honeyreads1066's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Lemon is a book that explores just how life and death affect people using the untimely death of a beautiful school girl as its model.
The novella follows the before and after of the death of Kim Hae-on. A beautiful girl whose killer is still free almost 20 years later. Da-on, Hae-on's younger sister goes through a drastic transformation as she tries to come to terms with her grief.
This novellas strongest aspect is that it is not who the killer is the drives this story but rather what this tragedy has done to the people around her and the lasting impacts of it. The small revelations that are littered throughout make this portrait of grief more chilling and upsetting than the average thriller.
The characters themselves are complicated especially considering you only see them briefly in these 200 pages. You get the expression life moves on with them and their hardships only become harder with this death that encircles all of them. The characters seemed normal and overwhelmingly human.
Perhaps what I didn't like is that this book does not give you complete closure, the characters aren't necessarily reliable narrators and while I often enjoy that, here it creates confusion on the actual events.
Despite this, that's not what this book is about at all, it's not a simple thriller about a murdered girl, it is so much more than that and I greatly enjoyed this journey. I would definitely recommend this.
The novella follows the before and after of the death of Kim Hae-on. A beautiful girl whose killer is still free almost 20 years later. Da-on, Hae-on's younger sister goes through a drastic transformation as she tries to come to terms with her grief.
This novellas strongest aspect is that it is not who the killer is the drives this story but rather what this tragedy has done to the people around her and the lasting impacts of it. The small revelations that are littered throughout make this portrait of grief more chilling and upsetting than the average thriller.
The characters themselves are complicated especially considering you only see them briefly in these 200 pages. You get the expression life moves on with them and their hardships only become harder with this death that encircles all of them. The characters seemed normal and overwhelmingly human.
Perhaps what I didn't like is that this book does not give you complete closure, the characters aren't necessarily reliable narrators and while I often enjoy that, here it creates confusion on the actual events.
Despite this, that's not what this book is about at all, it's not a simple thriller about a murdered girl, it is so much more than that and I greatly enjoyed this journey. I would definitely recommend this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual content
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