Reviews with content warning for Violence - Lemon: A Novel

Review can also be found at Snow White Hates Apples.

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.

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helenamarijke's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

This is a short novella about the murder of an 18-year-old girl, Kim Hae-on, told from the perspectives of three girls who knew her: her sister and two classmates. I enjoyed the way the three perspectives gave vastly different viewpoints, with each unreliable narrator revealing their differing opinions of events leading up to Hae-on's death and Hae-on herself. I also thought the portrayal of grief was an interesting one, with Hae-on's sister Da-on trying to become more physically like her after her death.

Unfortunately I found this a little too short to pack a punch and I think the audiobook detracted from my enjoyment of it, as it didn't give much of a sense of the passage of time. (There also seemed to be a male voice narrating one of the female POVs, which was a little confusing as it made me think that Han Manu was one of the main narrators, which he's not.)

Content warnings for descriptions of graphic violence, grief, discussions of surgical procedures.

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claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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internationalreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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milos_booknook's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.25

Do not expect this to be a murder mystery but rather a portrayal of grief and trauma through time. Despite its short length, the novel is filled with social critiques of contemporary Korea, highlighting the inequality, corruption and sexism issues.

The writing is quite plain for my taste and I feel that the characters were not developed thoroughly. Many of the phrases and descriptions seem a bit cliché and antiquated.

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futurama's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

A whodunnit told from the perspective of three women some sort of proximity to the deceased.
Wow! I didn't expect to enjoy this so much. Pitched like a thriller, most reviews said to expect more of a literary novella rather than a crime novel. However, Kwon balanced genres like an expert. It's still a murder mystery

there are subtle hints throughout the book to know who the murderer is and what someone does for revenge

but it's also an experimental form.
Before reading, I didn't know the novel was narrated by three different people. I enjoyed getting to know the three perspectives and trying to figure out who each person was. I wish it was longer, there were some societal and cultural elements that could have been fleshed out with more words, but I enjoyed the small amount of time I had with Da-on and others.
I guessed who the culprits were but I'm not one hundred percent on it. I'd love to discuss with someone else.

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