I love discovering internationally acclaimed authors. Translation is such a work of art on its own. You’re not just adopting the work of an author but also trying to capture the style and feel of their writing.

Not only did I love this book, but I have to commend the translator. Although, I always wish I could read a work in its original language.

From master storyteller J. M. Lee, of Korean fame, comes an unforgettable novel of hidden truths, denials, and their inevitable repercussions.

In this twisty novel two young families are forever changed by the events of one summer. The Malcolm House family is of modest means, the father a handyman and the mother a housekeeper, with two teenage sons, one a star pupil and the other an amateur artist. The Howard House family, of higher social status, buys the great house up the hill, the father an aspiring politician with a wife and two daughters, one 18 and one about 7. The two families collide and overlap in predictable ways - one's mother works as the other's housekeeper - and in unpredictable ways. More than 25 years later, the remnants of these two families must reckon with what happened between them in that long-buried summer.

I loved how ethereal and floaty this story was. It took me a while to get into it but once the plot got rolling, I couldn't put the book down. The characters are the hook that keep you invested in this story but once the mystery starts rolling out, slowly but surely, the plot itself becomes much more important. I like that there was this balance between character development in the first half and plot progress in the second half, I think it's an interesting balance you don't find too often in literary fiction or in the thriller genre. Also, just personal preference, but I love a revenge plot and this one was very well written. The characters on both ends were developed so as to make the revenge plot very believable - their motivations, their connections, their secrets.

However, I have to say, I didn't enjoy the beginning of this novel. It was so slow, clunky, with immense amount of superfluous scene-setting that was so boring I wanted to DNF the book. After about the 20% mark, I was glad I stuck with it, but there were a few times throughout the book where this drowsy sidebar approach to storytelling
reared its head again and it made the 250 pages feel like a 450 page book. I just wish it had a stronger editor to cut down on those parts. I also thought the translation was a bit awkward and... forced? at times. There were points where the translated sentence *made sense technically* but felt like an AI had written the sentence because it's not a way that people would communicate the sentiment in English. But maybe I'm just being picky.
3.5 rounded up

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from AmazonCrossing and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Unputdownable. Wonderfully entertaining and enjoyable for anyone who love to read a great story.

Maybe Broken Summer by J.M. Lee just wasn't ment for me to read!
When I read the synopsis I was instantly excited.
Sadly I just couldn't get into it.
It was more of a slow build. And I kept waking for things to happen and honestly they never did.
The writing was good, but it never did grab my attention.
Im sure other readers will enjoy this book more than I did.
And I hope Broken Summer finds it's audience.
It just wasn't my thing.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Amazon Crossing,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Such a fantastic story that I couldn’t put this down. although it felt a bit sad. It is both a sad Nd importsnt read.