Kim Sagwa

Sadly, this is the only book I finished for Korean March this year. This is an unsettling book that is sometimes set in dreams, so it isn't always clear where the lines of reality are. Both hard to read and difficult to put down. For so short a book it does so much: bullying and class and misogyny and the way a child with a chronic illness can upend the lives of an entire family. Also features sexual harassment and assault, so take care of yourselves, dear readers.

Quite the Donnie Darko twist with this one. You think you're reading a novel about angsty teens enduring Korea's brutal education system but it is something quite different to that. Most Korean novels I've read have been about poorer people, this setting of well off kids with their own credit cards gallivanting about their city was refreshingly different. Very wordy at times, which if you've read a lot of Korean lit in translation you'll be used tol but if you're just jumping in with this show more book may be confusing. However the internal monologues of Crystal serve a purpose as you experience her labyrinthian descent into mental illness.

I had one big problem with the ending. I don't feel there was an adequate reason behind Minho's seeming uncaring as to his sister's fate and it took away from Crystal's own sociopathy. I assumed Minho was just going along with Crystal in that bored teenage way, not really believing anything she said and not having sufficient empathy to be horrified by it. His acceptance of the final scene he was met with made me wonder if this book was more about Hell Joseon than it appeared to be which was a disappointment.

I'm also curious at the translation choice to give Crystal a western name. Does her original Korean name have connotations that would be lost without choosing a western one? show less

This novella starts off as a description of a middle-school Korean girl's not atypical life: friendships, bullying, school, misunderstandings, loneliness, curiosity about the lives of others, and so on. I found it well done, and on the mark for the crazy range of emotions and misunderstandings and boredom and odd things kids enjoy and so forth. But then it went off the rails and I was just confused--was this a fever dream that didn't actually happen? Are the girls hanging out with an adult show more that gave them drugs? Is Book actually an adult, or is he a high school-aged kid? I was just confused and without understanding what was going on, I can't really form an opinion on it. show less