The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Cancer, Car accident, Grief, Death, Misogyny, Police brutality, Medical trauma, Child death, Classism, Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Mental illness
Moderate: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Ableism, Body shaming, Blood, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape and Pedophilia
errie's review against another edition
2.0
Graphic: Grief, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Eating disorder, Kidnapping, and Mental illness
Minor: Cancer
kcelena's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Body horror, Eating disorder, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, Bullying, Kidnapping, and Terminal illness
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.Â
Moderate: Grief, Child death, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Dysphoria
Minor: Violence, Sexual assault, Murder, Mental illness, Bullying, and Body shaming
katiewhocanread's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, and Mental illness
Moderate: Cancer and Bullying
Minor: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Body shaming
internationalreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Cancer, Classism, Death, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Grief, Kidnapping, Gore, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Violence, and Mental illness
anitaxlit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I requested this book thinking it would be a tale of murder and revenge, and those themes appealed to me as we approach the darker months of the year. That's not what this book is. Lemon offered something surprising and, in many ways, better.
Narrated by three women touched in some measure by the murder of Hae-on when she was a teenager, Lemon is the story of the ones left behind. It's about spiraling uncontrollably and grief that looks very, very ugly. Despite the dark topic, Kwon Yeo-Sun's prose is beautiful in a disconcerting way that made me squirm in my seat.
It struck me how little we know of Hae-on considering she is an all consuming presence in the book. Who was she? Was she really as aloof and unconcerned as the women in her life believed her to be? And why did she leave the house the day of her murder? When it came to Da-on, the main narrator, I was divided. At times I felt compassion and sadness for her traumatic experiences, and others I was astonished to feel suspicious of her. Da-on's grief doesn't feel genuine all the time. Her obsession with Hae-on's murder seems to be inseparable from her self-centered personality. The thought I most often had while reading was: Did she ever truly care for her sister?
As you can see, this book left me with many unanswered questions. If you want clear-cut answers, Lemon might not be for you. I personally don't mind this that much, and though I finished it thinking it could have done with a little more closure, it's a good reminder that sometimes there can be none, no matter how hard we look for it.
Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, and Mental illness
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Physical abuse
Minor: Ableism and Car accident
sarahsbooklife's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I thought that this was a very interesting thriller and I liked that it was told from three different female perspectives. This book mainly focuses on the trauma, grief and the way that Hae-on's death affected those closest to her and round her rather than the murder itself. Which I thought was really interesting as a lot of thriller mysteries focus on the crime and figuring out who did. This story is told over seventeen years, from 2002 to 2019, and nearly all of it is about what happens after Hae-on's murder.Â
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This book doesn't actually tell you who killed Hae-on, even though there are multiple suspects, and I did feel a little dissatisfied by this. Because I was hoping that Da-on, Hae-on's younger sister, would figure it out and revealed it by the end.
I thought that this story was very well written, the plot and characters were all very fleshed out despite this being a novella. And each of the narrators had distinct voices. I did find the parts told by Yun Taerim to be a bit strange. As they are all one-side of conversations she has with a doctor, as she is mentally very unwell, years later but she is still very affected by what happened to Hae-on and often refers to her (not by name) when talking about her now husband Shin Jeongjun, who was one of the original suspects and possibly the last person to see Hae-on alive. Also the three of them are unreliable narrators with chunks missing in each of their narratives keeping elements of the story hidden away from the reader. But I found that as I read the book I was able to piece together different pieces of evidence and information from each of them to come to my own conclusion for who I thought had killed Hae-on.Â
I thought that this was a well written, thought provoking, and clever story. I just wish that the murder had been revealed or that there had been more closure by the end of the story as it's left very open ended with few things resolved or revealed.Â
Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Murder and Violence
Minor: Kidnapping and Medical content
honeyreads1066's review against another edition
- 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
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.Â
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.
Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Violence, and Kidnapping
Minor: Sexual content