Reviews

I'll Be Right There by Kyung-sook Shin

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misspalah's review against another edition

5.0

We each get one life that is our own. We each in our own way struggle to get ahead, love, grieve, and lose our loved ones to death.
- Kyung-sook Shin, I'll Be Right There
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Whenever i picked up a korean novel, its always about a big ball of sadness and pain that protagonist have to go through. The angst and the loneliness just overflowed that i felt i need to take a breath before i could continue reading this. This book is about Jung Yoon and how she befriended with Miru and Myungsuh when she got back to university after taking a break due to her mother’s death. She also reconnected back to Dahn , her childhood friend. She’s not sure whether she loves Dahn the way Dahn love her but she just follow the flow although it is frustrating seeing Dahn did not know how to comprehend rejection and sometimes overstepped his boundary. Professor Yoon comes into a picture when Jung Yoon volunteered to become his typist and find that the given tasks did help her in the study. When Jung Yoon finally letting down her wall and got close to Miru, only then she knew why Miru has that scar on her hand. Through Miru, she saw the memory of Mirae (whom Miru often mentioned whenever she missed her). Overall, this is not a happy novel. It ask you to confront your loneliness and your fear of relationship. Does telling people close to you your own secret is a wise decision or bottled
it up and put a mask so that people didnt know is better? How does one grieve over time? Do we simply get over it or we just put it aside knowing its there but we never dwell on it? How do we mend broken friendship realizing while
it may get fixed but nothing stays the same? So many questions were being raised but the way you answer it depends on which characters you felt connected with. Hence i would only recommend it if you are in the right space of your mind.
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Reading this book make me appreciate more some of the classic literature that mentioned in it. I dont read classic much but Naming a beloved cat Emily Dickinson after the favorite author and poet is utterly adorable. Interesting discourse by Jung Yoon about love and hate based on her observation of Dahn arachnophobia is something that i cannot forget. I am also scared of Spider and would literally pissed my pants off if i ever saw a huge spider on the wall. At the same time, i know major type of spiders and why i crossed Australia from my country to be visited list. Thats right because they have a hunstman spider and i dont think i can travel freely knowing that i was in the same land of those creatures. Thus when Jung Yoon make a comparison on how Dahn know so much about Spiders even though he scared of it, i truly feel called out

drealorr's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sakawara's review against another edition

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5.0

Sono estremamente triste per quanto poco conosciuto sia questo titolo in Italia. Necessito parlarne con qualcuno, sapere se anche altri hanno pianto come me leggendo l'ultima frase, trovare qualcuno con cui partire per Seoul e camminare assieme per le mura della città.
"Io ci sarò" è un romanzo che non mi aspettavo essere così denso e pieno. Pieno di voci, di amore, di violenza e di rimpianti.
La protagonista Jeon Yun assieme a Miru e Myeong-seo passa le sue giornate universitarie ascoltando le lezioni del professor Yun e camminando per Seoul senza una meta precisa; il tutto immerso negli anni delle turbolente proteste studentesche che si infiammarono in Corea del Sud. Ma ognuno di loro, chi prima chi dopo, nasconde delle ferite profonde provocate dalla perdita della persona a loro più cara e vicina. Ognuno di loro deve vedersela con la morte ed ognuno di loro non sarà in grado di accettarla nel primo momento perché ognuno di loro si sentirà profondamente colpevole della morte dell'altro. Il senso di colpa, l'amore disilluso e la perdita vengono trattati dalla Kyung-sook in maniera così reale e sincera che non posso non colpire il lettore, occidentale che sia.
Sono stata in grado di immergermi completamente nella storia nonostante parli e critichi una cultura che non mi appartiene, o meglio, il luogo non mi appartiene ma le ingiustizie che i personaggi di "io ci sarò" cercano con tutte le loro forze di combattere e di risolvere sono le stesse per il lettore contemporaneo di ognidove.
Questo mi ha colpito più di tutto, quando facile sia empatizzare con Yun, Miru, Dan e Myeong-seo.
Consiglio questo struggente e meraviglioso romanzo a tutti, non abbiate paura di qualche nome traslitterato dal coreano, non abbiate paura di piangere mentre lo leggete, abbiate piuttosto voglia di vivere un'altra vita, quella di Jeon Yun, in grado di farvi riconsiderare la vostra continuamente suggerendovi di vivere l'oggi e non "un giorno" e di ricordare, per quanto doloroso, i momenti felici, di amare nonostante tutto e di essere vivi.

jeereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad

3.0

andrea_nucak's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

dsyz's review against another edition

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4.0

I almost gave this 3 stars but I took a step back and realized objectively? This is an amazing book. Maybe it’s just that I’ve had enough slice of life ish books. I do have to say though that THIS is how you add detail in your writing with TASTE. It was overall depressing which I like but in the middle I was getting bored. I gave it 4 stars because I loved the beginning and end.