, Da-on and another narrator in the present day. Da-on recounts the impact her sister’s murder has had on her and their mother and goes on a search for closure. While doing this, she reveals the impact the murder investigation had on the suspects’ lives too.

Quite bleak but with flashes of clever sentences that had a philosophical feel due to its exploration of death and what it means to live. This is a story more about the emotions such an horrific event inflicts than the tracking down of the true culprit. Not to say that doesn’t happen; the ending had that hook that I was looking for and gave it a satisfying finish.

I worry I’ve made Lemon sound quite grim but it’s not a heavy read. Enigmatic in many ways, it doesn’t feel like any other crime stories I’ve read recently. Which is always a good thing. I have to admit I was drawn to the eye-catching cover and am glad I read it, very much enjoying Lemon‘s take on crime fiction.

A lot of the time I love going into books not knowing much regarding the synopsis - leaving me free to become completely immersed in the story. What I will say is that Lemon is described is a thriller examining the aftermath of a death of a beautiful high school student in South Korea, yet personally this was more of an insight into the lives & grief of those left behind who find themselves shaken by these events.

The narrative of this novel is so unique & I cannot recall if I have read anything like it, we are given fragment of the story from various perspectives - that of her sister, her classmate, a young delivery driver & are left to construct our own conclusion of what happened on that day. Whilst I found this to be a smart play on delivering a thriller, I found the vagueness of what actually happened somewhat jarring & by the end I was keen to put this one a side. Some chapters I struggled to identify who the narrator was which I found somewhat confusing & some points I felt were executed somewhat sloppily (I wish I could say more, yet this would truly be a spoiler!)

All this to say that this one is a short, breezy read that I feel so many will enjoy - yet for me it didn’t quite deliver what I was hoping it would. Enormous thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for the ARC.

This is a difficult one to review as I have mixed feelings on it. At around 150 pages it’s not a long read. I had expected a thriller type read about a murdered girl. But that isn’t what this is. It is more a look at life, death and grief along with gender and social class. The murder of Kim Hae-on happened during the 2002 FIFA World Cup being hosted in Korea and Japan.

Hae-on is last seen as far as we are aware in the car of Shin Jeongjun, by Han-Manu who has just done a takeaway delivery on his push bike, he saw her in the car at traffic lights. The next time she is seen she is dead. But Shin has an alibi, but Han-Manu doesn’t. The police are pretty rough with Han-Manu hoping to get a confession from him which doesn’t happen. Because there is no evidence to say that he had committed murder he is let go.

What we then get throughout the rest of the story are short chapters each jumping four years and spanning 19 years, the ripple effect the death had on the family, as well as those who were classed as witnesses. The majority of narration is by Da-on the sister of Hae-on. The way she copes with losing her sister from wanting to honour her sister, to revenge, to acceptance. Some of the chapters I found difficult to understand who the narrator was one of those chapters is a conversation on the telephone with a counsellor but the conversation didn’t really work for me as you only get one side of it, I would have liked to have had both sides of the conversation. Other things happen, I think I know what happened but it is really up to the reader to interpret as it’s not investigated at all, and it’s never really confirmed.

It’s also up to the reader to work out who they believed had killed Hae-on, there are clues at times I thought vague but again the reader is left to decide who it was and there is no confirmation about who. If you want a story that gives you clear answers then this is not the one, if you read carefully you may deduce who the villains are and who the victims are. But even then there is no guarantee you have it right.

It is a complex read, I would have liked to have got to know the characters a little better, as none of them seemed reliable witnesses or narrators.

I would like the thank #netgalley and #HeadofZeus for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun was described as a thriller set in Korea that examines the aftermath of the death of a young woman, but I found it to be more of a depiction of the complexity of grief. I liked the unusual narrative format where we are given fragments of the story from various perspectives and left to construct our own conclusions about what happened on that day, but I thinks some readers may find the lack of a defined ending somewhat jarring, I also have to say that I found it a little confusing occasionally because for some chapters it is not clear who the narrator is for much of the time. but as I grew more accustomed to this I began to enjoy the challenge of figuring out what was going on and became completely engrossed in the story and characters, wondering who I could trust. For a short book. it has left a lasting impression.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the Publisher, all opinions are my own.