A review by wordsofclover
The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
In this book translated from Korean, we follow Hornclaw - an elderly lady who is coming up to the twilight years of her career as an assassin. As Hornclaw thinks back on her life and the decisions that she made to lead her up to now, someone close to her begins a revenge plan to bring her down. 
 
I didn’t know what I was going to think of this book going into it but I found it very paced, fun and I really loved getting to know Hornclaw’s background. She was a fascinating character with a personality of steel but also someone you would want to have on your side. I enjoyed seeing the moments when a peek of humanity would come through such as her thoughts about the young doctor, his daughter and also her past relationship with her mentor. Not to mention her relationship with her dog who she comes home to every night but also makes sure to leave a window open for in case she never comes home. 
 
This book also highlights quite well some of the feelings and experiences of being an aging person in a world and society that overlook the old in favor of the young. We see Hornclaw traded roughly and rudely by her younger counterparts and even going around on her day to day business she is almost invisible (which of course can come in handy in her line of work). 
 
I enjoyed this a lot - there is some violence in it as can be expected but I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Hornclaw during this book. 
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