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A review by ruthjenkins
Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim
dark
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
This started out so strongly. The prologue and first chapter were captivating. The story opens with a hunter in the Korean mountains, on the edge of starvation and hypothermia, who chance upon the tracks of what he thinks is a jaguar in the snow. When he discovers the cat, and that it's actually an adolescent tiger, he remembers advice from his father: don't try to kill a tiger unless it tries to kill you; and if you miss, you're already dead.
When Japanese officials find him, close to death in the snow, the story starts proper, charting the lives of interconnected characters in Japanese-occupied Korea.
That the prologue and first chapter are still so clear in my mind goes to show their quality. But while there were moments of excellent writing, sadly the book is clunky with exposition and does far to much telling instead of showing. Because of this, I never felt connected to the characters, despite ostensibly seeing some of them grow from children to old age. I wish the author had concentrated just on the main protagonists, Jade and JungHo, spending more time in their inner thoughts and following their lives more closely, rather than trying for a more sweeping saga.
When Japanese officials find him, close to death in the snow, the story starts proper, charting the lives of interconnected characters in Japanese-occupied Korea.
That the prologue and first chapter are still so clear in my mind goes to show their quality. But while there were moments of excellent writing, sadly the book is clunky with exposition and does far to much telling instead of showing. Because of this, I never felt connected to the characters, despite ostensibly seeing some of them grow from children to old age. I wish the author had concentrated just on the main protagonists, Jade and JungHo, spending more time in their inner thoughts and following their lives more closely, rather than trying for a more sweeping saga.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Suicide, and War