17 Apr / A Small Revolution by Jimin Han [in Booklist]
In a Pennsylvania college dorm, five teens are trapped in a life-and-death situation. The quintet’s point of connection, allegedly dead, is a Korean American student, Jaesung, who was reported to have perished in a recent car fire in Seoul.
Yoona, in whose room the terror plays out, was Jaesung’s lover. Her three classmates serve as bargaining chips. Lloyd, armed with deadly weapons, claims both Jaesung and Yoona as intimate friends since they all shared a cultural study-abroad program the previous summer in Seoul.
Convinced that Jaesung is the victim of a cover-up by a violent, corrupt regime controlling South Korea, Lloyd is determined to rescue Jaesung by any means necessary. Desperate enough to hope, Yoona recounts the events that led to such a menacing outcome.
Entwining personal and political histories on either side of the globe – “THE SMALL REVOLUTIONS MAKE THE WAY FOR THE BIG ONES” – first novelist Jimin Han exudes a universal immediacy about what can happen when safety and sanity are repeatedly threatened. Although marked by events three decades past, Revolution is a resonant parable for today’s volatile, fearful times.
Review: “Fiction,” Booklist, April 15, 2017
Readers: Adult
Published: 2017