A review by sleepylaurka
Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-Jin

reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

3.75

a book in which the conservative world collides with the queer one. it provides an elaborative insight into the mind of the older generation that was taught to consider being gay as being different, deviant, and socially unacceptable. 

written in a perspective of a woman who lost stability in her life, and attempts to subconciously reclaim it by impacting lives of two women she is the closest to. 
she has two faces: a warm hearted, sensitive person that provides care for an older woman, and a homophobic mother of a queer daughter. the book follows her change of heart when she faces the society's intolerance turning into violence against her own daughter—as she learns that sympathy does not have to come with understanding.

this was a truly good short read, studying the stages of womanhood, exploring an interesting mother–daughter relationship, and a good portrayal of the loneliness and the fear of it within the korean society.