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A Novel
by Yeo-sun Kwon
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.
BookBrowse Review
"This slight novel is at its strongest when exploring the ripple effects of trauma and grief. Despite the thriller-esque setup, however, the book suffers from a lack of intrigue and emotional intensity." - Callum McLaughlin
Other Reviews
"Publishing and prize-winning since 1996, Kwon is deftly translated by award-winning Korean Canadian Hong…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…A deservedly successful Stateside debut that should assure future imports." - Booklist (starred review)
"Kwon's brief, fierce novel takes daring leaps through time...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." - Kirkus Reviews
"South Korean author Kwon's powerful English-language debut explores issues of jealousy, loss, and physical beauty…the novel has the bones of an unsolved crime story…Those ready to sink into a creepy and intense yet understated emotional experience will find that this story hits and sticks." - Publishers Weekly
"A haunting literary crime story…Razor-sharp observations of class, gender, and privilege in contemporary Korea…[a] page-turner." - Cosmopolitan
"A deftly written exploration of life and death, grief, revenge, and acceptance of the unknown, all cloaked in an engaging murder mystery." - Ms. Magazine, Most Anticipated Reads
"With taut, crisp writing, Kwon Yeo-sun deftly walks the tightrope of psychological suspense, and at the same time transcends the well-known framework of the crime novel to explore the emotional depths of grief, guilt, privilege, and trauma. A smart, well-crafted page-turner." - Tami Hoag, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"With taut, steely prose, Kwon burrows into the details surrounding the shocking murder of a beautiful girl. Though Lemon takes the form of a mystery and there's psychological suspense that will grip you all the way to the end, it isn't just a whodunnit. Hidden on every page are explorations of grief and guilt, how one should go on after a tragedy. It jolts with its brilliance and tartness. It's simply electric." - Kyung-sook Shin, author of Please Look After Mom and I'll Be Right There
This information about Lemon was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kwon Yeo-sun was born in Andong, South Korea, and now lives in Seoul. In 1996 she received the Sangsang Literary Award for her debut novel, Niche of Green. Her subsequent novels and short stories have received numerous literary awards, including the Hankook Ilbo Literary Award, Yi Sang Literary Prize, and Oh Yeong-su Literature Award, among others. Lemon is her first novel to be published in English.
Janet Hong is a writer and translator based in Vancouver, Canada. She received the 2018 TA First Translation Prize and the 16th LTI Korea Translation Award for her translation of Han Yujoo's The Impossible Fairy Tale, which was also a finalist for both the 2018 PEN Translation Prize and the 2018 National Translation Award. Her recent translations include Ha Seong-nan's Bluebeard's First Wife, Ancco's Nineteen, and Keum Suk Gendry-Kim's Grass.
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