30 Aug / Lemon by Yeo-sun Kwon, translated by Janet Hong [in Booklist]
*STARRED REVIEW
The Western publishing world has taken a quarter-century to deliver one of Korea’s most lauded writers to English-reading audiences. Publishing and prize-winning since 1996, Yeo-sun Kwon is deftly translated by award-winning Korean Canadian Janet Hong. At 18, high-school senior Kim Hae-on “was perfection, bliss personified.” Her shocking death in 2002, dubbed the “High School Beauty Murder,” will remain unsolved – at least officially.
The incident and its mysterious aftermath get relayed by three women: Hae-on’s two-years-younger-sister Da-on; classmate Sanghui, who never quite sheds new-girl pariah status; and classmate Taerim, whose own “pretty girl”-ness is utterly eclipsed by Hae-on’s unparalleled allure. Da-on and Sanghui, who bonded briefly over poetry in high school, randomly (or not) meet in the years that follow – both develop theories of their own. Taerim reunites with one of the (cleared) suspects and experiences tragedy of her own. Da-on will be the most effecting – and affecting – of all.
A powerhouse thriller told in elliptical interlinked stories, Kwon’s provoking narrative requires careful parsing and connecting. Her hints (and rewards) are many, well hidden on first read but deserving another visit to even just the opening chapter. “Imagination is just as painful as reality,” Da-on muses. “No, it’s more painful. After all, what you imagine has no limit or end.” A deservedly successful Stateside debut that should assure future imports.
Review: “Fiction,” Booklist, August 2021
Readers: Adult
Published: 2019 (Korea), 2021 (United States)