I like so much this book, I love the narrative and the history.
I only wish that it had more suspense at the end of each section.
But I really want to keep reading more of this author.

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. The Audiobook format, featuring the voices of Greta Jung, Jaine Ye and Greg Chun, is successful in differentiating the three narrative perspectives.
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, carried through to the narration, 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 narrated 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. Having experienced the book both via an e-book and by listening to the audiobook version, I can confirm that the latter is a well-rendered interpretation suited to the multi-narrator format.
My thanks to the author, Kwon Yeo-Sun, publisher RB Media Recorded Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this intriguing title in advance of its publication on 12 October 2021.

Format: audiobook
Author: Kwon Yeo-Sun ~ Title: Lemon ~ Narrators: Greg Chun; Greta Jung; Jaine Ye
Content: 4.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

If you expect a typical suspenseful mystery / thriller, this novel could disappoint you. It is a kind of mystery, but not a typical one. Lemon is a story built around a murder. After many years, Da-on still wants to know who killed her sister. But other than that, it’s not a mystery. It is weird and somewhat complicated. And I loved it.

In the end, more important than who did it are the characters narrating the events in years after the murder. It’s more of a psychological character study. The novel doesn’t have a consistent plot and timeline. The story jumps from one character to another and from one year to another.

In the beginning, I had some trouble with the Korean names and distinguishing who is who. Otherwise, I quickly got used to timeline and POV jumps. Lemon is a quick read / listen, and it may not offer all you want to know. But the novel doesn’t have to be long or even answer all your questions to feel perfect and complete.

I liked three narrators: Greg Chun, Greta Jung, and Jaine Ye. I think they did a very good job.

Thanks to RB Media the for the ARC and the opportunity to listen to this! All opinions are my own.

This was odd. But I liked it. I really enjoyed the character development, and I felt very attached to them a the setting was transportive. I would read more from this author in the future.

Tragic and beautifully told real story. I really enjoyed this narration and this story is truly so sad.

Spooky season on The Plot Thickens starts with a short read involving a haunting—devoid of any ghosts. In the translated edition of Lemon by Kwon Yeo-sun, we are introduced to Kim Da-on and her high school classmates, Yun Taerim, Han Manu, and Sanghui who each are haunted by the death of her older sister, Hae-on, in an unsolved murder that occurred in high school.

For Yun Taerim the haunting comes in the form of ceaseless accusation and illness after police decided that he was the last person to report seeing Kim Hae-on alive. So when Kim Da-on tracks him several years later and accuses him of being the murderer, he’s more resigned than defensive. When she leaves his home, Da-on is less sure about this conviction and remains more concerned about the vacuum her sister’s death has cast on their small family than dedicating her time to finding her killer. It is through the lens of her former literary club friend, Sanghui, whom she runs into years after high school, that we see that Da-on has gone as far as getting plastic surgery to better resemble her sister—a stark representation of Da-on’s desire to fill the space her sister once kept within their family.

This story revels in all the moments in between life, spending much of its time recounting moments that held no significance at the time, held higher now that these memories are all that are left. For Yun Taerim, when jealousy, guilt, and fear converges and she finds herself without a trusted outlet in her life, she anonymously seeks the help of multiple counseling spaces. Because she and Kim Hae-on were considered the class beauties of their year, she always considered the other girl competition—particularly, after her beau, Shin Jeongjun, showed Hae-on interest. It was after all Shin Jeongjun who drove the car that Hae-on was last seen in before being found in a park. After witnessing this ride and dealing with Jeongjun’s transfer to school in the U.S., Taerim holds a resentment that she’s pressed to get over after marrying Jeongjun upon his return to South Korea.

I appreciated the way that the author uses introspection and multiple perspectives to give the details of the story without making it your typical crime or mystery novel. Readers will leave with an idea of what happened to Hae-on, but more importantly they will be reminded of the ways that death raises a mirror to regret and remorse on those it leaves behind.

I don't think I got all of it. I just didn't get any resolution from it. I understand it could be marketed as a mystery but I feel like I lost a lot of what was happening because I didn't understand Korean society and tradition.

I was really excited to try this but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it and did not finish. I found it confusing and struggled to engage with the narrative. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC, this just wasn't for me.

This was a really quick read about an unsolved murder of a high school girl on the surface but it is so much more than that as we explore the grief of the sister of the deceased as she starts asking questions trying to puzzle out who killed her older reckless sister. We do jump around in time to the events leading up to the murder which is an element that I really enjoy. I think the author did a great job crafting this story and am glad I got to read it.

Didn't like this book as much as I thought I would, which is a little disappointing. The story was a little confusing, and incomplete in a way, it felt like different sections of text were just put together without anything to connect them. I could've been fine with an open ending but it felt more like an "open story", it just didn't make much sense. The characters also aren't particularly memorable or likeable.

Narrator 5 stars
Such a beautiful and soothing voice

Story 3 stars
The author is clearly a very talented writer. I find the writing style really beautiful. The story itself was interesting but overall didn't move me

The set up of Lemon is very intriguing. Set in South Korea, a cold high school murder case and its aftermath, such as the grief experienced by the victim's family, sounds very promising. However, now having finished the book, I am left quite unsatisfied. The novel jumps between perspectives as it moves through time and a lot of loose ends seemingly lead nowhere. While I very much enjoyed observing the victim's immediate family, the big picture did not make itself clear to me. It almost feels like I have more questions after the end of the book than when first introduced to the murder case. Though I enjoyed the prose and narration very much, I cannot help but wonder if this intricate story would’ve been easier to follow in written form.
Thank you so much to Netgalley, RB Media & Recorded Books for the advance audio copy!

Thanks for an audiobook for reviewing, Netgalley!

There's something about Korean literature, a visceral effect that leaves me feeling uncomfortable in a way that tells me I've read something important. Much like Han Kang's writing, I found Lemon's frank prose and vivid descriptions affected me physically as I read. Definitely a sign of good writing.

That said, I did not enjoy this very much. The story doesn't solve a mystery so much as evaluate the ripple effect of a crime; it felt too brief to have really invested me in any of the people affected, though.

The narrators were very good - I love Greta Jung, this is maybe my third or fourth book with her narration and I'm glad to see expanding asian narrations (sorry, Emily Woo Zeller!).

I think my final take was good writing, not so good story; three stars for the prose.

Thanks NetGalley and Recorded books for the ALC of Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Son narrated by Greg Chun, Greta Jung and Jaine Ye.
In an interrogation room detectives interrogate a boy named Han Manu. Hinting a crime had been committed. That's how the story began.
Well this book wasn't like any other mystery novel. The way the story dealt more with loss, grief and memories were interesting.
A good book to pass time.

This is my first experience with Korean Literature and I must say, I'm deeply intrigued.

This fast-paced thriller has subverted my expectations and it kept me guessing till the very end. Actually, the ending really baffled me. The book ended all of a sudden with a weird twist, I felt like I was smacked in the head with a frying pan (not that I know how that feels, but yeah...), a lemon-colored frying pan.

All jokes aside, this book had an interesting structure, a weird unreliable narrator with even weirder side characters.

It's a murder mystery that raises a ton of questions, even more so at the ending.

What started off as dealing with the aftermath of a school girl's murder turned into a complex puzzle.

The story was at the same time vague and cramped with tiny details.

I consumed "Lemon" in a audiobook format, translated to English. So I can't tell if some things were lost in translation or everything was translated perfectly.

Audiobook narrator: 3.5/5 ⭐
Overall story: 4/5 ⭐


Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for providing me with this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for this eARC!

I wish this story would’ve been a little longer, but I was satisfied by the end. Its less of a murder mystery and more of a reflection on how a crime like this can affect so many people in a small town, and how it changes the trajectory of their lives. I think I may have enjoyed it more as a physical or e-book; the audio wasn’t as clear as it could’ve been and some of the emotion was lost with it.

I went into this book thinking it would be an unsettling, thriller but what it ended up being was much more of a character study or a study in what grief or tragedy does to people. I love books and other media, that explore the ways one incident effect different people. So many things can go into that effect; social class, age, gender, mental health or the way a person is predisposed to view the world. The "mystery" takes a back seat. And while the murder of this girl is never trivialized you spend more time seeing why a crime like this isn't an isolated incident, not through time and not only effecting one person.

I thought this was so interesting and the use of sparse storytelling and unreliable narrators made this all the more poignant. The audio book was quite good as well, and I enjoyed the narrators very much.

I’m really glad I got the chance to preview this book and stuck it out. I initially found it somewhat confusing and meandering, but as the story progressed, it became a million times better. A stunning tale of this young woman, her death, the impact it has on her family… so good!

"Lemon" by Kwon Yeo-Sun is a first-time read/author to this reader. The description of this story appealed to me and I appreciate the opportunity to listen this audiobook.

There is a murder at the center of this story that has happened in 2002. It is a murder of the beautiful Hae-on and the grief of those who knew her and those pulled into the murder case. This is not the typical murder mystery that you would typically read, however the murder is revealed about a third the way through this book. The story is narrated from three women’s points of views that are questionable to say the least.

A very interesting novella audiobook that I enjoyed although at times the pace was slow and the points of views of the individuals jumped around a bit too much for me. Although the voices (1st person) were a bit confusing for me when interchanging characters, the narrators did a very good job with such a short story to narrate. The ending of this story was a bit surprising as the main characters seem to make it realistic and provide some sort of closure for a happy ending.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for this ALC in exchange for my fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

4 stars

This story centers on an unsolved murder, but it’s not about the murder itself nor investigation really. It’s about the fallout, how it affects those left behind & still living: grief, guilt, anger, & different paths to moving on.

[What I liked:]

•It’s not a long book, but I think it’s the right length for the story it tells. It’s not rushed, & even the large jumps in time work well for the narrative.

•Taerin’s sessions with the psychiatrist(?) are really well done. The text is one sided (we only get her lines of dialogue) but it’s easy to follow the conversation & infer what the doctor was saying. The info revealed in these sessions has more emotional impact than if it was told in exposition, or even through a dialogue in another context. Taerin’s emotional distress, denial, & contradictory statements reveal so much more than just the facts themselves.

•I appreciate how the story ends, with the central characters naturally drifting apart over time for different reasons. It’s realistic, I think, & gives some sense of closure without a forced resolution/everything-is-happy ending.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•There were a lot of perspective jumps/several different 1st person narrators. I would have preferred fewer, especially in a book of this length.

•The ending gets a bit didactic on the meaning of life. It is a fitting theme to address, but it’s written without much subtlety, which is a big shift in tone from the rest of the book.

CW: murder, assault, mental illness/PTSD, police brutality, ableism, abusive relationships, child abuse/neglect, terminal illness

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]