Lemon

I'm not 100% sure I can well encapsulate my thoughts. This is the June book for the Small Press book club I attend, and reading the back I knew it'd appeal to me. “Parasite meets The Good Son in this piercing psychological portrait of three women haunted by a brutal, unsolved crime.”

It's a brisk 147 pages and reads easily. I had a hard time putting it down. We have a vague timeline, a smattering of characters, and the interior of their minds to think about for those pages, sometimes wondering whose head we're in, other times wondering what the point of a passage is. I am not sure all the questions are answered (rather, it is clear not all questions are answered), and I am okay with that. About halfway through the book I thought, “this would be great if x didn't happen,” and I wasn't disappointed.

——

As an aside, I find that I really enjoy translated Korean works. I'm not sure why, maybe because the emotion inside of them is so tangible, and so palpable to me. PAST LIVES, Celine Song's directorial debut, was my favorite film of 2023. Flux, another work of Korean-American fiction, is another book from last year that I really enjoyed. There are some other examples in the recent past. Something about the way things translate, the resulting English feels often novel but perfect. It may not look exactly perfect on the page — you may be able to tell it's a translation — but the emotion it evokes works very well.

There's a passage in this book: “We were all seized by the same guilt, and the classroom was as still as the inside of a vacuum.” What a great utilization of a word with two images attached. The vacuum of space, and the inside of a Bissell. As my eyes read of quiet, my ears could just hear roaring. If the reader didn't get there on their own, the next page has the line, “Just like a vacuum that sucks up everything, she easily commanded all of our attention.” Once again, perfect utilization of one word, meaning two things, that works perfectly with both meanings. That is a lovely attention to detail.

Looking forward to hearing what others from the book club think!

Whelp, I couldn't put this down. I went into it warned: it's not a normal mystery and do not expect answers. Lemon is a set of interlocking stories about 3 people left behind after the murder of a teenage girl named Hae-on. One is the rival pretty girl. One is a school mate, and the third voice is her younger sister, Da-on.
This murder changes the course of everyone's lives in big and small ways. Da-on spends years trying to replace her sister by becoming her. Taerim marries a prime suspect in the murder (and was a witness that night) and it has changed her life in not so positive ways. Through Sanghui's eyes we can see the changes in Da-on.
It's a short, powerful book. I did throw together what I think is a solid answer to two of the books mysteries, but I'll keep it to my self.

This book had me hooked right from the start. The narrative gains depth by presenting the story from various perspectives, providing a glimpse into different lives. What I loved most was that it wasn't a typical whodunnit plot. Instead, it left me itching to know more, like layers were waiting to be uncovered. It kept me thrilled and engaged throughout — shoutout to the translator for nailing the original vibe.

I'm not even sure if I can accurately summarize this novel without regurgitating what the jacket said. If you're looking for a “whodunnit” story, this isn't it. If you're looking for a story about the ripple effect of tragedy and trauma, this is what you're looking for.  The writing was beautiful and flowed smoothly. The translator did an incredible job of bringing the gorgeous prose the author wrote to life in English. I appreciated the footnotes when there wasn't a direct translation; it added a lot of color and life to the language on the page.  The story itself was just okay - totally middle of the road for me. I found it a bit difficult to figure out what character we were following in each chapter until the very end. The novel also felt a little too short and I wanted to know a little bit more about certain characters. Overall, it was a quick, heavy, and beautifully translated read so if you're in the mood for that, Lemon is for you!

I found this a surprising, haunting novella which I think would benefit from reading again as it leaves tiny clues and reoccurring motifs to suggest what happened. The writing is lyrical and at the same time constrained, yet the author manages to convey the utter devastation that the murder caused the people left behind. Yes, it can be a difficult read at times due to the shifting narratives but I found it rewarding at the same time.

This was something of a unique read!

I admit to finding it a tad confusing keeping up with all the names.

It was well written in parts and posed some good questions.

Thank you to PH and Kwon Yeo-Sun for the chance to read this book.

Twisty twisty

This is so beautiful and heartfelt. I thought it was more of a mystery for some reason, but it's not at all, though you do learn who the killer is. It's about grief and how it follows and affects us. It's beautiful.

CW: murder, death, grief, cancer, death of loved ones.

I was so hyped to read this book. By the synopsis I thought it was going to be a quiet and intriguing mystery. Kind of like confessions by kanae minato. I started off loving this book. The writing is beautiful and I was captivated by how the author dealt with grief and death. Sadly I ended up being disappointed in this book. I ended it confused and not truly caring for any of the characters. I think one of the things that hindered my reading experience and comprehension of this novel was the multiple perspectives. There's three perspectives and I wish the author would've just left it with just Da-on's pov.

This story had so much potential but unfortunately it just felt flat for me. If you're interested in picking this up. Just go in with low expectations.

CW: murder, death, grief, cancer, death of loved ones.

I was so hyped to read this book. By the synopsis I thought it was going to be a quiet and intriguing mystery. Kind of like confessions by kanae minato. I started off loving this book. The writing is beautiful and I was captivated by how the author dealt with grief and death. Sadly I ended up being disappointed in this book. I ended it confused and not truly caring for any of the characters. I think one of the things that hindered my reading experience and comprehension of this novel was the multiple perspectives. There's three perspectives and I wish the author would've just left it with just Da-on's pov.

This story had so much potential but unfortunately it just felt flat for me. If you're interested in picking this up. Just go in with low expectations.

It's the summer of 2002 and 18 year old Kim Hae-on is found dead, the victim of blunt force trauma to the head. The High School Beauty Murder, as it is come to be known, vacillated between two possible suspects; the wealthy Shin Jeongjun who was seen driving Hae-on that fateful day and Han Manu, an awkward delivery boy who had seen them both in their fancy SUV. It's Serial by way of Parasite.

The book spans 27 years over its 8 chapters moving between 3 narrators caught in the aftershocks of that tragic event. Kim Da-on, Hae-on's sister, has “pondered, prodded, and worked every detail” in the ensuing years. Consumed by her death she even undergoes surgery to appear more like her beautiful sister. Yum Taerim, a witness on that fateful day, is a woman unravelling as we eavesdrop into her conversations with helplines and doctors. And finally Sanghui, a friend of Da-on who offers her own unique insight as the years go on.

It's a slight book that prompted a quick second reading that revealed additional layers to the story. It defies genre categorization and like so much of the translated Korean works that make its way here, is a disquieting, open-ended read that flirts with the surreal. It's a whole vibe that I'm only just starting to get the hang of.

You shouldn't have to work so hard to identify the narrator of a novel chapter, especially when there are multiple narrators. There are lots of positive things to say about the book, too, which I'll address in my full review in New York Journal of Books.