Lemon

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.

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.)

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.

*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.

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.)