Lemon

My first Korean psychological thriller by Kwon Yeo-Sun

by Carol Low

This newly translated and released book is my very first Korean psychological thriller. The title of the book, Lemon, doesn’t quite give it a thriller feel, does it?

First things first, the translation was alright. It gives me a similar feeling to reading a Japanese translated book, in the way of the dialogues between characters. I’m not sure if it’s a culture thing that’s similar between the Japanese and Korean, but they seem to like repeating a statement or a question when talking to each other.

Anyway, getting on to the book…If you are looking for a fast read, this book is definitely a quick read of less than 200 pages. The story revolves around an unsolved crime of a murdered female student, and is being told through the narratives of three characters known to the victim.

Each is grappling with the horror of the crime, pained and traumatised by the event, probably for life. It tells of the various suspects and the lives of those surrounding the aloof victim.

Just a little bit of a spoiler here…stop reading if you wish to dive into the book, going into the unknown.

If you’re hoping to race through the book, wading the weeds and finding out who the killer is, you won’t. The book isn’t about finding out who killed the girl. It’s more of giving you a glimpse into the psyche of the narrators, and revealing the lives of those supposedly to be involved or affected by the death of the girl. And what their lives were like, before and long after the event.

Each narrator comes from a very different point of view, so you get multiple sides of the story, and it leaves you with coming to your own conclusion of who you think the murderer is. If you enjoy this kind of book and conclusion, by all means give this book a go since it’s a very short read. In a way, it is a rather interesting read. The author sure leaves you with many thought-provoking moments, and you’d be trying to figure out what really happened. Many things are never spelled out clearly, so you try to piece the puzzle together. There’s a kind of fun in doing that for some of us readers to like to choose our adventure.

This book is the first of the author’s to be translated into English. I wouldn’t mind reading more of her works. It’s quite intriguing and I guess something different for me.

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