Lemon

Book Cover
Average Rating
Publisher
Varies, see individual formats and editions
Publication Date
2021.
Language
English

Description

New York Times Book Review: Editor’s Choice  Philadelphia Inquirer: Best Book of the Month   World Literature Today: Notable Translation of the Year  CrimeReads: Best International Crime Novel of the Year Ms. Magazine: Most Anticipated Book of the Year  Washington Independent Review of Books: Favorite Book of the Year  Parasite meets The Good Son in this piercing psychological portrait of three women haunted by a brutal, unsolved crime.   In the summer of 2002, when Korea is abuzz over hosting the FIFA World Cup, eighteen-year-old Kim Hae-on is killed in what becomes known as the High School Beauty Murder. Two suspects quickly emerge: rich kid Shin Jeongjun, whose car Hae-on was last seen in, and delivery boy Han Manu, who witnessed her there just a few hours before her death. But when Jeongjun’s alibi checks out, and no evidence can be pinned on Manu, the case goes cold.   Seventeen years pass without any resolution for those close to Hae-on, and the grief and uncertainty take a cruel toll on her younger sister, Da-on, in particular. Unable to move on with her life, Da-on tries in her own twisted way to recover some of what she’s lost, ultimately setting out to find the truth of what happened.    Shifting between the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on’s classmates struck in different ways by her otherworldly beauty, Lemon ostensibly takes the shape of a crime novel. But identifying the perpetrator is not the main objective here: Kwon Yeo-sun uses this well-worn form to craft a searing, timely exploration of privilege, jealousy, trauma, and how we live with the wrongs we have endured and inflicted in turn.

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Contributors
Chun, Greg Narrator
Hong, Janet Translator, translator
Jung, Greta Narrator
Ye, Jaine Narrator
Yeo-Sun, Kwon Author
ISBN
9781635420883
9781635420890
9781705037447

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Published Reviews

Booklist 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, Kwon is deftly translated by award-winning Korean Canadian 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.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

South Korean author Kwon's powerful English-language debut explores issues of jealousy, loss, and physical beauty. Long after the event, "short and dumpy" Kim Da-on remains obsessed with the 2002 murder of her preternaturally beautiful but strange older sister, Hae-on, in high school, whether in imagining the scene in the investigation room, trying to embody her sister's look through plastic surgery, befriending the family of one of the suspects in a search for closure, or diving into poetry and prayer. Chapters are structured as short stories, with notable shifts of tone between sections. Most are narrated by Da-on, either introspectively or obliquely through one-sided conversations with counselors, but some approach Da-on from the perspective of an old friend meeting her years later. Though the novel has the bones of an unsolved crime story, any objective solution is besides the point, even as Da-on's conversations with others yield more information. Those ready to sink into a creepy and intense yet understated emotional experience will find that this story hits and sticks. Agent: Barbara Zitwer, Barbara J. Zitwer Agency. (Oct.)

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Kirkus Book Review

A taut Korean novel examines the aftershocks of murder. Kwon's first novel to be translated into English begins in 2002 with the death of 18-year-old Kim Hae-on, preternaturally beautiful but not universally admired. At first, the police suspect both inarticulate delivery boy Han Manu, who seems to know too much about Hae-on's last day, and smooth, wealthy fellow student Shin Jeongjun, who gave her a ride in his car the night before she was found bludgeoned to death in a flower bed. Both, however, have alibis. The case remains unsolved as years go by, and the lives of the two men are shaped by the suspicions that have arisen around them. Kwon, meanwhile, switches her attention to three young women. Hae-on's younger sister, Da-on, described as "short and dumpy," falls into a depression and undergoes a series of plastic surgeries, "turning my own face into a crude patchwork of her features." Yun Taerum, whose "crimson lips and almond-shaped eyes" made her the second-most-beautiful girl in Hae-on's class, falls apart, as evidenced by a series of one-sided conversations with a telephone counseling service. Sanghui, a transfer student who only knew Hae-on for a few months, is fascinated by the murder but not so personally involved. Kwon's brief, fierce novel takes daring leaps through time, landing on the disturbed consciousness of one character or another and leaving the reader to fill in the gaps of the narrative. While the murderer is never explicitly revealed, most readers will have no problem making an educated guess. Kwon is less concerned with assigning blame than with taking a detached view of the psychological stresses experienced by her characters. A chilling examination of the repercussions of violence. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

*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, Kwon is deftly translated by award-winning Korean Canadian 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. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

South Korean author Kwon's powerful English-language debut explores issues of jealousy, loss, and physical beauty. Long after the event, "short and dumpy" Kim Da-on remains obsessed with the 2002 murder of her preternaturally beautiful but strange older sister, Hae-on, in high school, whether in imagining the scene in the investigation room, trying to embody her sister's look through plastic surgery, befriending the family of one of the suspects in a search for closure, or diving into poetry and prayer. Chapters are structured as short stories, with notable shifts of tone between sections. Most are narrated by Da-on, either introspectively or obliquely through one-sided conversations with counselors, but some approach Da-on from the perspective of an old friend meeting her years later. Though the novel has the bones of an unsolved crime story, any objective solution is besides the point, even as Da-on's conversations with others yield more information. Those ready to sink into a creepy and intense yet understated emotional experience will find that this story hits and sticks. Agent: Barbara Zitwer, Barbara J. Zitwer Agency. (Oct.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly.

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly.
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