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A review by piapaya
If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim
4.0
I think my heart just broke.
I’ve always been drawn to stories where characters feel trapped by their circumstances and this book belongs with the other narratives that explore this particular theme. I’m writing (and rating) this from the vantage point of someone who relates because these characters and the choices they made hit so close to home. Both my grandmother and even my mother were very very much like Haemi, the main female character.
I’m experiencing palpable sadness here.
Side note: I feel like I have to add this since this novel is constantly being compared to it, but IMHO this was much much better than Pachinko in terms of craft, cultural insight, storytelling, and overall depth. The fact that novels by writers of color are often compared just purely on the basis that the setting is similar is a phenomenon that actually deeply disturbs me. But the whole problematic western perceptions/assumptions when reading novels about Asia (mainly making these novels into artifacts to be exoticized) is a whole other issue that needs to be unpacked in a place other than my little Goodreads blurb.
I’ve always been drawn to stories where characters feel trapped by their circumstances and this book belongs with the other narratives that explore this particular theme. I’m writing (and rating) this from the vantage point of someone who relates because these characters and the choices they made hit so close to home. Both my grandmother and even my mother were very very much like Haemi, the main female character.
I’m experiencing palpable sadness here.
Side note: I feel like I have to add this since this novel is constantly being compared to it, but IMHO this was much much better than Pachinko in terms of craft, cultural insight, storytelling, and overall depth. The fact that novels by writers of color are often compared just purely on the basis that the setting is similar is a phenomenon that actually deeply disturbs me. But the whole problematic western perceptions/assumptions when reading novels about Asia (mainly making these novels into artifacts to be exoticized) is a whole other issue that needs to be unpacked in a place other than my little Goodreads blurb.