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voidboi's review
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Diving deep into Korean folklore, particle physics, intercultural adoption and immigration, and the merging of reality, mental illness, and the supernatural, Folklorn follows Elsa Park as she confronts her family's history, her identity, and most importantly, her complex relationship with her mother. The story manages to feel deeply true, connecting to the experience of questioning your world and yearning to understand your place in it, while still making the reader question what is real.
Elsa begins in Antarctica, where a childhood imaginary friend/hallucination/spirit of her mysterious lost sister begins to visit her again, and Elsa hears news that brings her mother back into her life and her mind. Elsa is smart, abrasive, and somewhat neurotic, and the characters closest to her (her brother, father, and Oskar in particular) push each other into difficult and satisfying places, resulting in a rich emotional and relational environment which Elsa tries her best to support and escape in equal measure. The plot progresses mostly slowly, but erratically, as Elsa moves in the grey areas between logic, conjecture, and paranoia.
I loved this book. It aches with love, and fear, and anger. It longs for meaning in the unknowable, and rages against the fates prescribed to us by our cultures, families, and biologies. While there are mostly dissimilarities between my relationship with my mom and Elsa's with hers, I found that it captured the feeling ofposthumously grappling with the entirety of your mother's humanness, everything she wants you to be, and everything that can't be between you. In the end, this story won't be for everyone, but it is raw and beautiful and weird, and I'm glad I read it.
Elsa begins in Antarctica, where a childhood imaginary friend/hallucination/
I loved this book. It aches with love, and fear, and anger. It longs for meaning in the unknowable, and rages against the fates prescribed to us by our cultures, families, and biologies. While there are mostly dissimilarities between my relationship with my mom and Elsa's with hers, I found that it captured the feeling of
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Child abuse and Sexual content
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