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inkshadows's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Grief
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Death of parent
lynxpardinus's review
5.0
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Gaslighting
Minor: Pedophilia and Rape
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Told in different perspectives and at different points of time, Lemon is a story that revolves around the murder of Da-on’s beautiful older sister, Hae-on. But, it’s not a murder mystery in the traditional sense. Instead, this book focuses more on exploring grief and trauma in various perspectives while touching on other topics like prejudice based on appearance, privilege and inequality; corruption within the system; and the deeply rooted misogyny in South Korean society.
Unfortunately, despite my liking books that are in the same vein, Lemon is not the book for me. As aforementioned, this book is less traditional murder mystery and more an exploration the aftermath. I had expected stronger emotions and more human-like characters, but the narratives were in overall, too clinical and detached. I felt no suspense, no anxiety, no sadness—nothing. And, because of this lack of emotional impact, the impact resultant from the observations of the prejudice, corruption and misogyny suffered as well. In short, Lemon read more like social commentary disguised as a mystery novel. To me, it felt that the main point of the book leaned more towards on emphasising the social commentary while the characters were simply vessels to deliver that commentary. And, I’m sorry to write this, but the social commentary was just typical and obvious (there’s no subtlety at all, which made the commentary hollow). It simply scratched the surface, providing no new or deeper, thoughtful outlook on the realities.
Honestly, Lemon fell short of the hard-hitting brilliance it could’ve been. If the social commentary had been more subtle and the human emotions of the characters more well developed, this book would’ve been stunning.
Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, and Murder
minxtte's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Misogyny