I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did, and I had to take a break from it about 1/3 through to read something else. I thought the prose was lovely and the cover design is one of my favourites that I've seen this year, but I found the story lacking. I think if it had stuck with Insu's perspective, instead of swapping between his POV and Big Uncle's, it could have had a stronger coming of age narrative, but as it was I found it confusing and I would often forget where I was in the story. I generally enjoy memoir and coming of age stories, especially set during turbulent times, but Skull Water missed the mark for me.

An interesting coming of age historical fiction following multiple generations. The premise and plot has potential but the writing lacked momentum in places. An enjoyable read on the whole nonetheless.

I couldn't get into this one and quit around 25%. The narrative was choppy and getting plunged headfirst into Korean folklore with insufficient background made the whole story feel a bit like a fever dream.

I felt like this one trudged on... Kept waiting for it to be over and finally pushed through it after my third(?) attempt at reading it. The characters were hard to connect to and the plotline wasn't solid to me.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher Spiegel & Grau, and the author Heinz Insu Fenkl of an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book not might be for someone like me and that could have partially been the blurb leaving the impression in the exploration of intergenerational haunting and classic Asian American narratives. The book is much more in the historical fiction genre and the pacing can be rather slow with the tedious historical descriptions found within the prose. The book could cut down on those details and focus much more on the characters and describing more interesting details.

Normally I love historical fiction, especially when I get to learn about the experiences of people who have lived completely different lives to me, but something about the pacing of this book turned me off from it. The chapters felt too long, and I found myself losing interest mid chapter and having to read pages over again.

I can definitely see the appeal of this book and would recommend it to certain people but unfortunately it was too slow paced for me.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Spiegel & Grau and the author for the ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the blurb of this book, the one word, I did not much focus on was 'haunting', but that is the best description for this book. It took me a good long time to get through this book especially due to this. It deals with various kinds of trauma that people faced during the 50's and the 70's while growing into adults. From abandonment to political mass murders to addictions so on and so forth - these are all things that surround our 2 main characters, Insu and his Big uncle. There is good bit of Korean folklore and traditional practices discussed as well. he title “skull water” refers to one such folklore that says that water from a dead person’s skull can cure any illness. This story inspires Insu to go looking for it to help cure his Uncle's gangrenous foot. Parallelly to this story we follow the 'big uncle' in his youth as he lives through the civil war and what followed.

As someone who adores historical fiction, that accurately portrays the horrors of the past, this book was not completely my cup of tea. I think it’s mostly because of the long chapters and the slow entry to the plot. Nevertheless, it did leave its haunting signature on me.

Set in South Korea in the 1950s and 1970s, a haunting inter-generational coming-of-age novel about identity and displacement. Phenomenal . . . truly remarkable and amazingly unpredictable

I tried really hard yet could not get into this book. I felt like there were long chapters that just went on and on. I was really into the chapters with the boys and the Skull Water scenes and the scenes with the uncle on the island. I didn’t not like it.

A great coming of age book set in 1950's and 1970's South Korea that will move you. I learned a lot about Korean history and loved the friendships between the boys. However, the pacing could have been better in the second part of the book, BUT this was a great debut and my library already has it on the shelves. Great job!

I give this 3.75 stars

A fascinating coming-of-age novel that moves between the often harsh world of growing up on a US military base and the legendary world of Korean legends and geomancy. The friendship between the three main boys was heartfelt and although we meet a fair few characters, they’re distinct and interesting in their own way. Overall really enjoyed this, it felt different and refreshing.

Very well written debut novel a story about South Korea between the 1960sand 70s.The book the characters kept my interest will be following and recommending the author and the novel#netgalley#skullwater

I thought that this was a really accomplished debut novel, with some slight pacing issues. I thought that the first half was much stronger than the second half, but the narrative threads came together in a very satisfying way. These characters felt very real, complex, and intriguing to me. I found the scenes of animal cruelty to be very disturbing and may warrant a content warning related to animal cruelty and death. Ultimately this was a riveting story that had a very unique perspective.

(3.75 stars) I wish I had had a little background in Korean spirituality before reading this book. I was a bit lost at times, especially at the beginning and end of the novel. In between these times, though, this was an interesting and beautifully written account of one man’s experiences at the beginning of the Korean War and that of he and his family twenty-five years later. There were sections of beautiful imagery that made the book come alive for me and that I’ll not soon forget. A good chunk of this imagery was related to animal cruelty, however, so I should give a trigger warning. It will not be for all.

The title “skull water” refers to legend that says that water from a dead person’s skull can cure any illness. A Korean teen, Insu, tries to get such skull water to cure his uncle’s gangrenous foot. This uncle has been banished to a mountain cave on an island to die of the disease. He attempts to teach Insu the family lore and Buddhist teachings before he leaves the earth. Overall, I’d probably not recommend this for the casual reader, but anyone interested in Korean myths and traditions will get a lot out of it.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this title for review.

I regretfully DNF'd this book around the halfway mark. I really enjoyed the book while I was reading it and was left with some vivid imagery of both explored timelines. The writing was also evocative and beautiful, and the book echoed with an air of auto-fiction without pretention. Ultimately, however, the plot did not hold my interest and I found myself not returning to the book. While beautifully written, it was not for me.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

First, thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Okay, this was generally a beautiful book. I loved the way the sentences flowed, the look of the text on the screen, and the way the threads all slipped through the pages until the end. There were pieces that felt like they didn't fit, and there were some moments that completely took me away from the world. All in all, though, I enjoyed it and will probably reread it!

4.5/5 rounded to 5

The novel is mostly a coming of age story set in 1970s Korea, Insu has a Korean mother and a German father stationed in the U.S. Army. After spending time in Germany with his dad he returns to South Korea and spends his time scavenging black market goods and then going on a quest to find a skull for his uncle to drink from and be cured. The novel was interesting but was a little hard to follow for me. Someone more steeped in Korean history, culture and myths might be able to follow it a little more clearly.

This was a tough novel to review. As much as I appreciated with two "voices," Insu and Big Uncle, and their stories --filled with historical and Korean folklore information--I couldn't get past the disjointed flow of the story. A lack of a strong thread throughout (aside from the skull water search) kept this novel from being a 4/5 star read for me.

Insu (a character based on the author) is a 14-year-old, mixed-race boy. His mom is a South Korean woman and his Dad is a German soldier. It's the mid 1970s and he's back in Korea after being in Germany while his dad was stationed there. Insu spends his time getting into trouble and engaging in different activities--skipping school to hang with his friends, selling goods on the black market, visiting his Big Uncle (who's shunned to the woods due to an infected foot), and, eventually, searching for the elusive "skull" with the water that will cure his uncle's ailment. The hopping from here to there is funny and compelling, at times, but overall it just seemed disconnected to the main theme. Although maybe that IS the theme. Disconnection with the real, war-torn world. The choppy cadence of the story kept me from appreciating the narrative and Insu's growth.

I enjoyed Big Uncle's remembrances. His chapters, set in the 1950s during the Korean War, seem to have more depth and emotional resonance for me than Insu's. My favorite moment of the novel was Insu's time with Big Uncle. Although Insu seemed to grow a bit through his experiences, his overall melancholic personality didn't lend itself to the creation of a strong character.

Overall, I just couldn't stay invested in this story.

An amazing look into the birth of modern South Korea. The story is intertwined with the devastating and violent past of Korea. Part family drama, part historical fiction, this book is hauntingly beautiful and leaves an indelible mark on the reader

This review will be brief. This was a truly interesting read, capturing two points in Korean history that I was aware of, but knew little about. Unfortunately, the occasional passages depicting violence toward animals (not in any specifically Korean context) made it a no-go for me.