A review by katie_greenwinginmymouth
I'll Go On by Hwang Jungeun

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I really appreciated this tender, intimate book about a family living through trauma and the unconventional family unit that emerges through circumstance to cope with this. Sora and Nana are sisters who are incredibly close and are left to pretty much fend for themselves when their father dies in a tragic workplace accident and their mother becomes extremely depressed. There is no support for the family and they slide into a precarious living situation that by chance leads them to share an unusually set up living space with another widowed mother and her son Naghi who is a similar age to Sora and Nana. The lives of the two families from that point in become inextricably intertwined.

The book is split into three sections told from the perspective of Sora, Nana and Naghi when they are adults. I love this structure because it shows each person’s memory of the same situation to be fallible and totally subjective. There is particularly a tension between the way the sisters care for each other and whether that is perceived to be protective or suffocating. The trauma they have all had to cope with deeply affects their adult relationships as we see.

Food memories are a huge part of the book. Naghi’s mother prepares the sisters dosirak (packed lunches) when their own mother is too unwell to look after them. The food is simple but provides essential nourishment both in terms of stopping them from going hungry and in giving them the love and care they are lacking. Sora, Nana and Naghi also develop a family tradition where each year they gather with Naghi’s mum to make all of the overripe kimchi into a huge batch dumplings so it doesn’t go to waste. I love the bit where they described tasting the dumplings to check they were ok and the description just slides into a description of their unusual (by societal standards) family situation - 

“How is it?

Delicious, she answers.

It’s really good.

Really, really good.

The longing, the delight, the tenderness, the fear, the loneliness, the regret, the joy - all muddled, all at once.

All one big mess.”