Lemon

176 pages

English language

Published Nov. 24, 2022 by Head of Zeus.

ISBN:
978-1-80024-149-7
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(1 review)

In the summer of 2002, Kim Hae-on was killed in what became known as the High School Beauty Murder. There were two suspects: Shin Jeongjun, who had a rock-solid alibi, and Han Manu, to whom no evidence could be pinned. The case went cold.

Seventeen years pass without justice, 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, 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 …

7 editions

About Those Left Behind

It's rare that I find books that really deal with grief and actually engage with how people might process it. I also like that it shifts between perspectives of characters who are dealing with the fall-out (grief or guilt) of one event, and I like how things are open-ended enough for you to really consider what the connections are or if there are any.

Also, it's beautifully written. This translation reads so well, though I'm always wondering what I'm losing in translation.