Reviews with content warning for Child death - Lemon

Review can also be found at Snow White Hates Apples.

Told in different perspectives and at different points of time, Lemon is a story that revolves around the murder of Da-on’s beautiful older sister, Hae-on. But, it’s not a murder mystery in the traditional sense. Instead, this book focuses more on exploring grief and trauma in various perspectives while touching on other topics like prejudice based on appearance, privilege and inequality; corruption within the system; and the deeply rooted misogyny in South Korean society.

Unfortunately, despite my liking books that are in the same vein, Lemon is not the book for me. As aforementioned, this book is less traditional murder mystery and more an exploration the aftermath. I had expected stronger emotions and more human-like characters, but the narratives were in overall, too clinical and detached. I felt no suspense, no anxiety, no sadness—nothing. And, because of this lack of emotional impact, the impact resultant from the observations of the prejudice, corruption and misogyny suffered as well. In short, Lemon read more like social commentary disguised as a mystery novel. To me, it felt that the main point of the book leaned more towards on emphasising the social commentary while the characters were simply vessels to deliver that commentary. And, I’m sorry to write this, but the social commentary was just typical and obvious (there’s no subtlety at all, which made the commentary hollow). It simply scratched the surface, providing no new or deeper, thoughtful outlook on the realities.

Honestly, Lemon fell short of the hard-hitting brilliance it could’ve been. If the social commentary had been more subtle and the human emotions of the characters more well developed, this book would’ve been stunning.

Content Warnings

sarah984's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"Lemon" is a novel that revolves around a murder, but finding the identity of the perpetrator (who is pretty obvious right from the start) isn't really the goal. The book describes the way the murder affects the surviving characters and the ways they construct their own actions and see themselves. I’d have rated it 5 stars but there were some aspects of describing the girl who was murdered that are pivotal to the plot but I found them really grating. Overall though, if you like true crime or crime novels (though this isn't really a thriller) I think you will enjoy this.

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whatellisreadnext's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯.

Hae-on was murdered at 19, the case was left unsolved. Da-on, her sister, trying to recover from this loss, sets out to find the truth.

Lemon is a short, dark and captivating novel about a sister trying to find justice. I read this today within a few hours, I just couldn't turn the pages quick enough.

We get multiple perspectives, and it's not stated who they are immediately, like a lot of the novel you have to come to your own conclusions. Which I loved. When everything slid into place at the end I did a little gasp. It's pretty evident fairly early on who the murderer is, but that wasn't the shocking part.

For such a short book, this goes to some super dark places, it reminded me a lot of The Vegetarian by Han Kang, and how as the reader we're just forced to just go with the flow.

I highly recommend this if you love mysteries and short translated fiction. Thanks so much to Head of Zeus for the gifted copy, and for allowing me to be a part of this tour! (AD-PR PRODUCT)

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