What do you think?
Cracks
Not yet published
Expected 27 Apr 27Horror and myth collide when a Korean American teenager's grief summons something a water ghost that has been feeding on her family's sorrow for decades.
Dark strands of hair crack the corners of my sight, suspended as always in the air, spidering and floating as if in liquid. Mul-gwishin. Water ghost.
Gracie Russell feels she belongs nowhere. In suburban 1990s Washington, she is constantly at sea—struggling with her biracial identity, her father's violent alcoholism, and her mother's looming mortality. When Ji-eun dies, Gracie will lose her last chance to mend their relationship. But she can already feel her mother slipping away, pulled by the tides of memory back to authoritarian 1970s South Korea. The secret she buried there has awakened something in the deep. And now it is rising.
As Ji-eun's body weakens and the autumn rains fall in torrents, the sound of dripping water haunts Gracie. Cracks form in the basement wall, exposing a crumbling passageway to a sea of liquid darkness, and Gracie is running out of time. The mul-gwishin is coming for her.
For readers of Catriona Ward and Han Kang, Cracks is a harrowing vision of heritage, violence, and the histories that possess.
Dark strands of hair crack the corners of my sight, suspended as always in the air, spidering and floating as if in liquid. Mul-gwishin. Water ghost.
Gracie Russell feels she belongs nowhere. In suburban 1990s Washington, she is constantly at sea—struggling with her biracial identity, her father's violent alcoholism, and her mother's looming mortality. When Ji-eun dies, Gracie will lose her last chance to mend their relationship. But she can already feel her mother slipping away, pulled by the tides of memory back to authoritarian 1970s South Korea. The secret she buried there has awakened something in the deep. And now it is rising.
As Ji-eun's body weakens and the autumn rains fall in torrents, the sound of dripping water haunts Gracie. Cracks form in the basement wall, exposing a crumbling passageway to a sea of liquid darkness, and Gracie is running out of time. The mul-gwishin is coming for her.
For readers of Catriona Ward and Han Kang, Cracks is a harrowing vision of heritage, violence, and the histories that possess.
320 pages, Paperback
Expected publication April 27, 2027
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
July 29, 2026
Read for work, a spooky and haunting novel about inheritance, familial trauma, and how to grow up. Loved
September 14, 2026
I tried to keep the review fully spoiler free and only touched the surface of the plot and what i thought of the characters, plot, writing, and the book itself.
Beautiful cover, good idea, but not the best execution. I feel pretty disappointed with the book.
Ji-eun's pov was the most interesting to me. I loooove reading from a perspective of a mother that struggles to fully accept the life she's living while being far away from home. her husband and daughter are in america, she should be happy to have been given a second chance, but no!! there are things haunting her and they end up haunting her daughter. something that happened in the past follows them both. their struggles were easy to feel and understand.
the ending was okay and the chapters leading up to it were kinda underwhelming, but still easily enjoyable if you don't expect much. i liked the relationships between the characters, to an extent of course. some lacked character, but the relationships between Gracie and other characters were good, especially with her mother.
the idea overall was great, however, we kept getting told some things over and over again. Ji-eun and Gracie are mother and daughter. they have a strained relationship. Gracie wishes it could be stronger. Ji-eun thinks her daughter isn't hers and it's just some ghost or an empty body in a shape of a person. she never really accepted her because of something that's haunting her. She also only talks about her daughter as pieces of both her American and Korean identity, and like, i get it, but it's mentioned all the time in every single chapter!! we get it!! Gracie's dad is an alcoholic and a huge asshole that doesn't know how to treat women, especially his wife who's sick.
we were given little experience with why they were like this, and we were just told what to believe. i needed the author to show me what they're thinking, and not write it out and make me read it.
our main characters have a dark past. their neighbours are assholes. the teachers are trash. the people Gracie goes to school with are trash. the men in their lives are misogynistic, sexist, racist piece of garbage, and as much as i like reading about how men suck, it was getting old because i kept hearing about it in every single chapter. there wasn't much going on with them and their only purpose was being bad. it was like there was this category for "bad" and all men were put there.
There were some moments where you can see the author tried to be poetic, but it just didn't look good.
There was also too much telling and not enough showing. It felt more like a retelling of the character's story, while it should've felt like something we felt and formed an opinion on our own. we were spoon fed everything and there was nothing left for our imagination.
It had too many time jumps. We'd be in 1995 then next paragraph is the 1960s, then we're once again in some other time in the past. it was confusing especially because we'd have a few time jumps in one chapter. there were also too many povs going on. it would've been more impactful if there were only two, Ju-eun's pov and Gracie's. i didn't really care about anyone else's pov.
All in all, it was an okay book. I love horror, even though there weren't really many horror elements; Korean mythology & folklore; and the relationship between mother and daughter, but i guess the writing style just pushed me away.. which is why the rating isn't the best. however, i still have high hopes for the author and their next work!!
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review!!
Beautiful cover, good idea, but not the best execution. I feel pretty disappointed with the book.
Ji-eun's pov was the most interesting to me. I loooove reading from a perspective of a mother that struggles to fully accept the life she's living while being far away from home. her husband and daughter are in america, she should be happy to have been given a second chance, but no!! there are things haunting her and they end up haunting her daughter. something that happened in the past follows them both. their struggles were easy to feel and understand.
the ending was okay and the chapters leading up to it were kinda underwhelming, but still easily enjoyable if you don't expect much. i liked the relationships between the characters, to an extent of course. some lacked character, but the relationships between Gracie and other characters were good, especially with her mother.
the idea overall was great, however, we kept getting told some things over and over again. Ji-eun and Gracie are mother and daughter. they have a strained relationship. Gracie wishes it could be stronger. Ji-eun thinks her daughter isn't hers and it's just some ghost or an empty body in a shape of a person. she never really accepted her because of something that's haunting her. She also only talks about her daughter as pieces of both her American and Korean identity, and like, i get it, but it's mentioned all the time in every single chapter!! we get it!! Gracie's dad is an alcoholic and a huge asshole that doesn't know how to treat women, especially his wife who's sick.
we were given little experience with why they were like this, and we were just told what to believe. i needed the author to show me what they're thinking, and not write it out and make me read it.
our main characters have a dark past. their neighbours are assholes. the teachers are trash. the people Gracie goes to school with are trash. the men in their lives are misogynistic, sexist, racist piece of garbage, and as much as i like reading about how men suck, it was getting old because i kept hearing about it in every single chapter. there wasn't much going on with them and their only purpose was being bad. it was like there was this category for "bad" and all men were put there.
There were some moments where you can see the author tried to be poetic, but it just didn't look good.
There was also too much telling and not enough showing. It felt more like a retelling of the character's story, while it should've felt like something we felt and formed an opinion on our own. we were spoon fed everything and there was nothing left for our imagination.
It had too many time jumps. We'd be in 1995 then next paragraph is the 1960s, then we're once again in some other time in the past. it was confusing especially because we'd have a few time jumps in one chapter. there were also too many povs going on. it would've been more impactful if there were only two, Ju-eun's pov and Gracie's. i didn't really care about anyone else's pov.
All in all, it was an okay book. I love horror, even though there weren't really many horror elements; Korean mythology & folklore; and the relationship between mother and daughter, but i guess the writing style just pushed me away.. which is why the rating isn't the best. however, i still have high hopes for the author and their next work!!
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review!!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
dnf @ 47%
i really wanted to love this & honestly, i tried. i gave it more time than i normally would before dnf'ing hoping that this would eventually pick up or get better, but it doesn't.
the cover is gorgeous & the premise is interesting but unfortunately, the execution does not work for me at all. i made it almost halfway through the book & feel like i barely scratched the surface of the Mul-gwishin or Korean mythology, which from the synopsis, is what i thought the books main focus was going to be about. instead, it's a lot of repetition & being told the same handful of things again & again.
we get it, the mom & daughter have a strained relationship that Gracie wishes would get stronger. i don't need to be told every single chapter. we get it, every man that Ji-eun, Gracie, or Soo-ni encountered was in some way violent, sexist, or just an overall piece of garbage. while i don't usually mind hearing about how awful men, or people in general, can be, there just wasn't anything interesting enough happening to keep me invested.
there's honestly way too many POVs & time jumps happening. anytime Cracks gets any sort of momentum, where i finally felt like it was going somewhere, there's a time jump or POV switch that interrupts the flow. it made the pacing almost unbearably slow. it's not a long book by any means, but it took me four days to get 47% of the way through & the entire time i was reading it tested my patience. this would have worked much better sticking to just Ji-eun & Gracie's POVs.
lastly, the book lacks characterization. all the women sound the exact same & all the men felt like they were just lumped together into one category of "bad." besides the age differences, they felt one dimensional & almost identical. Gracie reads like a full adult processing trauma & going through memories & emotions from the past, but is actually a 16 year old in high school, which felt odd to me.
i can't really touch on the horror elements because, at the time of dnf'ing, there wasn't much horror going on. i usually love Korean mythology & folklore, i really wish it would have been more of a main focus vs the familial drama that's going on instead, so i'm sad that this one didn't work out for me, but it will find its right audience.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review
i really wanted to love this & honestly, i tried. i gave it more time than i normally would before dnf'ing hoping that this would eventually pick up or get better, but it doesn't.
the cover is gorgeous & the premise is interesting but unfortunately, the execution does not work for me at all. i made it almost halfway through the book & feel like i barely scratched the surface of the Mul-gwishin or Korean mythology, which from the synopsis, is what i thought the books main focus was going to be about. instead, it's a lot of repetition & being told the same handful of things again & again.
we get it, the mom & daughter have a strained relationship that Gracie wishes would get stronger. i don't need to be told every single chapter. we get it, every man that Ji-eun, Gracie, or Soo-ni encountered was in some way violent, sexist, or just an overall piece of garbage. while i don't usually mind hearing about how awful men, or people in general, can be, there just wasn't anything interesting enough happening to keep me invested.
there's honestly way too many POVs & time jumps happening. anytime Cracks gets any sort of momentum, where i finally felt like it was going somewhere, there's a time jump or POV switch that interrupts the flow. it made the pacing almost unbearably slow. it's not a long book by any means, but it took me four days to get 47% of the way through & the entire time i was reading it tested my patience. this would have worked much better sticking to just Ji-eun & Gracie's POVs.
lastly, the book lacks characterization. all the women sound the exact same & all the men felt like they were just lumped together into one category of "bad." besides the age differences, they felt one dimensional & almost identical. Gracie reads like a full adult processing trauma & going through memories & emotions from the past, but is actually a 16 year old in high school, which felt odd to me.
i can't really touch on the horror elements because, at the time of dnf'ing, there wasn't much horror going on. i usually love Korean mythology & folklore, i really wish it would have been more of a main focus vs the familial drama that's going on instead, so i'm sad that this one didn't work out for me, but it will find its right audience.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The book shone when leaning into the spooky atmosphere and horror elements. I LOVED the physical manifestation of generational grief and the beautiful prose. Though the issues it tackles are important and interesting to read about, the commentary sometimes felt a little heavy-handed.
Overall, I thought it was a great debut novel and would love to read Park Kulski's previous works!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for providing this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review:)
Overall, I thought it was a great debut novel and would love to read Park Kulski's previous works!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Bindery Books for providing this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review:)
September 1, 2026
3.5 stars rounding to 4. I really liked the lore behind this and enjoyed the story. I think it had too many different POVs going on and most of them were unnecessary. I think the story could have benefited from being more linear and less bits and pieces of background getting thrown in throughout. I wanted a few things to be a little more straightforward. It felt like the author was trying to be poetic or flowery about some of the more haunting elements but it came across as more confusing and not clear about what was happening. Overall I did enjoy this and would definitely read more from this author.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
August 27, 2026
The ideas that surround this book and its plot are very interesting- the juxtaposition of Korean and American culture, Korean spirits, feelings of belonging, supernatural events, dual timelines. However, the execution of the book did not work for me. I found that characters were often spelling out their feelings or explaining metaphors/themes that would have worked better if they were left up to the reader. I also did not connect with any of the characters. I found them to be caricatures and there wasn’t room for growth or change. I read this as an ARC through NetGalley.
September 10, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
This review is courtesy of an ARC provided by NetGalley. The following is entirely my own thoughts and opinions.
I’m going to go ahead and get my couple of small gripes out of the way before I get to the much more important and voluminous praises. Also, bear in mind what I consider a gripe may not necessarily be a gripe to others so do with that what you will.
The book is told through multiple timelines and cross multiple characters. The switches between characters and timelines initially felt a bit jarring and overwhelming and took me a little bit to really get used to. I will say that once I settled in a bit and got my head right with it, the changes in timelines and POVs made so much more sense and the story was exceptionally easy to keep up with. There were a few moments in the beginning where some information felt that it was being repeated and I thought I may be re-reading the same passage over again. It only occurred in the early pages of the book so, in the grand scheme of things, not a particularly huge deal.
Now, to the good stuff!
Dammit, Kristy, way to rip a reader’s heart to absolute ribbons. Someone started cutting onions at the end, I swear it. “Cracks” is a devastating, yet powerful, story steeped in Korean folklore and a splash of modern history. It follows Gracie, a biracial Korean-American teenage girl in the mid-1990s and her struggle with identity as both Korean and an American, her own sexual identity, a dysfunctional family (her father specifically) and addiction, generational trauma, and confronting ghosts that haunt her.
Kristy does a fantastic job throughout (utilizing that multi-timeline and multi-POV) of constructing a story that makes you feel every emotion the character feels. It makes you hate characters worthy of being hated (don’t worry, they’re pretty obvious). It makes you grieve when Gracie grieves. What I wasn’t expecting was a history lesson (which I’m always game for) about the atrocious manner with which the Imperial Japanese treated native Koreans, but also the similar treatment they received from American service members in the years after the Korean War. On a personal level it resonates with me as I was a US service member, my first duty station was in Korea, and I can recall somewhat clearly many of the people I was stationed with that embodied the same mindset and traits that Gracie’s own father — and US military members in general — possessed. Particularly as it pertained to juicy girls. They were still very much a thing around the base where I was stationed at the same and I, if we are being honest, expressed some of the same assumptions on those girls that I heard from those around me.
By the end of this book I felt all kinds of different emotions and the tear ducts were in full force. “Cracks” is haunting. It’s compelling. It’s emotional. It’s scary. “Cracks” is phenomenal and I can’t wait to recommend it to everyone when it releases.
This review is courtesy of an ARC provided by NetGalley. The following is entirely my own thoughts and opinions.
I’m going to go ahead and get my couple of small gripes out of the way before I get to the much more important and voluminous praises. Also, bear in mind what I consider a gripe may not necessarily be a gripe to others so do with that what you will.
The book is told through multiple timelines and cross multiple characters. The switches between characters and timelines initially felt a bit jarring and overwhelming and took me a little bit to really get used to. I will say that once I settled in a bit and got my head right with it, the changes in timelines and POVs made so much more sense and the story was exceptionally easy to keep up with. There were a few moments in the beginning where some information felt that it was being repeated and I thought I may be re-reading the same passage over again. It only occurred in the early pages of the book so, in the grand scheme of things, not a particularly huge deal.
Now, to the good stuff!
Dammit, Kristy, way to rip a reader’s heart to absolute ribbons. Someone started cutting onions at the end, I swear it. “Cracks” is a devastating, yet powerful, story steeped in Korean folklore and a splash of modern history. It follows Gracie, a biracial Korean-American teenage girl in the mid-1990s and her struggle with identity as both Korean and an American, her own sexual identity, a dysfunctional family (her father specifically) and addiction, generational trauma, and confronting ghosts that haunt her.
Kristy does a fantastic job throughout (utilizing that multi-timeline and multi-POV) of constructing a story that makes you feel every emotion the character feels. It makes you hate characters worthy of being hated (don’t worry, they’re pretty obvious). It makes you grieve when Gracie grieves. What I wasn’t expecting was a history lesson (which I’m always game for) about the atrocious manner with which the Imperial Japanese treated native Koreans, but also the similar treatment they received from American service members in the years after the Korean War. On a personal level it resonates with me as I was a US service member, my first duty station was in Korea, and I can recall somewhat clearly many of the people I was stationed with that embodied the same mindset and traits that Gracie’s own father — and US military members in general — possessed. Particularly as it pertained to juicy girls. They were still very much a thing around the base where I was stationed at the same and I, if we are being honest, expressed some of the same assumptions on those girls that I heard from those around me.
By the end of this book I felt all kinds of different emotions and the tear ducts were in full force. “Cracks” is haunting. It’s compelling. It’s emotional. It’s scary. “Cracks” is phenomenal and I can’t wait to recommend it to everyone when it releases.
September 12, 2026
4/5 ⭐️
📖 ARC
Cracks is a haunting story that focuses on Korea and American integration while also highlighting the discrimination and complicated realities that come with it.
There are quite a few POVs, which I actually felt flowed together nicely for the most part, although it did become a little confusing at times. This book feels almost like a love poem to the author’s own life, experiences, and knowledge, while giving that story to Gracie and her family.
I really appreciated the exploration of what it means to live in America as a foreigner, especially the impact Gracie’s mother has on her world and everything she endured and sacrificed for her daughter. There’s also folklore woven throughout the story that felt haunting and appropriate without becoming too grandiose.
This felt like the kind of story you sit with long after you’ve finished it. There are certain portions that make you stop and reflect on things you may not have considered before. I personally ended up looking up the story of Yun Geum I, a woman who was brutalized by an American soldier, which is also highlighted within this story.
There’s something beautiful about growing beyond your trauma while still remembering what brought you there in the first place. Cracks left me with a lot to think about, and I think that’s what will stick with me the most.
📖 ARC
Cracks is a haunting story that focuses on Korea and American integration while also highlighting the discrimination and complicated realities that come with it.
There are quite a few POVs, which I actually felt flowed together nicely for the most part, although it did become a little confusing at times. This book feels almost like a love poem to the author’s own life, experiences, and knowledge, while giving that story to Gracie and her family.
I really appreciated the exploration of what it means to live in America as a foreigner, especially the impact Gracie’s mother has on her world and everything she endured and sacrificed for her daughter. There’s also folklore woven throughout the story that felt haunting and appropriate without becoming too grandiose.
This felt like the kind of story you sit with long after you’ve finished it. There are certain portions that make you stop and reflect on things you may not have considered before. I personally ended up looking up the story of Yun Geum I, a woman who was brutalized by an American soldier, which is also highlighted within this story.
There’s something beautiful about growing beyond your trauma while still remembering what brought you there in the first place. Cracks left me with a lot to think about, and I think that’s what will stick with me the most.
August 24, 2026
Review advanced copy from Netgalley and Bindery Books
It was something i never read in for a while. The family dynamic spookiness in there was so good. And well written. I loved how to story evolved and the character with in. Besides the spookiness i felt coziness in the book as well. I’m so thankful for reviewing this book.
It will just glue you on your book or to your kindle.
It was something i never read in for a while. The family dynamic spookiness in there was so good. And well written. I loved how to story evolved and the character with in. Besides the spookiness i felt coziness in the book as well. I’m so thankful for reviewing this book.
It will just glue you on your book or to your kindle.
August 16, 2026
Review of advanced copy received from NetGalley.
This book was such a nice surprise! At first I really thought I was going to read another version of “Crying in H-Mart” (Korean-American losing her mother, wondering if she was a good enough daughter for her, trying to cook her favourite meals during her last weeks…) but then it couldn’t be further from it. And in my opinion way better! I really enjoyed the way the author approached grief and folklore in this, the themes of generational trauma and growing up between two cultures. And the horror side was the cherry on top. I’ll definitely check other books by Kristy!
This book was such a nice surprise! At first I really thought I was going to read another version of “Crying in H-Mart” (Korean-American losing her mother, wondering if she was a good enough daughter for her, trying to cook her favourite meals during her last weeks…) but then it couldn’t be further from it. And in my opinion way better! I really enjoyed the way the author approached grief and folklore in this, the themes of generational trauma and growing up between two cultures. And the horror side was the cherry on top. I’ll definitely check other books by Kristy!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an arc in return for an honest review.
I would like to start with the positives for there are plenty, and where they glow they really do shine. The prose in the book are exceptional. The descriptions are very whimsical and take you to a place of mythology and wonder, supernatural elements that are woven into the story with great command of words really do pull you in. I found myself sometimes rereading some passages because of how well written they were. These passages were mostly descriptive, and even the gory parts were written with a flourish that both disgusted you but also entranced you. The book also carries important themes, themes worthy of discussion in the wider world about being in between worlds, never really feeling like you have a foot in either space but are being torn in two.
With that being said, that leads to a lot of weak points in the book.
Everything that is tied to the message of being a dual person, never quite belonging, is not left for the reader to interpret or to reach that conclusion on their own. Instead, it is repeatedly hammered into your head. The horror elements of this horror categorized novel takes a backseat to somberness, tragedy, and melancholy. It read more like a drama with horror elements scattered about, only really being used at the very end of the story. For the first forty chapters, nothing much happens. Instead, it is exposition into the lives of our a main characters that provide a plethora of details of just how miserable they deem their existence and how horrible everything is. Apart from that, the POV chapters of some characters within those chapters are not necessary at all and, if anything, just flood the book with more information that leads to nowhere. With the exception of one character who plays no vital role to the story, those POV chapters that go beyond the three leading ladies result in nothing but minor character development, if even that. But it comes so late in the book for that one character that it does not feel earned, rather just placed.
The horror elements, when used, were great! They were scary. And certainly, the tragedies that the characters are experiencing could be consider real-life horror. There is no denying that. However, it became a drama very quickly. A novel that may have best been served if it focused on one element as opposed to both. Constantly reading about how much the two main characters hate their lives, hate their identities, and hate pretty much everything else, including each other for a good portion of the book, becomes tiresome. Actually, it becomes quite tragic. There were times when I thought, "Do you ... like ... anything? Like, does anything bring you joy? Is there anything that makes you smile?" Anytime commentary was made on the historical predicaments that serve as the backdrop of the story always concluded with the persistent and ever repeated epiphany, "But America and Americans are worse." Any time any thing of any trauma for any of the characters was mentioned, it was swiftly followed with "But America and Americans are worse," so much that within the first ten chapters, I predicted "But America is worse" was coming and was, sadly, proven correct every single time. A very real conversation to be had, very real emotions, the promise of the American Dream not coming to pass is worthy of exploration and discussion in books and elsewhere, no doubt about that at all. Having it presented so on the nose that offers nothing but misery for everything made me not want to progress because it was providing nothing to the reader but that misery.
The last note, unfortunately, was a good portion of the dialogue. So many times, too many times, I just shook my head and muttered, "People don't talk like that."
I would recommend the book for people looking to learn more about the half-American/half- experiences, especially in teenagers, but I would not recommend it as a horror. I would explain it is sad, it is going to bring you down, sometimes you love the writing because when it is good, my gosh, it is fantastic! Other times, you are just going to be pulled out of it.
I would like to start with the positives for there are plenty, and where they glow they really do shine. The prose in the book are exceptional. The descriptions are very whimsical and take you to a place of mythology and wonder, supernatural elements that are woven into the story with great command of words really do pull you in. I found myself sometimes rereading some passages because of how well written they were. These passages were mostly descriptive, and even the gory parts were written with a flourish that both disgusted you but also entranced you. The book also carries important themes, themes worthy of discussion in the wider world about being in between worlds, never really feeling like you have a foot in either space but are being torn in two.
With that being said, that leads to a lot of weak points in the book.
Everything that is tied to the message of being a dual person, never quite belonging, is not left for the reader to interpret or to reach that conclusion on their own. Instead, it is repeatedly hammered into your head. The horror elements of this horror categorized novel takes a backseat to somberness, tragedy, and melancholy. It read more like a drama with horror elements scattered about, only really being used at the very end of the story. For the first forty chapters, nothing much happens. Instead, it is exposition into the lives of our a main characters that provide a plethora of details of just how miserable they deem their existence and how horrible everything is. Apart from that, the POV chapters of some characters within those chapters are not necessary at all and, if anything, just flood the book with more information that leads to nowhere. With the exception of one character who plays no vital role to the story, those POV chapters that go beyond the three leading ladies result in nothing but minor character development, if even that. But it comes so late in the book for that one character that it does not feel earned, rather just placed.
The horror elements, when used, were great! They were scary. And certainly, the tragedies that the characters are experiencing could be consider real-life horror. There is no denying that. However, it became a drama very quickly. A novel that may have best been served if it focused on one element as opposed to both. Constantly reading about how much the two main characters hate their lives, hate their identities, and hate pretty much everything else, including each other for a good portion of the book, becomes tiresome. Actually, it becomes quite tragic. There were times when I thought, "Do you ... like ... anything? Like, does anything bring you joy? Is there anything that makes you smile?" Anytime commentary was made on the historical predicaments that serve as the backdrop of the story always concluded with the persistent and ever repeated epiphany, "But America and Americans are worse." Any time any thing of any trauma for any of the characters was mentioned, it was swiftly followed with "But America and Americans are worse," so much that within the first ten chapters, I predicted "But America is worse" was coming and was, sadly, proven correct every single time. A very real conversation to be had, very real emotions, the promise of the American Dream not coming to pass is worthy of exploration and discussion in books and elsewhere, no doubt about that at all. Having it presented so on the nose that offers nothing but misery for everything made me not want to progress because it was providing nothing to the reader but that misery.
The last note, unfortunately, was a good portion of the dialogue. So many times, too many times, I just shook my head and muttered, "People don't talk like that."
I would recommend the book for people looking to learn more about the half-American/half- experiences, especially in teenagers, but I would not recommend it as a horror. I would explain it is sad, it is going to bring you down, sometimes you love the writing because when it is good, my gosh, it is fantastic! Other times, you are just going to be pulled out of it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3/5
This book kept interrupting its own momentum.
I was VERY interested at first - Ji-eun's POV and extrasensory ability was fascinating, and the bits of Korean mythology that peeked through were wonderful. For a minute I thought this book would be my jam, but before I knew it we switched to another POV. Teenage drama - less interesting, but okay - I try to get into it, but then there's a time jump or we skip to yet another POV. And the text continues like that. So basically as soon as I began getting into any one storyline, the narrative cuts off and goes somewhere else. Eventually I just stopped caring about what happened in any of them, including the one I initially found intriguing. This was probably my biggest issue. I usually tear through books, but this ended up being a slow read for me - I kept putting it down out of frustration at being interrupted.
I think I would have been happiest if the entire book had been written only from Ji-eun's perspective, honestly. All the jumping around only served to keep each storyline shallow, and I wanted a more in-depth exploration.
It didn't help that the POVs all sounded so similar (with the exception of the males). We are told that this is A or B's perspective, not shown it. All the female POVs were basically interchangeable in terms of language, pacing, and tone. Gracie's age (16) never felt convincing to me - despite teenage things happening TO her, her internal voice read like a woman in her mid-to-late twenties or older. This story might have worked better for me (maybe) if Gracie had been an adult processing her memories of being a teenager and not a teenager herself - there was just such a mismatch with the age she is supposed to be and what is on the page. And the teenage coming-of-age and identity quest is so overdone in contemporary literature that it really didn't do anything for me.
There was also a lot of heavy-handed repetition. Not as far as the words or phrases used, but in the scaffolding. Starting around the middle of the book, I kept wanting to say "we get it!" every few pages - about several things we, the readers, get already. For example, this note itself was sparked by Gracie thinking she wishes that the wall between her and her mom would break for the umpteenth time. We get it. We understand the various situations, we don't need to be told each character's psychological motivation over and over and over again.
It's unfortunate, because I really did like the premise and there are some amazing passages in here - both on the creepy side and the thoughtful side. I think the author was just trying to fit in too much, and by doing so diluted the more interesting bits.
HOWEVER, there is a while before this book comes out (releases in about 8 months, plenty of time for changes) - and I am finding myself curious enough to preorder a Kindle copy in order to see how the final version reads. So I'm giving this one an optimistic 3/5.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#Cracks #NetGalley
This book kept interrupting its own momentum.
I was VERY interested at first - Ji-eun's POV and extrasensory ability was fascinating, and the bits of Korean mythology that peeked through were wonderful. For a minute I thought this book would be my jam, but before I knew it we switched to another POV. Teenage drama - less interesting, but okay - I try to get into it, but then there's a time jump or we skip to yet another POV. And the text continues like that. So basically as soon as I began getting into any one storyline, the narrative cuts off and goes somewhere else. Eventually I just stopped caring about what happened in any of them, including the one I initially found intriguing. This was probably my biggest issue. I usually tear through books, but this ended up being a slow read for me - I kept putting it down out of frustration at being interrupted.
I think I would have been happiest if the entire book had been written only from Ji-eun's perspective, honestly. All the jumping around only served to keep each storyline shallow, and I wanted a more in-depth exploration.
It didn't help that the POVs all sounded so similar (with the exception of the males). We are told that this is A or B's perspective, not shown it. All the female POVs were basically interchangeable in terms of language, pacing, and tone. Gracie's age (16) never felt convincing to me - despite teenage things happening TO her, her internal voice read like a woman in her mid-to-late twenties or older. This story might have worked better for me (maybe) if Gracie had been an adult processing her memories of being a teenager and not a teenager herself - there was just such a mismatch with the age she is supposed to be and what is on the page. And the teenage coming-of-age and identity quest is so overdone in contemporary literature that it really didn't do anything for me.
There was also a lot of heavy-handed repetition. Not as far as the words or phrases used, but in the scaffolding. Starting around the middle of the book, I kept wanting to say "we get it!" every few pages - about several things we, the readers, get already. For example, this note itself was sparked by Gracie thinking she wishes that the wall between her and her mom would break for the umpteenth time. We get it. We understand the various situations, we don't need to be told each character's psychological motivation over and over and over again.
It's unfortunate, because I really did like the premise and there are some amazing passages in here - both on the creepy side and the thoughtful side. I think the author was just trying to fit in too much, and by doing so diluted the more interesting bits.
HOWEVER, there is a while before this book comes out (releases in about 8 months, plenty of time for changes) - and I am finding myself curious enough to preorder a Kindle copy in order to see how the final version reads. So I'm giving this one an optimistic 3/5.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#Cracks #NetGalley
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Cracks follows Ji-eun, a Korean woman and her daughter, Gracie (who is Korean-American) as some dark secrets about their family come to light.
First of all, I want to say that though this book is billed as a horror, I think it fits more into the family drama genre (for me, anyways). The horror parts are few and far between and really are not at all scary. It’s like… a family drama with a bit more gore and ghosts than your ordinary one. Going into this expecting a straight up horror book, I was a little disappointed.
However, if you go into this expecting a dark, deep look into someone’s Korean diaspora experience, along with the general experience of being a woman in a man’s world, you may be more pleasantly surprised. I am 100% Caucasian, born in the USA and don’t know anything about what it feels like to feel so rejected and out of place due to my race or ethnicity. In that way, it was hard for me to connect with Ju-eun and Gracie. However, what I did connect with was the way that men look at women (and especially Asian women) as commodities, things to be owned. Reading about what Ji-eun and her sister went through was heartbreaking and I felt it down to my bones.
Also, the writing in this is truly gorgeous. This book had some unbelievably beautiful quotes that really resonated with me. Quotes about parenthood, and grief, and family that all hit like bricks. It was lyrical and evoked a lot of emotion in me.
Looking to what I think could be improved; I think, despite enjoying the general message about men, that the men were a bit too one-dimensional of characters. Literally every man in this book is a sexist, homophobic, racist, violent creep. Not saying there aren’t a lot of men like that, but it would’ve been nice to see a bit more characterization going on there.
I also agree with what I’ve seen some other reviewers say- it can be quite repetitive at times and maybe spells things out a bit too literally. Instead of letting us infer from Gracie’s actions and thoughts how she is feeling, there were often sentences where she said EXACTLY how she was feeling. I think it would’ve been nice to occasionally leave a bit more room for interpretation for the reader.
Also, this book puts a real emphasis on cracks and rain in the synopsis but I don’t really think that came through as much as I wanted to. The crack was barely mentioned and the rain didn’t seem to really play a part til the end. I mention this as a disappointment because I REALLY love horror with water/ocean elements (House of Salt and Sorrows, A Study in Drowning to name a few) and that was a huge part of the reason I wanted to pick this up.
I do think this was a solid book, but the small issues with the character and writing made fully enjoying it a bit difficult at times. If you’re into weird, dark and pretty unflinching looks at a variety of intense topics, I think this book could be for you and I recommend you give it a go.
Cracks follows Ji-eun, a Korean woman and her daughter, Gracie (who is Korean-American) as some dark secrets about their family come to light.
First of all, I want to say that though this book is billed as a horror, I think it fits more into the family drama genre (for me, anyways). The horror parts are few and far between and really are not at all scary. It’s like… a family drama with a bit more gore and ghosts than your ordinary one. Going into this expecting a straight up horror book, I was a little disappointed.
However, if you go into this expecting a dark, deep look into someone’s Korean diaspora experience, along with the general experience of being a woman in a man’s world, you may be more pleasantly surprised. I am 100% Caucasian, born in the USA and don’t know anything about what it feels like to feel so rejected and out of place due to my race or ethnicity. In that way, it was hard for me to connect with Ju-eun and Gracie. However, what I did connect with was the way that men look at women (and especially Asian women) as commodities, things to be owned. Reading about what Ji-eun and her sister went through was heartbreaking and I felt it down to my bones.
Also, the writing in this is truly gorgeous. This book had some unbelievably beautiful quotes that really resonated with me. Quotes about parenthood, and grief, and family that all hit like bricks. It was lyrical and evoked a lot of emotion in me.
Looking to what I think could be improved; I think, despite enjoying the general message about men, that the men were a bit too one-dimensional of characters. Literally every man in this book is a sexist, homophobic, racist, violent creep. Not saying there aren’t a lot of men like that, but it would’ve been nice to see a bit more characterization going on there.
I also agree with what I’ve seen some other reviewers say- it can be quite repetitive at times and maybe spells things out a bit too literally. Instead of letting us infer from Gracie’s actions and thoughts how she is feeling, there were often sentences where she said EXACTLY how she was feeling. I think it would’ve been nice to occasionally leave a bit more room for interpretation for the reader.
Also, this book puts a real emphasis on cracks and rain in the synopsis but I don’t really think that came through as much as I wanted to. The crack was barely mentioned and the rain didn’t seem to really play a part til the end. I mention this as a disappointment because I REALLY love horror with water/ocean elements (House of Salt and Sorrows, A Study in Drowning to name a few) and that was a huge part of the reason I wanted to pick this up.
I do think this was a solid book, but the small issues with the character and writing made fully enjoying it a bit difficult at times. If you’re into weird, dark and pretty unflinching looks at a variety of intense topics, I think this book could be for you and I recommend you give it a go.
September 3, 2026
Ji-eun lives in the United States with her abusive partner and her daughter, and she knows she is going to die. Grief-ridden from her past in Korea, she struggles to connect with her daughter Gracie, who, unlike Ji-eun, was born and raised in America. Meanwhile, Gracie is desperate to know her mother and sees more than Ji-eun can guess but doesn't know how to show her love. She floats between Ji-eun's Korean culture and her father's American identity. Her father is at best neglectful, at worst abusive, and an alcoholic who holds racist and sexist views of his Ji-eun. Gracie longs for her mother, for a sense of connection to somewhere, a feeling of belonging to someone and her inescapable pain hangs heavy in every beautiful sentence. She seeks home, friendship, love, but keeps everything tucked to herself because there is nowhere safe to turn. Gracie and Ji-eun's relationship, the many complexities of Ji-eun's past, and Gracie's search for identity are what drives Cracks, a reflective novel that seaminglessly weaves between perspectives, memories and places.
We dive into Ji-eun's past to understood the burdens she carries, walk with Gracie through life in a racist community, and view the world from her father's hopeless perspective. Each new view enriches the narrative, widens our perspective, deepens our view. Some of these perspectives call for empathy, but others simply show why someone would choose cruelty without providing a space for resolution. Not everyone will heal and grow to become a better person. Not everyone has the capacity, or the resources to do so. Not every cruel act can be forgiven, and trauma cannot always be healed from, especially if the abuse continues and one cannot find a place to feel safe.
The past not only lives in the body and the mind but comes to life as ghosts, which Ji-eun knows much of, and Gracie knows nothing of. Angry and hurt spirits persist after death to haunt, guard or tormet the living because they too, cannot let go. Kulski's prose tightens and grabs you during horror scenes that leave you gasping for air. The ghosts become an increasingly powerful presence through the novel until they are unavoidable and enmeshed, leading to an unexpected ending.
The many themes and quiet plotlines of Cracks interweaves to contribute to a powerful narrative of trauma and identity. The novel gives hope if not for a happy ending, for growth, and finding one's place in the world, however strange it may be.
Cracks flowed like water, was utterly gripping, and brilliant in its execution. A stunning debut, I was reminded of the A Girl of a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean, and The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan. I loved every bit of this novel and I look forward to what Kristy Park Kulski writes next.
Thanks to Bindery and Boozhoo Books for this e-ARC!
We dive into Ji-eun's past to understood the burdens she carries, walk with Gracie through life in a racist community, and view the world from her father's hopeless perspective. Each new view enriches the narrative, widens our perspective, deepens our view. Some of these perspectives call for empathy, but others simply show why someone would choose cruelty without providing a space for resolution. Not everyone will heal and grow to become a better person. Not everyone has the capacity, or the resources to do so. Not every cruel act can be forgiven, and trauma cannot always be healed from, especially if the abuse continues and one cannot find a place to feel safe.
The past not only lives in the body and the mind but comes to life as ghosts, which Ji-eun knows much of, and Gracie knows nothing of. Angry and hurt spirits persist after death to haunt, guard or tormet the living because they too, cannot let go. Kulski's prose tightens and grabs you during horror scenes that leave you gasping for air. The ghosts become an increasingly powerful presence through the novel until they are unavoidable and enmeshed, leading to an unexpected ending.
The many themes and quiet plotlines of Cracks interweaves to contribute to a powerful narrative of trauma and identity. The novel gives hope if not for a happy ending, for growth, and finding one's place in the world, however strange it may be.
Cracks flowed like water, was utterly gripping, and brilliant in its execution. A stunning debut, I was reminded of the A Girl of a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean, and The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan. I loved every bit of this novel and I look forward to what Kristy Park Kulski writes next.
Thanks to Bindery and Boozhoo Books for this e-ARC!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The cracks are thin and ready to break. An ocean sized adventure for anyone who is daring to explore the fracture of their psyche. The mul-gwishin is truly a specter to haunt your soul. I absolutely loved the way she translates folklore from her own culture and makes it something new simultaneously. The shift here is genius and really bridges the story from the average ghost story to something that will make you look over your shoulder while reading. Are the souls of our loved ones really resting or are they just waiting to be heard? A soul inspiring read that makes you think about the way we grieve as a culture and how we think about death and ghouls.
When the water comes rushing in – will you give in or find a way to persevere. I have read myriad books about family trauma and the way trauma is passed down through the family. But Cracks remolds the notion of generational trauma and truly embodies what this means. The mistakes we made will eventually be rectified by her future bloodline. But how does that come to fruition without a little afterlife related guidance? A beautiful yet terrifying way to understand the way we are connected to generations while simultaneously breaking apart from those bad habits that have led our families to harbor certain dark truths.
Kulski tactfully confronts what it means to grow up as multi-racial in America. What part of your identity are you forced to give up just to survive in American society. Social constructs are horrors that keep writing themselves until a new generation learns how to find their way back to their culture. The ghostly bridge here is what creates that step to find yourself and what it means to make amends with a culture that your family was nearly forced to forget. Seeing this narrative from multiple time periods is what makes this all come together and connect.
When the water is rushing in and you are deep beneath the surface it becomes difficult to breathe. You are looking at the ways you could have chosen yourself instead of reactionary values. Now you need to find peace before you become a restless spirit. This is also a story about amplifying women’s voices and the ways we mingle with society to only blend in. There needs to be someone that breaks that mold and learns to grapple with the hauntings of the past. Absolutely spectacular read and possibly my favorite thus far for this year. Thank you Kulski, Boozhoo Books / Bindery, and Netgalley for this advanced digital copy. All opinions are my own.
For tarot readings, recommendations, and reviews, please visit my blog https://brujerialibrary.wordpress.com/
When the water comes rushing in – will you give in or find a way to persevere. I have read myriad books about family trauma and the way trauma is passed down through the family. But Cracks remolds the notion of generational trauma and truly embodies what this means. The mistakes we made will eventually be rectified by her future bloodline. But how does that come to fruition without a little afterlife related guidance? A beautiful yet terrifying way to understand the way we are connected to generations while simultaneously breaking apart from those bad habits that have led our families to harbor certain dark truths.
Kulski tactfully confronts what it means to grow up as multi-racial in America. What part of your identity are you forced to give up just to survive in American society. Social constructs are horrors that keep writing themselves until a new generation learns how to find their way back to their culture. The ghostly bridge here is what creates that step to find yourself and what it means to make amends with a culture that your family was nearly forced to forget. Seeing this narrative from multiple time periods is what makes this all come together and connect.
When the water is rushing in and you are deep beneath the surface it becomes difficult to breathe. You are looking at the ways you could have chosen yourself instead of reactionary values. Now you need to find peace before you become a restless spirit. This is also a story about amplifying women’s voices and the ways we mingle with society to only blend in. There needs to be someone that breaks that mold and learns to grapple with the hauntings of the past. Absolutely spectacular read and possibly my favorite thus far for this year. Thank you Kulski, Boozhoo Books / Bindery, and Netgalley for this advanced digital copy. All opinions are my own.
For tarot readings, recommendations, and reviews, please visit my blog https://brujerialibrary.wordpress.com/
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
"Cracks" by Kristy Park Kulski is a book about generational trauma, Korean-American identity and vengeful water ghosts, but above all, it's a book about mothers, sisters and daughters.
It feels a bit strange to say this about a book that deals with such heavy subjects, but "Cracks" was such a pleasure to read. The atmosphere is truly something. Kristy Park Kulski uses the English language as her personal playground with her vivid descriptions and insightful metaphors. Every word feels intentional, placed there with love and care. I felt like the text was flowing into my brain much like water through cracks. This, along with the book being short, caused me to finish it in no-time.
"Cracks" reminded me in many ways of Monika Kim's "The Eyes Are the Best Part" as well as Kylie Lee Baker's "Bat Eater". We explore themes of grief, sense of otherness, misogyny, war and loss as well as intersectionality overlapping gender, race, religion and sexual orientation. I could only admire how eloquently the author was able to put her thoughts on these matters into words. Without spoiling anything, there were passages that made my heart sing, others that broke it and some that made my skin crawl.
The story is told in several points of view and across many different time periods. This made me wish the book was longer, because between everything that was happening across two (perhaps three) generations, there is a whole lot to unpack. The author has a degree in history and it shows - I would have loved to read more of her depiction of South Korea around the 1970s. Instead, we keep bouncing back and forth between past and present, which makes the narrative feel surface-level at times. Oh, well. Genre sets the word count, I guess.
Either way, reading about the struggles of these two (three) generations of Korean/Korean-American women was certainly a ride. Yet another book that goes to show the superiority of feminist horror. I would highly recommend "Cracks" to... well, anyone who'd listen.
Thank you for the free advanced reader copy to the author, the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions presented here are honest and generated fully inside my head.
It feels a bit strange to say this about a book that deals with such heavy subjects, but "Cracks" was such a pleasure to read. The atmosphere is truly something. Kristy Park Kulski uses the English language as her personal playground with her vivid descriptions and insightful metaphors. Every word feels intentional, placed there with love and care. I felt like the text was flowing into my brain much like water through cracks. This, along with the book being short, caused me to finish it in no-time.
"Cracks" reminded me in many ways of Monika Kim's "The Eyes Are the Best Part" as well as Kylie Lee Baker's "Bat Eater". We explore themes of grief, sense of otherness, misogyny, war and loss as well as intersectionality overlapping gender, race, religion and sexual orientation. I could only admire how eloquently the author was able to put her thoughts on these matters into words. Without spoiling anything, there were passages that made my heart sing, others that broke it and some that made my skin crawl.
The story is told in several points of view and across many different time periods. This made me wish the book was longer, because between everything that was happening across two (perhaps three) generations, there is a whole lot to unpack. The author has a degree in history and it shows - I would have loved to read more of her depiction of South Korea around the 1970s. Instead, we keep bouncing back and forth between past and present, which makes the narrative feel surface-level at times. Oh, well. Genre sets the word count, I guess.
Either way, reading about the struggles of these two (three) generations of Korean/Korean-American women was certainly a ride. Yet another book that goes to show the superiority of feminist horror. I would highly recommend "Cracks" to... well, anyone who'd listen.
Thank you for the free advanced reader copy to the author, the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions presented here are honest and generated fully inside my head.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an arc of this from Net Galley
Edit: started with two stars. Decided the ending was too egregious for even that extra star.
Cracks reads like those bad diaspora poems everyone makes fun of on Twitter couched in a very loose horror concept. There are only so many times one can talk about their abusive mom and their racist dad and how they have a fragmented identity before it becomes exhausting, and unfortunately, this book gets to that point before a quarter of the book. I don’t begrudge the author the concept. It’s clearly one that she has experienced in real life. There are interesting ways to say those things though, and Park Kulski never gets there. It’s the same repetitive messaging over and over for ninety pages before the horror concept even shows up. When the horror concept does finally arrive (well over a third of the way through the book), it’s an interesting one. Unfortunately, it’s under-explored.
On a technical note, the book is exhausting. It changes perspectives or time periods no fewer than once every four pages on average, sometimes after only a few sentences. A chapter with a time period, says no more than 75 words, and then has an abrupt break to a different time period. Some chapters are barely a page long before jumping to the next chapter with a different character perspective. There are also abrupt changes in tense and person throughout the book that make it exhausting as well.
Finally, I have to wonder, given the current political climate, if this author is one of the people who supports Lindsay Clancy in murdering her kids. There are two female characters who do heinous things to children and effectively not only get away with it but get forgiven for it as well. One character murders a toddler and they all just effectively move on from it, but don’t worry, . With this book, Park Kulski sends the message that child abuse and murder is okay as long as you’re a woman, but if you say “show me your titties,” you should be killed for it.
Edit: started with two stars. Decided the ending was too egregious for even that extra star.
Cracks reads like those bad diaspora poems everyone makes fun of on Twitter couched in a very loose horror concept. There are only so many times one can talk about their abusive mom and their racist dad and how they have a fragmented identity before it becomes exhausting, and unfortunately, this book gets to that point before a quarter of the book. I don’t begrudge the author the concept. It’s clearly one that she has experienced in real life. There are interesting ways to say those things though, and Park Kulski never gets there. It’s the same repetitive messaging over and over for ninety pages before the horror concept even shows up. When the horror concept does finally arrive (well over a third of the way through the book), it’s an interesting one. Unfortunately, it’s under-explored.
On a technical note, the book is exhausting. It changes perspectives or time periods no fewer than once every four pages on average, sometimes after only a few sentences. A chapter with a time period, says no more than 75 words, and then has an abrupt break to a different time period. Some chapters are barely a page long before jumping to the next chapter with a different character perspective. There are also abrupt changes in tense and person throughout the book that make it exhausting as well.
Finally, I have to wonder, given the current political climate, if this author is one of the people who supports Lindsay Clancy in murdering her kids. There are two female characters who do heinous things to children and effectively not only get away with it but get forgiven for it as well. One character murders a toddler and they all just effectively move on from it, but don’t worry, . With this book, Park Kulski sends the message that child abuse and murder is okay as long as you’re a woman, but if you say “show me your titties,” you should be killed for it.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Gracie Russell is a teenager who struggles with her biracial identity. Her white father, Mack, is an abusive alcoholic, and she struggles to get close to her Korean mother, Ji-eun, who holds her at arms length. When her mother announces she will be dying soon, grief and long held secrets start rising to the surface.
I only have one word: wow. This book is stunning. The writing is beautiful and the grief is palpable. You switch often into the heads of Gracie and Ji-eun, with scarce chapters from Mack, Gracie's neighbor, and Ji-eun's sister. Every time a new POV chapter came up I would wonder why we were in their heads, but it would immediately make sense and give more context to the story. Each one had a distinctive voice that really allowed you to understand them and their motivations. Being in Gracie & Ji-eun's thoughts was heartbreaking - seeing their struggles to communicate with each other and show their love, and how the other perceived it.
Ji-eun's story is so heavy and she is such a strong character. I could feel her desperation even when we as the reader didn't know the full extent of her story yet. To read what she (and her sister) had to go through in South Korea was so heart wrenching but beautifully done,
Gracie's turmoil at not knowing where she belongs and feeling so disconnected from both sides of her identity was also done so, so well. When her mother is dying, she has to come to terms with all the things she didn't learn from her and all the things she took for granted.
The mul-gwishin is equal parts terrifying and amazing. I often found her descriptions to be hauntingly beautiful.
This book was a 5 star read. I was hooked from the beginning and entranced in the way the story unfolded. It is an excellent portrayal of grief and generational trauma. Of the things we do for those we love and the things that are left unsaid. Absolutely stunning read.
I only have one word: wow. This book is stunning. The writing is beautiful and the grief is palpable. You switch often into the heads of Gracie and Ji-eun, with scarce chapters from Mack, Gracie's neighbor, and Ji-eun's sister. Every time a new POV chapter came up I would wonder why we were in their heads, but it would immediately make sense and give more context to the story. Each one had a distinctive voice that really allowed you to understand them and their motivations. Being in Gracie & Ji-eun's thoughts was heartbreaking - seeing their struggles to communicate with each other and show their love, and how the other perceived it.
Ji-eun's story is so heavy and she is such a strong character. I could feel her desperation even when we as the reader didn't know the full extent of her story yet. To read what she (and her sister) had to go through in South Korea was so heart wrenching but beautifully done,
Gracie's turmoil at not knowing where she belongs and feeling so disconnected from both sides of her identity was also done so, so well. When her mother is dying, she has to come to terms with all the things she didn't learn from her and all the things she took for granted.
The mul-gwishin is equal parts terrifying and amazing. I often found her descriptions to be hauntingly beautiful.
This book was a 5 star read. I was hooked from the beginning and entranced in the way the story unfolded. It is an excellent portrayal of grief and generational trauma. Of the things we do for those we love and the things that are left unsaid. Absolutely stunning read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
** I received this book from NetGalley for free, my review is my own.
This book pulls Korean water-ghost folklore into the present through a Korean American teenager’s grief. Coming from a background more familiar with American folklore, I found that mythic element genuinely interesting and effective—it gives the story a distinct texture and leaves a faint lingering aftertaste once the book is closed, so don't be worried if, like me, you know nothing of Korean folklore. I finished it in a single day, which is always a good sign.
The atmosphere is frequently haunting, especially in the heavier ghost sequences, and the overall premise feels unique; I haven’t read anything that sits in quite the same space. Once the story settles in, the pacing holds steady and the ending lands fine without any major missteps. Those strengths are what kept the pages turning.
Where the book stumbles for me is in its structure and tone. There are simply too many points of view (I am terrible with names and got confused frequently), and two of them feel largely unnecessary , diluting the focus. More disruptive is the tonal lurch: sustained, heavy ghost sequences are repeatedly interrupted by stretches of ordinary teenage drama, and the coach material is abruptly catalyzed near the end. The contrast doesn’t deepen the story so much as undercut its own atmosphere, tipping moments toward the ridiculous and lightly cracking immersion—never fully broken, but the seams are visible.
Still, the folklore and the stronger atmospheric stretches carry enough weight that I landed at a solid 4 stars. It’s imperfect, but the parts that work are memorable, and the cultural specificity makes it stand out. Worth reading if you’re looking for something that doesn’t feel like every other contemporary horror novel.
This book pulls Korean water-ghost folklore into the present through a Korean American teenager’s grief. Coming from a background more familiar with American folklore, I found that mythic element genuinely interesting and effective—it gives the story a distinct texture and leaves a faint lingering aftertaste once the book is closed, so don't be worried if, like me, you know nothing of Korean folklore. I finished it in a single day, which is always a good sign.
The atmosphere is frequently haunting, especially in the heavier ghost sequences, and the overall premise feels unique; I haven’t read anything that sits in quite the same space. Once the story settles in, the pacing holds steady and the ending lands fine without any major missteps. Those strengths are what kept the pages turning.
Where the book stumbles for me is in its structure and tone. There are simply too many points of view (I am terrible with names and got confused frequently), and two of them feel largely unnecessary , diluting the focus. More disruptive is the tonal lurch: sustained, heavy ghost sequences are repeatedly interrupted by stretches of ordinary teenage drama, and the coach material is abruptly catalyzed near the end. The contrast doesn’t deepen the story so much as undercut its own atmosphere, tipping moments toward the ridiculous and lightly cracking immersion—never fully broken, but the seams are visible.
Still, the folklore and the stronger atmospheric stretches carry enough weight that I landed at a solid 4 stars. It’s imperfect, but the parts that work are memorable, and the cultural specificity makes it stand out. Worth reading if you’re looking for something that doesn’t feel like every other contemporary horror novel.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Korean mythology, grief, identity, family history and ghosts of pretty much every kind are all tangled together here, and i finished absolutely STUNNED 🤍
the supernatural never sits separately from the emotional core. there’s the mul-gwishin (Korean water ghost), the water, the things lurking just out of sight and they all become extensions of everything this family has buried, inherited and carried forward.
what really got me though, and was highly personal, was the way this digs into second gen identity and the strange inbetween space of belonging to multiple worlds while never feeling entirely claimed by either.
our FMCs relationship with her mother sits at the centre of so much of that, alongside the distance created by language, memory, migration and all the things families simply never learn how to say out loud. ugh, just wow.
there’s a really gorgeous psychological layer running underneath, especially in the way memory becomes slippery and grief starts reshaping what’s real, what’s remembered and what’s been passed down without consent. the main horror here is the things that haunt us deep in our core. 🕯️
there is also is something much angrier lurking. generational trauma, racism, violence, womanhood and the ways women are expected to absorb pain quietly so everyone else can keep moving. incredibly written feminist horror i’m gonna be gushing about until release.
honestly just such a gorgeousss, haunting read. sad, strange, deeply meaningful and full of little cracks where history keeps leaking through into the present.
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ ⋅
🌊 Korean mythology + spirits
🕯️ grief, memory and family secrets
🤍 2nd gen identity + belonging nowhere neatly
👻 ghosts literal and inherited
🩸 feminist horror and so much more
── ⊹ ࣪ ˖♡˖ ࣪ ⊹ ──
preorder/add to your TBR immediately or else!!
tysm to the author, Bindery and publisher for the ARC. 🤍
the supernatural never sits separately from the emotional core. there’s the mul-gwishin (Korean water ghost), the water, the things lurking just out of sight and they all become extensions of everything this family has buried, inherited and carried forward.
what really got me though, and was highly personal, was the way this digs into second gen identity and the strange inbetween space of belonging to multiple worlds while never feeling entirely claimed by either.
our FMCs relationship with her mother sits at the centre of so much of that, alongside the distance created by language, memory, migration and all the things families simply never learn how to say out loud. ugh, just wow.
there’s a really gorgeous psychological layer running underneath, especially in the way memory becomes slippery and grief starts reshaping what’s real, what’s remembered and what’s been passed down without consent. the main horror here is the things that haunt us deep in our core. 🕯️
there is also is something much angrier lurking. generational trauma, racism, violence, womanhood and the ways women are expected to absorb pain quietly so everyone else can keep moving. incredibly written feminist horror i’m gonna be gushing about until release.
honestly just such a gorgeousss, haunting read. sad, strange, deeply meaningful and full of little cracks where history keeps leaking through into the present.
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ✦ ‧₊˚ ⋅
🌊 Korean mythology + spirits
🕯️ grief, memory and family secrets
🤍 2nd gen identity + belonging nowhere neatly
👻 ghosts literal and inherited
🩸 feminist horror and so much more
── ⊹ ࣪ ˖♡˖ ࣪ ⊹ ──
preorder/add to your TBR immediately or else!!
tysm to the author, Bindery and publisher for the ARC. 🤍
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
🌊 ARC Review: Cracks by Kristy Park Kulski 🌊
Prepare to have your heart completely shattered. Cracks by Bram Stoker Award-winning author Kristy Park Kulski is a masterclass in literary horror that seamlessly weaves together profound grief and terrifying Korean folklore.
Set in the rainy suburbs of 1990s Washington, the story follows Gracie Russell, a biracial teenager navigating her father’s violent alcoholism and her mother Ji-eun’s failing health. As Ji-eun slips away, her mind drifts back to the dark secrets of 1970s authoritarian South Korea. However, the family’s deepest trauma has awakened something ancient and sinister in the deep: a mul-gwishin, a water ghost that has been feeding on their decades of sorrow. As the autumn rains descend, dripping water begins to echo through the house, and terrifying cracks open in the basement walls, exposing a sea of liquid darkness. Gracie finds herself in a desperate race against time before the spirit consumes her entirely.
Kulski’s prose is devastatingly beautiful, capturing the heavy, suffocating atmosphere of generational trauma and the raw pain of impending loss. The horror here is both supernatural and intensely human, making it absolutely impossible to put down.
For fans of Catriona Ward and Han Kang, this book is an absolute masterpiece that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.
Huge shout out to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for arc read on my kindle!
Cracks officially releases on April 27, 2027, from Boozhoo Books. Do yourself a favor and pre-order your copy early or add it to your reading list via the official Simon & Schuster page.
Prepare to have your heart completely shattered. Cracks by Bram Stoker Award-winning author Kristy Park Kulski is a masterclass in literary horror that seamlessly weaves together profound grief and terrifying Korean folklore.
Set in the rainy suburbs of 1990s Washington, the story follows Gracie Russell, a biracial teenager navigating her father’s violent alcoholism and her mother Ji-eun’s failing health. As Ji-eun slips away, her mind drifts back to the dark secrets of 1970s authoritarian South Korea. However, the family’s deepest trauma has awakened something ancient and sinister in the deep: a mul-gwishin, a water ghost that has been feeding on their decades of sorrow. As the autumn rains descend, dripping water begins to echo through the house, and terrifying cracks open in the basement walls, exposing a sea of liquid darkness. Gracie finds herself in a desperate race against time before the spirit consumes her entirely.
Kulski’s prose is devastatingly beautiful, capturing the heavy, suffocating atmosphere of generational trauma and the raw pain of impending loss. The horror here is both supernatural and intensely human, making it absolutely impossible to put down.
For fans of Catriona Ward and Han Kang, this book is an absolute masterpiece that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.
Huge shout out to @netgalley and @simonandschuster for arc read on my kindle!
Cracks officially releases on April 27, 2027, from Boozhoo Books. Do yourself a favor and pre-order your copy early or add it to your reading list via the official Simon & Schuster page.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!!
This book mostly follows Gracie and her mother, Ji-Eun, as Ji-Eun is at the end of her life. Gracie is struggling with her identity as a Korean American while also struggling with her mother's declining health and her father's alcoholism. We get flashback chapters of Ji-Eun when she lived in Korea and what her life looked like before moving to America and marrying an American man. There are so many great themes and discussions happening throughout this book and I found it to be pretty interesting. There's some great horror scenes in like the second chapter and I got so excited that this book was going to be really creepy. However, after this scene, the horror pretty much goes away until the end. I wish there was more horror sprinkled throughout and this could've felt stronger to me. I will say that the twist towards the end did surprise me and I definitely didn't see it coming. I appreciated the sister dynamics throughout the book and the parallel of having multiple sister relationships that sort of mirrored one another. Something about the writing didn't work for me but I'm not entirely sure what it was. I will say that this isn't supposed to be published until April so there's plenty of time to edit some of the writing before publication. It was overall interesting, albeit a little slow, but left a bit to be desired. 3.5 stars.
This book mostly follows Gracie and her mother, Ji-Eun, as Ji-Eun is at the end of her life. Gracie is struggling with her identity as a Korean American while also struggling with her mother's declining health and her father's alcoholism. We get flashback chapters of Ji-Eun when she lived in Korea and what her life looked like before moving to America and marrying an American man. There are so many great themes and discussions happening throughout this book and I found it to be pretty interesting. There's some great horror scenes in like the second chapter and I got so excited that this book was going to be really creepy. However, after this scene, the horror pretty much goes away until the end. I wish there was more horror sprinkled throughout and this could've felt stronger to me. I will say that the twist towards the end did surprise me and I definitely didn't see it coming. I appreciated the sister dynamics throughout the book and the parallel of having multiple sister relationships that sort of mirrored one another. Something about the writing didn't work for me but I'm not entirely sure what it was. I will say that this isn't supposed to be published until April so there's plenty of time to edit some of the writing before publication. It was overall interesting, albeit a little slow, but left a bit to be desired. 3.5 stars.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧. [𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫.]
WARNING: This story includes mature themes that may be disturbing. Discretion is advised.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
DNFed at 15%
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
Cracks by Kristy Park Kulski is a dual POV story set in the 90s about a Korean immigrant woman and her daughter living in America.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥:
- The story make you sympathize with the FMC and her daughter. You feel their pain and their sorry as if you're living with them/
- This story was amore about how your superstitious beliefs worm your way as horrors of your daily life.
- Race and cultural identity is something very nicely explained in this story. Its like a them vs us situation.
- I liked the way how the portrayal of abuse and emotional neglect was portrayed. Gracie loves her mother and she is the only one to care for her but she also has to deal with own demons and since she is in that state for long, it is internalized. Then there is her mother. She was herself abused and instead of breaking the cycle of abuse, it transfers itself to Gracie.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦:
- This was my first time reading a literary fiction which portrays the real life situations of female immigrants living in America. I don't usually read such kind of stories. But since this one had horror elements, I thought I should give it a try. But alas, I wasn't happy with the writing style.
WARNING: This story includes mature themes that may be disturbing. Discretion is advised.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
DNFed at 15%
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
Cracks by Kristy Park Kulski is a dual POV story set in the 90s about a Korean immigrant woman and her daughter living in America.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥:
- The story make you sympathize with the FMC and her daughter. You feel their pain and their sorry as if you're living with them/
- This story was amore about how your superstitious beliefs worm your way as horrors of your daily life.
- Race and cultural identity is something very nicely explained in this story. Its like a them vs us situation.
- I liked the way how the portrayal of abuse and emotional neglect was portrayed. Gracie loves her mother and she is the only one to care for her but she also has to deal with own demons and since she is in that state for long, it is internalized. Then there is her mother. She was herself abused and instead of breaking the cycle of abuse, it transfers itself to Gracie.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦:
- This was my first time reading a literary fiction which portrays the real life situations of female immigrants living in America. I don't usually read such kind of stories. But since this one had horror elements, I thought I should give it a try. But alas, I wasn't happy with the writing style.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
When I first started reading Cracks, I was drawn in by the way it read like a lot of Amy Tan books. Mothers with haunting pasts that they would not share with their Americanized children. As I continued reading, I was so drawn in emotionally, as I had started reading it on my mom's end of life anniversary. The story as a whole follows the Korean American diaspora of being half Korean and half White; never feeling like you belong to either culture. The story itself starts off dual POV between Gracie Russel, a 16 year old Korean American (half white), and her mother Ji-eun. Ji-eun reminding me very much of my own Omma, and making me wonder if she felt the same about having a too American Daughter. I saw my 16 year old self in Gracie as well, as she toed the line of being too American, being too other to her peers that surrounded her. As the story drives on we start to get more POVs from the people closest to both Ji-eun and Gracie, all the while feeling emotionally tied to them both.
I do not feel like Cracks fits the genre horror. But is fleshed out in Korean myth and folklore. It shared a longing in deep in my own bones, my own han tied with my own Omma's that I will never learn about. Kristy Park writes about a very unique diaspora that I feel doesn't get written about enough, in my opinion, when it comes to writing about being both Korean and White (American). The book itself, as whole, was written well both on the pyschological thriller-y horror aspect, as well as for someone longing to feel seen, and to be loved.
I do not feel like Cracks fits the genre horror. But is fleshed out in Korean myth and folklore. It shared a longing in deep in my own bones, my own han tied with my own Omma's that I will never learn about. Kristy Park writes about a very unique diaspora that I feel doesn't get written about enough, in my opinion, when it comes to writing about being both Korean and White (American). The book itself, as whole, was written well both on the pyschological thriller-y horror aspect, as well as for someone longing to feel seen, and to be loved.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I received an ARC Copy of this book for free and I am writing this review voluntarily.
Cracks is one of those horror novels that feels like it’s quietly crawling up your spine. It’s unsettling in a slow, creeping way, the kind of story where you realise halfway through a chapter that you’ve been holding your breath. The atmosphere is heavy and strange, full of tension and that awful feeling that something is very wrong even when nothing obvious is happening.
Kristy Park Kulski writes fear in such a subtle, intimate way. The horror isn’t loud or dramatic. It’s quiet, invasive and emotional, built around grief, trauma and the cracks that form when someone tries too hard to hold themselves together. The characters feel raw and fragile, and their unraveling makes the horror hit even harder.
The imagery is vivid and disturbing without ever tipping into gore for shock value. It’s more psychological, more “I feel watched” than “I’m screaming,” and that makes it linger. The pacing is slow and deliberate, and it works. You’re meant to sit in the discomfort.
If you like horror that feels personal, claustrophobic and deeply unsettling, Cracks is such a strong read. It’s the kind of book that stays in your head long after you finish.
I’m giving it 4 stars because the atmosphere and emotional tension were incredible. It didn’t quite hit full obsession level for me, but it’s haunting, memorable and genuinely unnerving.
Cracks is one of those horror novels that feels like it’s quietly crawling up your spine. It’s unsettling in a slow, creeping way, the kind of story where you realise halfway through a chapter that you’ve been holding your breath. The atmosphere is heavy and strange, full of tension and that awful feeling that something is very wrong even when nothing obvious is happening.
Kristy Park Kulski writes fear in such a subtle, intimate way. The horror isn’t loud or dramatic. It’s quiet, invasive and emotional, built around grief, trauma and the cracks that form when someone tries too hard to hold themselves together. The characters feel raw and fragile, and their unraveling makes the horror hit even harder.
The imagery is vivid and disturbing without ever tipping into gore for shock value. It’s more psychological, more “I feel watched” than “I’m screaming,” and that makes it linger. The pacing is slow and deliberate, and it works. You’re meant to sit in the discomfort.
If you like horror that feels personal, claustrophobic and deeply unsettling, Cracks is such a strong read. It’s the kind of book that stays in your head long after you finish.
I’m giving it 4 stars because the atmosphere and emotional tension were incredible. It didn’t quite hit full obsession level for me, but it’s haunting, memorable and genuinely unnerving.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to Boozhoo Books and Netgalley for the ARC!
To mirror a metaphor in the book itself, I really got caught in the current of this read. Cracks centers around the lives of an ailing Korean woman (Ji-eun) and her Korean-American daughter (Gracie) as they attempt to find common ground while at the same time confronting the various horrors of the past and present. This story revolves also around a mul-gwishin, or water ghost, that has been haunting the family since Ji-eun's life in an authoritarian Korea.
Kulski does an incredible job of weaving in themes of identity, language, motherhood, queerness and so much more. Rage acts as a kind of emotional undercurrent throughout, but the women's pain remains front and center. Part of the book is set around an American military camp in Korea, and I found those sections incredibly evocative / enraging.
Minor flaw, but I found some of the dialogue a little bit stilted compared to the rest of the prose. It was generally a very lyrical read, which I appreciated. I do wish some of the themes were handled with a bit of a lighter touch (e.g. "Maybe the mul-gwishin's just a girl who wants her death to mean something." [83]; a lot of faces "cracked" or "split."). It's just personal preference, but I would have liked just a bit more showing vs. telling in some of those areas. But overall a very engaging read that I would be quick to recommend.
To mirror a metaphor in the book itself, I really got caught in the current of this read. Cracks centers around the lives of an ailing Korean woman (Ji-eun) and her Korean-American daughter (Gracie) as they attempt to find common ground while at the same time confronting the various horrors of the past and present. This story revolves also around a mul-gwishin, or water ghost, that has been haunting the family since Ji-eun's life in an authoritarian Korea.
Kulski does an incredible job of weaving in themes of identity, language, motherhood, queerness and so much more. Rage acts as a kind of emotional undercurrent throughout, but the women's pain remains front and center. Part of the book is set around an American military camp in Korea, and I found those sections incredibly evocative / enraging.
Minor flaw, but I found some of the dialogue a little bit stilted compared to the rest of the prose. It was generally a very lyrical read, which I appreciated. I do wish some of the themes were handled with a bit of a lighter touch (e.g. "Maybe the mul-gwishin's just a girl who wants her death to mean something." [83]; a lot of faces "cracked" or "split."). It's just personal preference, but I would have liked just a bit more showing vs. telling in some of those areas. But overall a very engaging read that I would be quick to recommend.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thank you to NetGalley, Bindery Books and Boozhoo Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! ♡
[★★★★½ btw]
I think what got me most about Cracks was how sad it was.
The horror is there, obviously, and the mul-gwishin is creepy, but the thing that stayed with me was the relationship between Gracie and her mother. There is so much love between them, but also so much distance. So many things unsaid. So much history Gracie does not understand until it is almost too late to ask about it. :(
I really loved the way the supernatural element grows out of that. The ghost never feels pasted onto the family drama for the sake of making it horror. It feels like an extension of everything this family has buried.
The water imagery is especially good. By the end, every drip and damp patch started to feel threatening.
I did find some of the POV changes a tad disruptive, and there were moments where the book explained an emotion or theme after I had already understood it. I think I would have trusted the reader a little more in places.
Still, this really worked for me. It is messy and painful and angry in a very human way, and I kept thinking about the idea of inheriting pain from people who were only ever trying to survive their own.
A really beautiful piece of literary horror about mothers, daughters, memory, and all the things families try to keep hidden.
[★★★★½ btw]
I think what got me most about Cracks was how sad it was.
The horror is there, obviously, and the mul-gwishin is creepy, but the thing that stayed with me was the relationship between Gracie and her mother. There is so much love between them, but also so much distance. So many things unsaid. So much history Gracie does not understand until it is almost too late to ask about it. :(
I really loved the way the supernatural element grows out of that. The ghost never feels pasted onto the family drama for the sake of making it horror. It feels like an extension of everything this family has buried.
The water imagery is especially good. By the end, every drip and damp patch started to feel threatening.
I did find some of the POV changes a tad disruptive, and there were moments where the book explained an emotion or theme after I had already understood it. I think I would have trusted the reader a little more in places.
Still, this really worked for me. It is messy and painful and angry in a very human way, and I kept thinking about the idea of inheriting pain from people who were only ever trying to survive their own.
A really beautiful piece of literary horror about mothers, daughters, memory, and all the things families try to keep hidden.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I'm sitting at a solid 3.5 ⭐️ for this one!
Cracks is such a well-written, atmospheric story, but it just didn't fully click for me on a personal level.
First off, the writing itself is gorgeous and the Korean folklore is easily the best part. I loved learning about the mul-gwishin (water ghost). The mythology, generational trauma, and biracial identity in the 90s was really clever. It’s heavy, moody, and super vivid.
Where it lost me a bit was the structure and the genre. It's heavily sold as a horror novel, but honestly, it reads much more like a slow-burn, dark family drama with supernatural elements.
If you're going in expecting jumps, scares, or fast-paced horror, you might be disappointed. I also really struggled to connect with the characters because the story keeps jumping between multiple perspectives and time periods just as you're starting to get invested in one line. It made the pacing feel pretty slow and kept me at arm's length from what was happening.
That said, if you love slow, dark, grief-heavy stories rooted in cultural myths, there is so much to appreciate here. It's definitely a good book, just wasn't quite the right match for me!
Thanks to Bindery Books and NetGalley for sending over an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Cracks is such a well-written, atmospheric story, but it just didn't fully click for me on a personal level.
First off, the writing itself is gorgeous and the Korean folklore is easily the best part. I loved learning about the mul-gwishin (water ghost). The mythology, generational trauma, and biracial identity in the 90s was really clever. It’s heavy, moody, and super vivid.
Where it lost me a bit was the structure and the genre. It's heavily sold as a horror novel, but honestly, it reads much more like a slow-burn, dark family drama with supernatural elements.
If you're going in expecting jumps, scares, or fast-paced horror, you might be disappointed. I also really struggled to connect with the characters because the story keeps jumping between multiple perspectives and time periods just as you're starting to get invested in one line. It made the pacing feel pretty slow and kept me at arm's length from what was happening.
That said, if you love slow, dark, grief-heavy stories rooted in cultural myths, there is so much to appreciate here. It's definitely a good book, just wasn't quite the right match for me!
Thanks to Bindery Books and NetGalley for sending over an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Cracks was a good read, just not quite what I expected going into it. I was hoping for more of a ghost/horror story, but this ended up being much more about life and death, regrets, secrets, family, relationships and the things we carry with us from the past.
The ghosts were still an important part of the story, though, and I actually liked how they were used. They weren't just there to be scary; they showed parts of the past, people's fears, love and regrets, which made the supernatural elements feel meaningful.
I really enjoyed how all the different POVs and timelines slowly connected and how we got to see how the characters and their histories were connected. There were quite a few POVs and timelines to keep track of, but seeing everything come together made it worthwhile.
My biggest issue was the pacing. It was definitely a slow burn, and there was a lot of family drama and relationship-focused material that wasn't always what I was most interested in. I kept wanting the ghosts to become more central because those were the parts I enjoyed the most.
Overall, this was a really nice and sometimes heartbreaking story about family, death, secrets and moving forward. It wasn't the horror story I expected, but it was a meaningful supernatural story with some very real fears and situations that made it feel more like a story about life than simply a scary one.
The ghosts were still an important part of the story, though, and I actually liked how they were used. They weren't just there to be scary; they showed parts of the past, people's fears, love and regrets, which made the supernatural elements feel meaningful.
I really enjoyed how all the different POVs and timelines slowly connected and how we got to see how the characters and their histories were connected. There were quite a few POVs and timelines to keep track of, but seeing everything come together made it worthwhile.
My biggest issue was the pacing. It was definitely a slow burn, and there was a lot of family drama and relationship-focused material that wasn't always what I was most interested in. I kept wanting the ghosts to become more central because those were the parts I enjoyed the most.
Overall, this was a really nice and sometimes heartbreaking story about family, death, secrets and moving forward. It wasn't the horror story I expected, but it was a meaningful supernatural story with some very real fears and situations that made it feel more like a story about life than simply a scary one.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
DNF at 55%
Unfortunately not much of this worked for me.
Marked for spoilers on GR.
This takes a bit to get going. The first 40% is lit fic/slice of life about being Asian in America and also being mixed race and not really feeling like you belong to either culture. I understand the need for the setup to set the tone for the main characters motivations but it starts to became a little repetitive.
There’s also a lot of POV characters and I found it difficult to keep them all separated. The POVs were switching so fast that by the time I worked out what generation we were in we were on to the next one.
Spoilers from here on:
I think the most disappointing part of the story was the actual ghost. It just kind of appeared, annihilated, and left. I guess I wanted this aspect to be a bigger deal/the focus of the narrative and it seems more like an after thought.
The artwork is beautiful and that along with the premise fully pulled me in. It sucks that this didn’t work for me. I read half the book in like 2 hours, but there were just too many aspects that weren’t vibing for me to keep reading.
This might have been more successful as a novella (even though it’s already very short).
Thank you to Netgalley and Bindery Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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