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Mina
"She doesn't know what to do, and that amounts to a state of torture."
Crystal toils day and night to earn top grades at her cram school. She's also endlessly texting, shopping, drinking, vexing her boyfriends, cranking up her mp3s, and fantasizing about her next slice of cheesecake. Her non- stop frenzy never quite manages the one thing that might calm her down: opening up about the pressures that are driving her to the edge. She certainly hasn't talked with her best friend, Mina, nor Mina's brother, whom she's developing a serious crush on. And Crystal's starting to lose her grip.
In this shocking English debut, award-winning Korean author Kim Sagwa delivers an astonishingly complex portrait of modern-day adolescence. With pitch-perfect dialogue and a precise eye for detail, Kim creates a piercingly real teen protagonist--at once powerful, vulnerable, and utterly confused. As one bad decision leads to another, this promising life spirals to a devastating climax.
Crystal toils day and night to earn top grades at her cram school. She's also endlessly texting, shopping, drinking, vexing her boyfriends, cranking up her mp3s, and fantasizing about her next slice of cheesecake. Her non- stop frenzy never quite manages the one thing that might calm her down: opening up about the pressures that are driving her to the edge. She certainly hasn't talked with her best friend, Mina, nor Mina's brother, whom she's developing a serious crush on. And Crystal's starting to lose her grip.
In this shocking English debut, award-winning Korean author Kim Sagwa delivers an astonishingly complex portrait of modern-day adolescence. With pitch-perfect dialogue and a precise eye for detail, Kim creates a piercingly real teen protagonist--at once powerful, vulnerable, and utterly confused. As one bad decision leads to another, this promising life spirals to a devastating climax.
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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7313 people want to read
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August 9, 2020
This book very much disturbed me. But I did not know how to rate it. Some of the writing was very good. Some of the writing was, I thought, too drawn out, like “enough already, I get your point!!!!” The story line was good. I read the book in one sitting.
Bottom line from me:
• The book disturbed me, and I think that it should have — I think that was what the author intended….not to disturb for disturbing sake but to make the reader aware of the pressures of some teenagers in growing up in South Korean society.
• You might want to read this book and you might find it to be of worth and you might be glad that you read it if you want to go into the mind of a teenage girl in South Korea who is sane but troubled but then sinks into a psychotic state and you are with her in her mind during her psychotic state [you are privy to all of her thoughts]…and if you are prepared for violence directed at an animal (I don’t think many of us are….I guess the question is are you willing to read it if it contributes to the book’s theme/point) and another human being (again not something that many of us relish but is there a point to its inclusion in the story).
I did not know how to rate this book so I did something I have never done before when writing GR reviews before — I read the reviews of others from newspapers and blogsites. I needed to know if others thought this book had redeeming value. Because I was flummoxed… And I did greatly appreciate the reviews, and they are below, along with an interview by the author. Via the reviews I became a bit more educated on the subject matter in this book (I have a long ways to go).
Reviews:
https://asianreviewofbooks.com/conten....
https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/the-...
https://library.ltikorea.or.kr/node/3...
https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog...
https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.co...
(Interview with Sagwa on her book — October, 2018) https://bombmagazine.org/articles/kim...
(Interview re: newer novel, “b, Book, and Me”) http://richincolor.com/2020/02/interv...
Notes:
• Description of the author on the inside of the back cover: Kim Sagwa is one of South Korea’s most acclaimed young writers. She is the author of several novels, story collections, and works of nonfiction, and has been shortlisted for major South Korean awards, including the Munji Prize and the Young Writers Award. Kim contributes columns to three major Seoul newspapers, and she co-translated John Freeman’s book How to Read a Novelist into Korean. She lives in New York City. (Jim: a list of those books and awards can be found at: https://www.ktlit.com/korean-modern-l...)
• What also influenced how I rated this book is that a literary periodical that I subscribe to and highly value, Granta, published a chapter from this book on its website (The Closet).
• Sagwa published this book in 2008, a year before she graduated from Korean National University of Arts. I believe she was 24 years old. It’s another one of those books in which the interval between its original date publication and its translation into English (2018) was quite long.
Bottom line from me:
• The book disturbed me, and I think that it should have — I think that was what the author intended….not to disturb for disturbing sake but to make the reader aware of the pressures of some teenagers in growing up in South Korean society.
• You might want to read this book and you might find it to be of worth and you might be glad that you read it if you want to go into the mind of a teenage girl in South Korea who is sane but troubled but then sinks into a psychotic state and you are with her in her mind during her psychotic state [you are privy to all of her thoughts]…and if you are prepared for violence directed at an animal (I don’t think many of us are….I guess the question is are you willing to read it if it contributes to the book’s theme/point) and another human being (again not something that many of us relish but is there a point to its inclusion in the story).
I did not know how to rate this book so I did something I have never done before when writing GR reviews before — I read the reviews of others from newspapers and blogsites. I needed to know if others thought this book had redeeming value. Because I was flummoxed… And I did greatly appreciate the reviews, and they are below, along with an interview by the author. Via the reviews I became a bit more educated on the subject matter in this book (I have a long ways to go).
Reviews:
https://asianreviewofbooks.com/conten....
https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/the-...
https://library.ltikorea.or.kr/node/3...
https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog...
https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.co...
(Interview with Sagwa on her book — October, 2018) https://bombmagazine.org/articles/kim...
(Interview re: newer novel, “b, Book, and Me”) http://richincolor.com/2020/02/interv...
Notes:
• Description of the author on the inside of the back cover: Kim Sagwa is one of South Korea’s most acclaimed young writers. She is the author of several novels, story collections, and works of nonfiction, and has been shortlisted for major South Korean awards, including the Munji Prize and the Young Writers Award. Kim contributes columns to three major Seoul newspapers, and she co-translated John Freeman’s book How to Read a Novelist into Korean. She lives in New York City. (Jim: a list of those books and awards can be found at: https://www.ktlit.com/korean-modern-l...)
• What also influenced how I rated this book is that a literary periodical that I subscribe to and highly value, Granta, published a chapter from this book on its website (The Closet).
• Sagwa published this book in 2008, a year before she graduated from Korean National University of Arts. I believe she was 24 years old. It’s another one of those books in which the interval between its original date publication and its translation into English (2018) was quite long.
August 31, 2019
My last read for this year's Women in Translation Month is Mina by Kim Sagwa, translated from the Korean. While other female writers from Korea have been presenting us with feminist themes inside of somewhat disturbing imagery, this is a much younger voice, focusing on three young adults and their universe of school plus cram school and the emotional toll it takes. The book feels unsettling from the start for reasons hard to pinpoint and grows increasingly violent from there.
TW for suicide and suicidal ideation, violence towards kittens and humans, and mental illness.
TW for suicide and suicidal ideation, violence towards kittens and humans, and mental illness.
October 11, 2018
I first came across 김사과 - literally Kim Apple, a pen-name, but phonetically translated as Kim Sagwa - in the anthology The Future of Silence: Fiction by Korean Women
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) with her 2010 story 움직이면 움직일수록 이상한 일이 벌어지는 오늘은 참으로 신기한 날이다 (It's One of Those The-More-I'm-In-Motion-The-Weirder-It-Gets Days And It's Really Blowing My Mind). The title is memorable and the story - of a well educated and ostensibly successful company worker increasingly raging at the reality of his life - equally striking.
Her 2008 novel 미나 has been translated as Mina (the Romanised version of the Korean name) by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton, who have over the decades done a magnificent and highly valuable service in bringing Korean literature to English speakers.
Mina has a similar sort of flavour: much less surreal, indeed soberingly realistic, but similarly of people snapping under the pressure of modern life.
The novel is narrated from the perspective of Crystal (수정 in Korean), an upper middle-class teenager studying in P-city. The eponymous Mina is her best friend, albeit their relationship is very much love-hate, from a different background as her family's wealth derived from a lottery win, and Mina's brother, Minho, is the other main character, who Crystal decides to fall in love with.
The world keeps slowly turning with one part of the city maintaining closed and exclusive middle-class lifestyle that is selfish, ignorant, and irresponsible, all its practioners keeping quiet about how that lifestyle came to be and how it managed to repeat itself, while in another section of the city the lives of the losers slowly sink beneath all the pressures and sins of the winners, though no one calls for accountability.
The novel opens with Crystal visiting the sibling's apartment, where Mina is lying down listening to Sonic Youth's Becuz (https://youtu.be/hgEqZwAXI8Q)
Mina and Crystal both experience the stresses of modern teenage life in the ultra-competitive Korean society, relationships with boys, materialism, experiments with alcohol and above all the pressure of studying. But they deal with them in different ways. Mina's best friend from before her family struck rich, Chiye, kills herself, jumping from the roof of a building where students rent cubicles to prepare for exams and the two friends reaction to the death sums up their approach.
Crystal is a student with perfect grades, who does exactly what is needed to achieve them and nothing more. Her tutor tells her that personality matters, but her mantra is percentilality not personality. Reflecting on Chiye, and indeed others such as Mina who claim to be depressed she thinks to herself:
Why do people want to die? Because they're dumb. I don't understand it. I don't understand people. I'm practical and efficient and pragmatic. But other people aren't. It makes me mad. Unproductive and inefficient. It makes me mad. Stupid kids ought to be put to work on a farm. I mean, they only get four out of ten questions right? I don't get it. It tells you what kind of parents those kids have. Those kids are pathetic! So I want to kill them off.
But Mina tells her, describing their life:
Cram school, home, school, test, school, school, cram school, homework, tutor, cram school, home, tutor, cram school, home, school, back to cram school, back to tutor, back for a test back to homework back to school back to school back to school. Home. Cram School. How can anyone think this is normal? It’s crazy. Everyone's crazy. I can't stand it. Not anymore! I can't stand this life. This is hell. It's gel. He'll Chosŏn. Our society is hell! That's why Chiye killed herself. I get it. But you don't, do you? I can understand it, and that's the difference between you and me. It's because of people like you that Chiye killed herself. You're a killer.
But Crystal is certainly not as pyschologically well-balanced, and, similarly to It's One of Those The-More-I'm-In-Motion-The-Weirder-It-Gets Days And It's Really Blowing My Mind, she starts to take her fantasies seriously, encouraged by the 'always smiling' and shallow Minho.
A powerful novel and Kim Sagwa is pitch perfect on the overdramatic tension of teenage life. This review does the book more justice than I can: https://www.cleavermagazine.com/mina-... and this interview with the author is also very helpful https://bombmagazine.org/articles/kim... ('Peeking closely at young, amoral, privileged kids who have a flamboyant lifestyle is so much fun, isn’t it?')
And I look forward to more of Kim Sagwa's work which is coming from Two Lines Press in 2020. But from a personal perspective this wasn't perhaps the book for me. Teenage angst as a novel theme isn't particularly my thing - my teenage years were several decades ago and I wasn't a particularly angsty teen even then - and I do feel the 헬조선 (Hell Joseon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Jo...) theme is perhaps overdone in Korean literature, or at least that which finds its way into English, albeit this novel is distinctive for focusing on the pressures on those at the upper end of society.
3.5 stars
(my review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) with her 2010 story 움직이면 움직일수록 이상한 일이 벌어지는 오늘은 참으로 신기한 날이다 (It's One of Those The-More-I'm-In-Motion-The-Weirder-It-Gets Days And It's Really Blowing My Mind). The title is memorable and the story - of a well educated and ostensibly successful company worker increasingly raging at the reality of his life - equally striking.
A’s mouth is moving. I’ve been working with her on a project for three months. The day I met her she introduced herself as a branding consultant, and damned if her business card didn’t say exactly that. And then she launched into a spiel about all her whoopity-do degrees, parading her education. But what I saw in her eyes was fear. I felt that same fear filling my eyes. I’ve been looking into her eyes all this time, expecting something. No dice. A thinks she’s something else. I think ignorance is the necessary condition for happiness. A has the nerve to think she’s happy. I think ignorance is the necessary condition for all misunderstanding. I know all these things, and so I am decidedly unhappy. All I see are the eyes of an animal frozen with fear. Those are the eyes I always see.He walks out of the office that evening, determined not to return, but increasingly his actions start to follow his imagination, at times in rather surreal fashion.
It’s 5:25 p.m. and the blinds are halfway down. Five big cactus plants are lined up in front of those blinds. What if I stripped A naked and beat her with the cactus on the far right, the one that looks like a club. Her glittering golden nail polish does that to me—every time they reflect the light those fingernails do a number inside my head. I want to rip out each of those fingernails. But instead I feed my imagination.
Her 2008 novel 미나 has been translated as Mina (the Romanised version of the Korean name) by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton, who have over the decades done a magnificent and highly valuable service in bringing Korean literature to English speakers.
Mina has a similar sort of flavour: much less surreal, indeed soberingly realistic, but similarly of people snapping under the pressure of modern life.
The novel is narrated from the perspective of Crystal (수정 in Korean), an upper middle-class teenager studying in P-city. The eponymous Mina is her best friend, albeit their relationship is very much love-hate, from a different background as her family's wealth derived from a lottery win, and Mina's brother, Minho, is the other main character, who Crystal decides to fall in love with.
The world keeps slowly turning with one part of the city maintaining closed and exclusive middle-class lifestyle that is selfish, ignorant, and irresponsible, all its practioners keeping quiet about how that lifestyle came to be and how it managed to repeat itself, while in another section of the city the lives of the losers slowly sink beneath all the pressures and sins of the winners, though no one calls for accountability.
The novel opens with Crystal visiting the sibling's apartment, where Mina is lying down listening to Sonic Youth's Becuz (https://youtu.be/hgEqZwAXI8Q)
Wish I could change the way that you feelIn a scene that sets the tone for what follows, Crystal immediately starts to strangle Mina - just play strangling but enough that Mina's face contorts, her mouth gaping. Minho, as always, is smiling.
Standing with him you feel more real
Looking so sweet with all your might
Trusted in him to put it right
Holding his hand like a brand new kite
Blue eyes sparkle, open, alright
Wish I could see, the girl who'd fight
Playing and laughing and trying to show it
Running and falling and dying to know it
Staring you down with her gaze hold it
Wish I could free you but I can't don't blow it
Mina and Crystal both experience the stresses of modern teenage life in the ultra-competitive Korean society, relationships with boys, materialism, experiments with alcohol and above all the pressure of studying. But they deal with them in different ways. Mina's best friend from before her family struck rich, Chiye, kills herself, jumping from the roof of a building where students rent cubicles to prepare for exams and the two friends reaction to the death sums up their approach.
Crystal is a student with perfect grades, who does exactly what is needed to achieve them and nothing more. Her tutor tells her that personality matters, but her mantra is percentilality not personality. Reflecting on Chiye, and indeed others such as Mina who claim to be depressed she thinks to herself:
Why do people want to die? Because they're dumb. I don't understand it. I don't understand people. I'm practical and efficient and pragmatic. But other people aren't. It makes me mad. Unproductive and inefficient. It makes me mad. Stupid kids ought to be put to work on a farm. I mean, they only get four out of ten questions right? I don't get it. It tells you what kind of parents those kids have. Those kids are pathetic! So I want to kill them off.
But Mina tells her, describing their life:
Cram school, home, school, test, school, school, cram school, homework, tutor, cram school, home, tutor, cram school, home, school, back to cram school, back to tutor, back for a test back to homework back to school back to school back to school. Home. Cram School. How can anyone think this is normal? It’s crazy. Everyone's crazy. I can't stand it. Not anymore! I can't stand this life. This is hell. It's gel. He'll Chosŏn. Our society is hell! That's why Chiye killed herself. I get it. But you don't, do you? I can understand it, and that's the difference between you and me. It's because of people like you that Chiye killed herself. You're a killer.
But Crystal is certainly not as pyschologically well-balanced, and, similarly to It's One of Those The-More-I'm-In-Motion-The-Weirder-It-Gets Days And It's Really Blowing My Mind, she starts to take her fantasies seriously, encouraged by the 'always smiling' and shallow Minho.
A powerful novel and Kim Sagwa is pitch perfect on the overdramatic tension of teenage life. This review does the book more justice than I can: https://www.cleavermagazine.com/mina-... and this interview with the author is also very helpful https://bombmagazine.org/articles/kim... ('Peeking closely at young, amoral, privileged kids who have a flamboyant lifestyle is so much fun, isn’t it?')
And I look forward to more of Kim Sagwa's work which is coming from Two Lines Press in 2020. But from a personal perspective this wasn't perhaps the book for me. Teenage angst as a novel theme isn't particularly my thing - my teenage years were several decades ago and I wasn't a particularly angsty teen even then - and I do feel the 헬조선 (Hell Joseon - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_Jo...) theme is perhaps overdone in Korean literature, or at least that which finds its way into English, albeit this novel is distinctive for focusing on the pressures on those at the upper end of society.
3.5 stars
October 3, 2024
I will never look at cats and strawberries the same way again.
If you like either or both, be warned; You will be traumatised.
Disclaimer:
Please do not read this book without knowing that it includes animal abuse (severe, multiple pages long). DO NOT read it if you love cats. Just don't. Unless you can bear the heavily described abuse of one. And I know that it might be a spoiler to mention this, but I'm aware that this book is simply low rated due to people not being aware of this and being triggered. I totally accept and respect it that they gave it a low rating due to being too much shocked and didn't expect this, but I hope with this review to stop this. Please, only read it if you can actually bear reading this for multiple pages.
Review
The shocking effect decided a huge part how I rated this book. I was prepared for it (though I didn't know about the strawberry part). And since I love to feel strong emotions while reading (not only positive ones) I decided to enjoy this book nevertheless.
Not only were the aspects interesting to read about, but to a certain extent I could sympathise and feel connected to the characters and the place. The whole studying and not knowing what to live for was an aspect I hoped to see in this book, since it's about Asia and their school system is very strict. I felt connected the most to all the questions. If learning is even necessary. Or why adults tell you lies all the time about it. And what happens after school? Some even think that you just live to fulfil the wishes of others and not your own. The questions were all thought-provoking and I was thinking about them for a while and I still do. Here is an example of how it would look like when you read the book:
I had a hate-love-relationship with Crystal and Mina, but I'm sure that their friendship was not one-dimensional. Even though the book was more vibes than anything, I still felt that I got to know both, especially their friendship. They didn't feel like strangers to me anymore when I finished the book. They felt human. And that is something I don't feel often while reading a book.
The whole infidelity was so annoying. Surely was done on purpose but AAHH!! How could she?! It wasn't just infidelity but also betrayal to another character. And that character deserved better.
Finally, the whole writing style wasn't that much my cup of tea. Surely it made me think a lot and the traumatising scenes were displayed perfectly, but why would one use this:
First of all; It threw me out of my reading flow and second of all; why? Just why?
thirdly; that wasn't the only time that happened!
Afterword
I hated the strawberry scene. Why using a strawberry reference. Why. I am shattered. Thanks for the trauma Kim Sagwa.
StoryGraph review + content warnings
Read: 21. - 21. September 2024
If you like either or both, be warned; You will be traumatised.
"With all the suffering that’s already around you, it’s not easy to distinguish the suffering from the addiction from the other kinds of suffering. And so you tolerate it. You confuse the suffering that comes from addiction with the suffering that comes from life. But you never get used to it. Instead you convince yourself that life is a process of progressive pain and you grin and bear it."
Disclaimer:
Please do not read this book without knowing that it includes animal abuse (severe, multiple pages long). DO NOT read it if you love cats. Just don't. Unless you can bear the heavily described abuse of one. And I know that it might be a spoiler to mention this, but I'm aware that this book is simply low rated due to people not being aware of this and being triggered. I totally accept and respect it that they gave it a low rating due to being too much shocked and didn't expect this, but I hope with this review to stop this. Please, only read it if you can actually bear reading this for multiple pages.
Review
The shocking effect decided a huge part how I rated this book. I was prepared for it (though I didn't know about the strawberry part). And since I love to feel strong emotions while reading (not only positive ones) I decided to enjoy this book nevertheless.
Not only were the aspects interesting to read about, but to a certain extent I could sympathise and feel connected to the characters and the place. The whole studying and not knowing what to live for was an aspect I hoped to see in this book, since it's about Asia and their school system is very strict. I felt connected the most to all the questions. If learning is even necessary. Or why adults tell you lies all the time about it. And what happens after school? Some even think that you just live to fulfil the wishes of others and not your own. The questions were all thought-provoking and I was thinking about them for a while and I still do. Here is an example of how it would look like when you read the book:
"Is life getting worse and worse for kids? Was life a bed of roses for the previous generation? No one’s talking, maybe that’s the problem? Or maybe it’s that everyone looks on the sunny side of the street and pretends the shadows don’t exist?"
I had a hate-love-relationship with Crystal and Mina, but I'm sure that their friendship was not one-dimensional. Even though the book was more vibes than anything, I still felt that I got to know both, especially their friendship. They didn't feel like strangers to me anymore when I finished the book. They felt human. And that is something I don't feel often while reading a book.
The whole infidelity was so annoying. Surely was done on purpose but AAHH!! How could she?! It wasn't just infidelity but also betrayal to another character. And that character deserved better.
Finally, the whole writing style wasn't that much my cup of tea. Surely it made me think a lot and the traumatising scenes were displayed perfectly, but why would one use this:
"baguette-shaped cloud."
First of all; It threw me out of my reading flow and second of all; why? Just why?
thirdly; that wasn't the only time that happened!
Afterword
I hated the strawberry scene. Why using a strawberry reference. Why. I am shattered. Thanks for the trauma Kim Sagwa.
StoryGraph review + content warnings
Read: 21. - 21. September 2024
January 4, 2019
This book wasn't for me. Wasn't a fan of the omniscient point of view and frequent head hopping, but it was the pointless dialogue that did me in. While there's some arresting imagery and effective mood setting, ultimately this feels like notes toward a novel that never quite comes together.
September 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews says "Kim’s prose is focused, sharp..." I disagree.
June 27, 2019
No. Just no. I was totally going to finish this book, despite the absurdity of everything, the sheer randomness, and the lack of any likable characters. I was going to finish it, rate it 1 star, and just put it from my mind.
But then there had to be a cat killing. And not just a cat - a KITTEN. If you don't like animal death (and I certainly don't), put this book away immediately. I was sickened by the brutality and sheer lack of empathy for life that the main character exhibits in this book.
Also, suicide is handled rather indelicately, in my opinion, and I am deeply disturbed by the main character's thoughts about it. I have no idea how this book is meant to represent the life of a South Korean student when every person in this book seems so grotesque and inhuman.
Needless to say, the summary given by Goodreads does not in any way shape or form prepare the reader for the reality of this book. It is dark and twisted and I just can't relate or handle it. DNF!!!
But then there had to be a cat killing. And not just a cat - a KITTEN. If you don't like animal death (and I certainly don't), put this book away immediately. I was sickened by the brutality and sheer lack of empathy for life that the main character exhibits in this book.
Also, suicide is handled rather indelicately, in my opinion, and I am deeply disturbed by the main character's thoughts about it. I have no idea how this book is meant to represent the life of a South Korean student when every person in this book seems so grotesque and inhuman.
Needless to say, the summary given by Goodreads does not in any way shape or form prepare the reader for the reality of this book. It is dark and twisted and I just can't relate or handle it. DNF!!!
June 18, 2019
Now this is a unsettling novel. The ending was nightmare fuel. I haven’t been this disturbed by a book in a while. Mina is told through Crystal’s perspective, so this review is a commentary on this character. Here we have the main character, Crystal, who in some ways reminds me of a President who is currently serving somewhere. Both are childish and throw temper tantrums, both are so self-absorbed they see no wrong in their actions, and both are driven only by their own personal gain. Her pseudo-best friend is Mina who initially appears to be the perfect, beautiful, rich girl who no flaws. It’s this vision of Mina that drives Crystal insane amongst the same dreary routine of school, cram school, homework and exams. She compares and contrasts their lives with razor thin precision.
Crystal is a grade A psychopath. She doesn’t have feelings or remorse and frequently talks about killing others who don’t live up to her expectations (very Hitler-esque, eh?). She uses men to fill gaps that can’t be filled and tossed them aside. She is hysterical, screaming and laughing during inappropriate times. She is so disillusioned, she doesn’t realize she pushes people away or that her behavior is disturbing. There is nothing redeemable about her, even being a Thom Yorke fan can’t put her in one’s good graces. She’s the kind of character that makes you wonder that even if societal pressures weren’t involved, would she still be this screwed up? We will never know if Crystal is a product of nature vs nurture. Her mind is poisonous, the world she lived in is partly to blame. Korean culture as depicted in this novel indicates that you must push others out of the way to succeed, that even if you’re poor, you better pretend your rich, and you absolutely have to be the best at everything or you’re a failure. Crystal has taken this point of view and amplified it. Those who do not fit in this grey box mold must be eliminated, they are scum, they are trash.
Although the story was told in Crystal’s perspective, we are able to gain a decent understanding of who Mina was and what she most likely represented. I think Crystal partially envied and hated Mina so deeply because she had something she lacked. Emotions. Crystal nearly loses her mind when Mina mourns the death of her friend who committed suicide and this normal human reaction sends their ‘friendship’ down a deep spiral. Crystal boasts that she is unable to feel, but deep down this troubles her and she hates Mina for it. She wants to understand what it means to feel something and will go to dangerous lengths to try and understand it. Crystal has no limits which is what makes her absolutely terrifying.
This novel is so depressing and bleak it’s almost suffocating. Many of the characters are emotionally inept (we don’t fully get to appreciate the humanity of Mina until the last chapter). There was a lot of negative commentary on Korean society that I think can be applied worldwide. Many cultures are always trying to get the upper hand, live beyond their means, and begrudgingly conform to societal norms. I can’t argue with Crystal for her dissonant opinions of the world around her, but Mina reminds us that there is kindness and beauty all around us and not all hope is lost. However the last chapter will make you question whose point of view was right. A very thought-provoking, moving, and horrific novel indeed.
Crystal is a grade A psychopath. She doesn’t have feelings or remorse and frequently talks about killing others who don’t live up to her expectations (very Hitler-esque, eh?). She uses men to fill gaps that can’t be filled and tossed them aside. She is hysterical, screaming and laughing during inappropriate times. She is so disillusioned, she doesn’t realize she pushes people away or that her behavior is disturbing. There is nothing redeemable about her, even being a Thom Yorke fan can’t put her in one’s good graces. She’s the kind of character that makes you wonder that even if societal pressures weren’t involved, would she still be this screwed up? We will never know if Crystal is a product of nature vs nurture. Her mind is poisonous, the world she lived in is partly to blame. Korean culture as depicted in this novel indicates that you must push others out of the way to succeed, that even if you’re poor, you better pretend your rich, and you absolutely have to be the best at everything or you’re a failure. Crystal has taken this point of view and amplified it. Those who do not fit in this grey box mold must be eliminated, they are scum, they are trash.
Although the story was told in Crystal’s perspective, we are able to gain a decent understanding of who Mina was and what she most likely represented. I think Crystal partially envied and hated Mina so deeply because she had something she lacked. Emotions. Crystal nearly loses her mind when Mina mourns the death of her friend who committed suicide and this normal human reaction sends their ‘friendship’ down a deep spiral. Crystal boasts that she is unable to feel, but deep down this troubles her and she hates Mina for it. She wants to understand what it means to feel something and will go to dangerous lengths to try and understand it. Crystal has no limits which is what makes her absolutely terrifying.
This novel is so depressing and bleak it’s almost suffocating. Many of the characters are emotionally inept (we don’t fully get to appreciate the humanity of Mina until the last chapter). There was a lot of negative commentary on Korean society that I think can be applied worldwide. Many cultures are always trying to get the upper hand, live beyond their means, and begrudgingly conform to societal norms. I can’t argue with Crystal for her dissonant opinions of the world around her, but Mina reminds us that there is kindness and beauty all around us and not all hope is lost. However the last chapter will make you question whose point of view was right. A very thought-provoking, moving, and horrific novel indeed.
May 15, 2019
ok, it’s a super vivid criticism of how poisoned our emotional health is under neoliberalism- im sure feeling nauseous the whole book is part of the point but i just couldn’t get on board w it. there’s a lot of sudden transitions between dialogue to omniscient voice where it goes on for pages rigorously describing the psychology of characters and the political conditions of korean cram school culture.. i couldn’t tell if i liked this or not, which probably means i didn’t - though the omniscient voice was clarifying at times (at least of what the author seems to believe abt korean society) as the dialogue also was pretty hard to follow, distracted but impenetrable (bc it mainly came from the unraveling protagonist who would be constantly circling her internal monologues about her murderous rage). im giving it 3 stars bc i didn’t like the experience of reading this at all but i also think the book did its job- the whole premise is a logical consequence of training children to think of their lives in terms of how they can best maximize their human capital
June 30, 2024
Bizarre unhinged girl fiction but not for me. The dialogue made me feel crazy, and I’m sure that was intentional, but it became tedious very quickly and sadly I can see why the overall rating is so low.
November 27, 2018
I met Kim Sagwa at the Litquake festival in San Francisco and I loved her expression and dark sense of humor. This definitely comes across in Mina. It is so dark, and not laugh out loud funny, but there is something about the way the story unfolds. You do not want to read spoilers as the ending comes as a bit of a shock (but then not really?).
Sagwa's writing (I'm reading in translation) is crisp and concise and she builds a compelling portrait of Crystal. Mina and the other people in her life are less well fleshed out, our lens is clearly on Crystal and what she will do next. It's written third person with most of the action swirling around Crystal, and to a lesser degree Mina.
I loved this story and I hope more of Kim Sagwa's work will be published in English as I want to hear much more from her.
Sagwa's writing (I'm reading in translation) is crisp and concise and she builds a compelling portrait of Crystal. Mina and the other people in her life are less well fleshed out, our lens is clearly on Crystal and what she will do next. It's written third person with most of the action swirling around Crystal, and to a lesser degree Mina.
I loved this story and I hope more of Kim Sagwa's work will be published in English as I want to hear much more from her.
April 2, 2019
I loved this book and the translation by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton was masterful. The novel reads like a work written by a young writer – Kim Sagwa wrote this when she was in her 20s - who aptly captures the voice of a disaffected generation of Koreans in a way only someone who shares their pain and anger could. The story follows three central characters: Mina, her older brother Minho, and her friend Crystal. (The decision to translate rather than transliterate the name Sujong as Crystal was very clever because the character’s name is obviously a very important element in defining the character.) The young, amoral, and privileged students live a routine life, which Mina declares “It’s not normal. Cram school, home, school, test, school, cram school, homework, tutor, cram school, home, tutor, cram school, home, school, back to cram school, back to tutor, back for a text back to homework back to school back to school back to school. Home. Cram school. How can anyone think this is normal? It’s crazy. Everyone’s crazy. I can’t stand it. Not anymore! I can’t stand this life. This is hell. It’s hell. Hell Chosun!” While some might label the book a coming of age story, it is quite different from what are often considered classics of the genre, such as Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” or Murakami’s “Norwegian Wood” in that Kim’s novel blatantly points to the fact that in the highly confirmative and hyper competitive society of modern day Korea, there is no margin for error, no space for growth. The world drawn in Kim’s work is a polarized one, divided between winners (Crystal) and losers (Mina), normality and abnormality, purity and filthy. The young characters conform and simultaneously rage against the world that has been force upon them. The ending (which I will not spoil) has Crystal spiraling towards the destruction of Self and Other as she seeks to purge herself of impurity. This is a story that is powerful, devastating, and utterly confusing.
July 8, 2020
what the fuck did i just read
March 25, 2021
"She is at peace in this world in which she has perfect control of everything."
That's how it starts. But as it turns out the life of Korean student Crystal is a never-ending cycle of school, homework, cram school, tutoring, tests and exams that sends her spiraling and that leads to a devastating climax. The book paints a brilliant portrait of a disaffected and apathetic generation that is only confronted with extremes: success and failure, winners and losers, normality and abnormality, poverty and wealth, purity and impurity, madness and sanity, rage and indifference. It's probably one of the most drastic works I've ever read and the author's writing is concise and calculated, nothing is redundant. Personally, I think the less you know about this book the better your reading experience will be. However, a trigger warning for animal torture and animal death seems appropriate for this book. You've been warned.
That's how it starts. But as it turns out the life of Korean student Crystal is a never-ending cycle of school, homework, cram school, tutoring, tests and exams that sends her spiraling and that leads to a devastating climax. The book paints a brilliant portrait of a disaffected and apathetic generation that is only confronted with extremes: success and failure, winners and losers, normality and abnormality, poverty and wealth, purity and impurity, madness and sanity, rage and indifference. It's probably one of the most drastic works I've ever read and the author's writing is concise and calculated, nothing is redundant. Personally, I think the less you know about this book the better your reading experience will be. However, a trigger warning for animal torture and animal death seems appropriate for this book. You've been warned.
December 14, 2018
"One corpse. Two smiles. Incalculable darkness"
February 10, 2022
Check out my video review on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub0a5...
September 26, 2025
Everybody knows Madonna. She’s as much of a megastar now as she has ever been, but Crystal has never been one of her most devoted fans. Crystal is more familiar with alternative types, witches and outliers—PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Fiona Apple, Björk.
crystal, the embodiment of manic-pixie esoteric thot daughter. if you've never been a misunderstood teenage girl who is ailed by her mere existence and doesn't fit in with her peers, you won't get this... i get u crystal.
Eyes open or shut, it all feels like a dream.
Going out with them is like a weekend of playing house on a farm—getting up early, putting on a lacy apron, digging the radishes, gathering the eggs, and milking the cow. Sure, all students need a change of pace—their lives are destructive and barren. What they need is rest. So where does loving someone fit in? The clueless calves get infected with romanticism. Spring fever—how else can you explain it?
And what is spirit anyway? How much of a demand is there for it? And how does one market spirit?
She is perfect because she is unfeeling and doesn’t know love...
But the news of Chiye’s suicide has sent a shock wave through the kids and they’ve forgotten the test momentarily while they attempt to retrieve their views on life and death, which are more or less uniform but contain a few variations.
She alone continues to gaze skyward, tapping her shepherd’s staff.
Crystal feels Mina’s exceptional flair stab at her heart, choking her up. I want it. More than ever she longs for that flair. I want it. I want it. I want it.
Compared with Mina’s liberated, beautiful, and adequately abundant life, Crystal feels her own is insubstantial and unhealthy, like mass-produced doughnuts dripping with trans fats.
...people are used to separating themselves from others, locking their doors, lowering their blinds, and curling up as they age. And even while facing that most wretched death, isolated and oppressed by the collective, they will close their eyes with a smile, believing they’ve braved the most isolated and individualized death, a death they chose of their own free will.
And to survive, she leads a very hectic life. She works like an ox and a horse combined, and when she’s not working she’s carnivorous, feeding off others even as they feed off her.
We have to be content with meager wages, conflicted relationships, unfair treatment, and a wasted life. That way we’ll have an opportunity to carry heavier burdens, and that’s not a punishment but an reward. To live an advantaged life, we must cope with this reward along with everything else. For reward read suffering, and for suffering read reward. It’s that
Rats will abandon clean water and swarm to the pot where sugar water is mixed with heroin. Not because they’re addicted but because they need to numb the pain of their distressing lives and block out the torment.
If you find yourself crying because your ego prevents you from giving up on something you can’t afford, don’t despair—everyone else is in the same boat! So what you do is put on your most snobbish look and pick up something even more expensive, or go all out and get the most expensive item of all. Let your ambition run wild. Aim higher. Do that and you’ll end up with a bonus—a pair of fancy speakers or the cellphone your favorite celebrity uses. That’s how you get to the top of this pyramid—but all that awaits you there is an exorbitantly priced dinner, an exorbitantly priced espresso, and an exorbitantly priced apartment, nothing you wouldn’t find at the top of other pyramids. So what’s new?
The greater the pain when you wake up, the more intense the moment of pleasure at that first hit. When your brain is conditioned for the pinnacle of pleasure, your body is too weak to remember the pain. With all the suffering that’s already around you, it’s not easy to distinguish the suffering from the addiction from the other kinds of suffering. And so you tolerate it. You confuse the suffering that comes from addiction with the suffering that comes from life.
What’s normal about searching for hope amidst suffering when the world all around you has gone crazy?
You have to run. There’s nothing brave about going toe to toe with the waves that will surge over you. Just take off, screaming, as far as you can go, follow the mad rats that are following the pied piper. There’s no time to lose. People are already submerged, bodies in the water.
But she feels neither sorrow nor shock, only as if some trivial clump of gray matter buried deep in her brain has eroded—one more useless appendage has atrophied and dissolved, that’s all. Such tiny erosions have been occurring for some time now.
Crystal nestles her head against Mina’s chest, taking in the soap fragrance and the scent of pine needles. She’s drowsy, wants to hang on to this time and space a little longer. The needles quiver faintly in the breeze. The girls embrace for what feels an eternity, like lovers caught in a storm, clinging in quiet desperation. Crystal hears the distant ring of the bell for the start of class. She can’t tell if the ringing is real or if it’s coming from inside her head. She doesn’t want to know.
The stone wall of the well is sometimes gray, sometimes black, maybe even orange, but mostly it’s colorless. She’s still dropping and there’s still no bottom. But she’s surely falling, and that’s the problem. How can I be falling down when I didn’t have enough time to reach the top?
She yearns for numbness, when she’s like a cold brick of butter or a rock-hard bagel...
Day after day passes in the same fashion. Time flies and there are no worries. You could simply say that he’s thought-less and opinion-less. If you were to say that to him he would of course protest, saying: No, I’m more complicated than that, I’m smart, I think all day, I’m maybe a bit nastier than you think, a bit more esoteric, a bit more tainted, a bit more sensitive. But that’s his misunderstanding. He’s inclined to overrate himself,
Their youth itself is lovely, their immaturity enticing. But at the same time, their brains are still contaminated by language and so their relationship is limited to a game of tempting and being tempted. They are animals who possess language and can’t live without it.
Minho doesn’t ask Crystal questions, and Crystal doesn’t ask Minho questions about not questioning her. And thus nothing happens. The hours draw out silently. Not the sort of life to inspire a soul. Can you save a soul only by leaning a body against a body and repeatedly embracing? Can the mind expand in such hours? More likely they will stubbornly stay the same, in the same pose with the same expression. They’ll spend as long as they can leaning against each other in silence, then simply wave goodbye once it’s time for cram school.
The reason you’re crying is you haven’t learned to hold in your tears, you’re not used to it. But you’ll learn if you want to survive. In order to survive, you’ll learn. And then you won’t cry anymore. You’ll end up dry and sterile just like me.
Summer’s coming. Spring is dead. This spring we’re having now, it’s never coming back. I’m going to erase everything. I hate summer. I want to be rid of it. I wish half the people in the world would just disappear. I hope the Amazon rain forest grows lush again. I hope nature recovers and stars fill the night sky. No more wars and no more terror anywhere on the globe, no more environmental degradation, no more endangering polar bears. Maybe I should work for the U.N. so I can help. Listen to me. I’m begging you. Really listen. In one minute, no, in thirty seconds I’ll be gone. I won’t be here. I’ll have erased everything from my mind. That’s the way it goes. I’ll forget everything. There’s not much time left now. I’ll wipe it out. I’ll wipe it all out. I don’t like all these complications. So I’m getting rid of everything. The thing is, I… I… I love you. Don’t you know that? How can I get that across to you? I don’t like confusion, and yet I’m so confused. My heart’s beating. I’m such a normal girl, and yet the world is stickier and grosser than a spiderweb—why is that? Will you please try to understand me? If you can understand me, my heart and my soul, you can eat worms, mosquitos, roaches, whatever, and then you can kiss me. And I’ll kiss you. I give you permission. You’re perfect for me, Oppa. And no one else, remember that.”
crystal, the embodiment of manic-pixie esoteric thot daughter. if you've never been a misunderstood teenage girl who is ailed by her mere existence and doesn't fit in with her peers, you won't get this... i get u crystal.
Eyes open or shut, it all feels like a dream.
Going out with them is like a weekend of playing house on a farm—getting up early, putting on a lacy apron, digging the radishes, gathering the eggs, and milking the cow. Sure, all students need a change of pace—their lives are destructive and barren. What they need is rest. So where does loving someone fit in? The clueless calves get infected with romanticism. Spring fever—how else can you explain it?
And what is spirit anyway? How much of a demand is there for it? And how does one market spirit?
She is perfect because she is unfeeling and doesn’t know love...
But the news of Chiye’s suicide has sent a shock wave through the kids and they’ve forgotten the test momentarily while they attempt to retrieve their views on life and death, which are more or less uniform but contain a few variations.
She alone continues to gaze skyward, tapping her shepherd’s staff.
Crystal feels Mina’s exceptional flair stab at her heart, choking her up. I want it. More than ever she longs for that flair. I want it. I want it. I want it.
Compared with Mina’s liberated, beautiful, and adequately abundant life, Crystal feels her own is insubstantial and unhealthy, like mass-produced doughnuts dripping with trans fats.
...people are used to separating themselves from others, locking their doors, lowering their blinds, and curling up as they age. And even while facing that most wretched death, isolated and oppressed by the collective, they will close their eyes with a smile, believing they’ve braved the most isolated and individualized death, a death they chose of their own free will.
And to survive, she leads a very hectic life. She works like an ox and a horse combined, and when she’s not working she’s carnivorous, feeding off others even as they feed off her.
We have to be content with meager wages, conflicted relationships, unfair treatment, and a wasted life. That way we’ll have an opportunity to carry heavier burdens, and that’s not a punishment but an reward. To live an advantaged life, we must cope with this reward along with everything else. For reward read suffering, and for suffering read reward. It’s that
Rats will abandon clean water and swarm to the pot where sugar water is mixed with heroin. Not because they’re addicted but because they need to numb the pain of their distressing lives and block out the torment.
If you find yourself crying because your ego prevents you from giving up on something you can’t afford, don’t despair—everyone else is in the same boat! So what you do is put on your most snobbish look and pick up something even more expensive, or go all out and get the most expensive item of all. Let your ambition run wild. Aim higher. Do that and you’ll end up with a bonus—a pair of fancy speakers or the cellphone your favorite celebrity uses. That’s how you get to the top of this pyramid—but all that awaits you there is an exorbitantly priced dinner, an exorbitantly priced espresso, and an exorbitantly priced apartment, nothing you wouldn’t find at the top of other pyramids. So what’s new?
The greater the pain when you wake up, the more intense the moment of pleasure at that first hit. When your brain is conditioned for the pinnacle of pleasure, your body is too weak to remember the pain. With all the suffering that’s already around you, it’s not easy to distinguish the suffering from the addiction from the other kinds of suffering. And so you tolerate it. You confuse the suffering that comes from addiction with the suffering that comes from life.
What’s normal about searching for hope amidst suffering when the world all around you has gone crazy?
You have to run. There’s nothing brave about going toe to toe with the waves that will surge over you. Just take off, screaming, as far as you can go, follow the mad rats that are following the pied piper. There’s no time to lose. People are already submerged, bodies in the water.
But she feels neither sorrow nor shock, only as if some trivial clump of gray matter buried deep in her brain has eroded—one more useless appendage has atrophied and dissolved, that’s all. Such tiny erosions have been occurring for some time now.
Crystal nestles her head against Mina’s chest, taking in the soap fragrance and the scent of pine needles. She’s drowsy, wants to hang on to this time and space a little longer. The needles quiver faintly in the breeze. The girls embrace for what feels an eternity, like lovers caught in a storm, clinging in quiet desperation. Crystal hears the distant ring of the bell for the start of class. She can’t tell if the ringing is real or if it’s coming from inside her head. She doesn’t want to know.
The stone wall of the well is sometimes gray, sometimes black, maybe even orange, but mostly it’s colorless. She’s still dropping and there’s still no bottom. But she’s surely falling, and that’s the problem. How can I be falling down when I didn’t have enough time to reach the top?
She yearns for numbness, when she’s like a cold brick of butter or a rock-hard bagel...
Day after day passes in the same fashion. Time flies and there are no worries. You could simply say that he’s thought-less and opinion-less. If you were to say that to him he would of course protest, saying: No, I’m more complicated than that, I’m smart, I think all day, I’m maybe a bit nastier than you think, a bit more esoteric, a bit more tainted, a bit more sensitive. But that’s his misunderstanding. He’s inclined to overrate himself,
Their youth itself is lovely, their immaturity enticing. But at the same time, their brains are still contaminated by language and so their relationship is limited to a game of tempting and being tempted. They are animals who possess language and can’t live without it.
Minho doesn’t ask Crystal questions, and Crystal doesn’t ask Minho questions about not questioning her. And thus nothing happens. The hours draw out silently. Not the sort of life to inspire a soul. Can you save a soul only by leaning a body against a body and repeatedly embracing? Can the mind expand in such hours? More likely they will stubbornly stay the same, in the same pose with the same expression. They’ll spend as long as they can leaning against each other in silence, then simply wave goodbye once it’s time for cram school.
The reason you’re crying is you haven’t learned to hold in your tears, you’re not used to it. But you’ll learn if you want to survive. In order to survive, you’ll learn. And then you won’t cry anymore. You’ll end up dry and sterile just like me.
Summer’s coming. Spring is dead. This spring we’re having now, it’s never coming back. I’m going to erase everything. I hate summer. I want to be rid of it. I wish half the people in the world would just disappear. I hope the Amazon rain forest grows lush again. I hope nature recovers and stars fill the night sky. No more wars and no more terror anywhere on the globe, no more environmental degradation, no more endangering polar bears. Maybe I should work for the U.N. so I can help. Listen to me. I’m begging you. Really listen. In one minute, no, in thirty seconds I’ll be gone. I won’t be here. I’ll have erased everything from my mind. That’s the way it goes. I’ll forget everything. There’s not much time left now. I’ll wipe it out. I’ll wipe it all out. I don’t like all these complications. So I’m getting rid of everything. The thing is, I… I… I love you. Don’t you know that? How can I get that across to you? I don’t like confusion, and yet I’m so confused. My heart’s beating. I’m such a normal girl, and yet the world is stickier and grosser than a spiderweb—why is that? Will you please try to understand me? If you can understand me, my heart and my soul, you can eat worms, mosquitos, roaches, whatever, and then you can kiss me. And I’ll kiss you. I give you permission. You’re perfect for me, Oppa. And no one else, remember that.”
November 17, 2019
Quite the Donnie Darko twist with this one. You think you're reading a novel about angsty teens enduring Korea's brutal education system but it is something quite different to that. Most Korean novels I've read have been about poorer people, this setting of well off kids with their own credit cards gallivanting about their city was refreshingly different. Very wordy at times, which if you've read a lot of Korean lit in translation you'll be used tol but if you're just jumping in with this book may be confusing. However the internal monologues of Crystal serve a purpose as you experience her labyrinthian descent into mental illness.
I had one big problem with the ending. I don't feel there was an adequate reason behind Minho's seeming uncaring as to his sister's fate and it took away from Crystal's own sociopathy. I assumed Minho was just going along with Crystal in that bored teenage way, not really believing anything she said and not having sufficient empathy to be horrified by it. His acceptance of the final scene he was met with made me wonder if this book was more about Hell Joseon than it appeared to be which was a disappointment.
I'm also curious at the translation choice to give Crystal a western name. Does her original Korean name have connotations that would be lost without choosing a western one?
I had one big problem with the ending. I don't feel there was an adequate reason behind Minho's seeming uncaring as to his sister's fate and it took away from Crystal's own sociopathy. I assumed Minho was just going along with Crystal in that bored teenage way, not really believing anything she said and not having sufficient empathy to be horrified by it. His acceptance of the final scene he was met with made me wonder if this book was more about Hell Joseon than it appeared to be which was a disappointment.
I'm also curious at the translation choice to give Crystal a western name. Does her original Korean name have connotations that would be lost without choosing a western one?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 11, 2019
So the cover blurbs called this a "realistic portrait of a teenager" and that is false advertising. What it actually is is a screed against modern (Korean) society, in the form of story about a student who is "perfectly adapted" to succeed in cram schools and the teach-to-the-test mentality and the "what makes writing good is no grammatical errors" mentality. She's manipulative, amoral, unempathetic, and ranks people constantly. Her love interest is "accepting" to an extreme. i.e. he accept immoral behavior.
It's a strange book.
It's a strange book.
November 24, 2019
This novel reads like an allegory, with Crystal, Mina, and Minho acting less as characters and more as personified elements of Korean society. Even the city where they live, P City, is a stand-in for Korea as a country.
It's a critique on Korean upper-middle class society and the constant pressure to succeed, wear expensive clothes, etc., often at the expense of empathy and true understanding. The emphasis on knowledge over wisdom is an especially prominent, cutting jab towards the school system.
It was extremely well-crafted, and one of those books that's fun to tease apart and think about the society that it's based on. Dark humor rippled, but I wanted something a bit more realistic. When it ended, I wanted some offering of what to do next.
It's a critique on Korean upper-middle class society and the constant pressure to succeed, wear expensive clothes, etc., often at the expense of empathy and true understanding. The emphasis on knowledge over wisdom is an especially prominent, cutting jab towards the school system.
It was extremely well-crafted, and one of those books that's fun to tease apart and think about the society that it's based on. Dark humor rippled, but I wanted something a bit more realistic. When it ended, I wanted some offering of what to do next.
July 20, 2020
Oddly expository at odd intervals. A devastating critique of Korean Cram School culture. Unpleasant characters, a disturbing read. Yet in places the writing, atmosphere, tension are quite beautiful.
I'm such a normal girl, and yet the world is stickier and grosser than a cobweb--why is that?
etc.
I'm such a normal girl, and yet the world is stickier and grosser than a cobweb--why is that?
etc.
February 27, 2025
TW: raw and detailed animal abuse
It almost gives me the feeling of "American Psycho" - except told from the perspective of a teenage girl attempting to survive excruciating capitalism while grappling simultaneously with her own fears and inferiority complexes. "Mina" is most interesting to me due to its writing style. I cannot say I've read many books told in such elongated paragraphs of description that feels dreamlike more than realistic, but I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in this girl's world of youth. The cat scene was very, very hard for me to read, and because of that I found it brilliant. I felt that the kitten was only this foreshadowing to Mina's tragic end: "I'm so sorry kitty, I didn't mean it". Crystal never understanding what it is driving her hand. I will be contemplating that very question for some time.
It almost gives me the feeling of "American Psycho" - except told from the perspective of a teenage girl attempting to survive excruciating capitalism while grappling simultaneously with her own fears and inferiority complexes. "Mina" is most interesting to me due to its writing style. I cannot say I've read many books told in such elongated paragraphs of description that feels dreamlike more than realistic, but I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in this girl's world of youth. The cat scene was very, very hard for me to read, and because of that I found it brilliant. I felt that the kitten was only this foreshadowing to Mina's tragic end: "I'm so sorry kitty, I didn't mean it". Crystal never understanding what it is driving her hand. I will be contemplating that very question for some time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2025
This is exactly why I'm scared of teenagers.
February 12, 2022
Finished this book while in a traditional-style Cafe (called onion for the record).
This book was really visceral. The best parts were when the two main characters were having a conversation. There’s so much said (and left unsaid). Definitely the most engaging part. Worth reading just for that convo. I was highlighting every other line. It’s from around 50% of the novel:
“You’re like a kid, so, like a kid, you can be unpredictable. You scare me. Everybody’s like you, or else they want to be. That why I’m scared. Scared to death. In fact, I probably died. I died already. I’m sick of this life. It’s not normal. Cram school, home, school, test, school, cram school, homework, tutor, cram school, home, tutor, cram school, home, school, back to cram school, back to tutor, back for a test back to homework back to school back to school back to school. Home. Cram school. How can anyone think this is normal? It’s crazy. Everyone’s crazy. I can’t stand it. Not anymore! I can’t stand this life. This is hell. It’s hell. Hell Chosŏn! Our society is hell!”
This novel is about a lot of things. It’s hard to extrapolate the main points outside of their cultural context. And perhaps it’s foolish to even try to pull together a unified plot. The bare bones of the novel is that two high schoolers cope with wealth, superficial society, and suicide. But the novel is also about being pulled apart (by society, your own cognitive ability) and getting lost in your own flawed logic. One of my reading notes caught the central conflict of the story. I analyzed a passage early in the novel as “overblown hysteria — pushed to the point of breaking but unable to identify or isolate what’s causing it.” That’s basically the book.
It’s about caring and hating that you do. It’s about embodying the ideal member of society but chafing at its arbitrary trappings.
Is it more virtuous to be poor and suffering or rich and suffering? Or is life just horrible. That’s the kind of circuitous logic Crystal gets trapped in. She can’t conceive of a middle road with her controlling tendencies. And the novel spins out, trying to imagine cruel, disconnected teens that are shaped by commercialism and apathy.
This book was really visceral. The best parts were when the two main characters were having a conversation. There’s so much said (and left unsaid). Definitely the most engaging part. Worth reading just for that convo. I was highlighting every other line. It’s from around 50% of the novel:
“You’re like a kid, so, like a kid, you can be unpredictable. You scare me. Everybody’s like you, or else they want to be. That why I’m scared. Scared to death. In fact, I probably died. I died already. I’m sick of this life. It’s not normal. Cram school, home, school, test, school, cram school, homework, tutor, cram school, home, tutor, cram school, home, school, back to cram school, back to tutor, back for a test back to homework back to school back to school back to school. Home. Cram school. How can anyone think this is normal? It’s crazy. Everyone’s crazy. I can’t stand it. Not anymore! I can’t stand this life. This is hell. It’s hell. Hell Chosŏn! Our society is hell!”
This novel is about a lot of things. It’s hard to extrapolate the main points outside of their cultural context. And perhaps it’s foolish to even try to pull together a unified plot. The bare bones of the novel is that two high schoolers cope with wealth, superficial society, and suicide. But the novel is also about being pulled apart (by society, your own cognitive ability) and getting lost in your own flawed logic. One of my reading notes caught the central conflict of the story. I analyzed a passage early in the novel as “overblown hysteria — pushed to the point of breaking but unable to identify or isolate what’s causing it.” That’s basically the book.
It’s about caring and hating that you do. It’s about embodying the ideal member of society but chafing at its arbitrary trappings.
Is it more virtuous to be poor and suffering or rich and suffering? Or is life just horrible. That’s the kind of circuitous logic Crystal gets trapped in. She can’t conceive of a middle road with her controlling tendencies. And the novel spins out, trying to imagine cruel, disconnected teens that are shaped by commercialism and apathy.
December 22, 2018
The perfectly spinning world of a high-achieving student starts to wobble after a suicide in her school and ultimately goes completely off its axis, with some dire consequences. What sets the book apart from the standard children-as-monsters genre fiction that is now popular in the Korean literature in translation world is its portrayal of the hypercompetitive 21st century South Korean middle class society in which the only values that are passed from parents to children are the overriding importance of money and status and the absolute imperative to do whatever it takes to have them. This phenomenon is a major contributing factor to the current social malaise that has been called “Hell Joseon”, and if one is looking for contemporary novels that present or reflect Hell Joseon, this one definitely belongs on the list. (In fact, the author actually uses the expression at one point, p. 118 in the translation, which would be a very early occurrence if it was present in the original 2008 edition.)
January 28, 2019
While this novel centers on South Korean teenagers and the pressures they are facing, it is NOT a young adult novel. It feels a lot closer to American Psycho, with its overstimulating descriptions of consumption and numbness, than to whatever else I was expecting.
Content warning for graphic violence! There was a scene of animal cruelty so upsetting that I was actually able to use it in Exposure Response Prevention therapy for Harm OCD. If not for that, I have no idea how I would have been able to even finish the book or get it out of my mind.
I was never able to sink into reading without feeling the writing- Kim does so much telling (as opposed to just showing) that in places the narration gets bogged down with small actions and almost reads like a screenplay. I think the format would benefit from some additional line breaks, in dialogue and elsewhere, to avoid the effect of a wall of text.
Content warning for graphic violence! There was a scene of animal cruelty so upsetting that I was actually able to use it in Exposure Response Prevention therapy for Harm OCD. If not for that, I have no idea how I would have been able to even finish the book or get it out of my mind.
I was never able to sink into reading without feeling the writing- Kim does so much telling (as opposed to just showing) that in places the narration gets bogged down with small actions and almost reads like a screenplay. I think the format would benefit from some additional line breaks, in dialogue and elsewhere, to avoid the effect of a wall of text.
June 21, 2020
This book is really well written and super interesting! I think it's one of the authors first books and it really peaked my interest with the characters complex and often strange monologues and thoughts. I actually read this for a class on Korean culture and it was supposed to give us an insight into the darker side of korean society and what some younger people feel there. It was very disturbing at times, but overall a book I didn't want to put down! I highly recommend it to those who have an interest in dark and twisted characters! I also I got to meet the translators in person for the class actually, and they did a very good job and took a lot of care to translate it!
May 18, 2021
2,5/5
very harsh reading ; graphic descriptions of violence, incessant dialogue/almost villain-like monologues, not that it is a bad book, but i honestly didn’t enjoy it. it is made to disturb you and it does succeed in that way, but the characters are so despicable, really, i was just waiting for my eyes to hurry and finish those pages.
still, it does criticizes modern society and education (well, in 2008) and its impact on teenagers in an interesting way, but if it wasn’t for my class, i would have taken forever to finish it...
very harsh reading ; graphic descriptions of violence, incessant dialogue/almost villain-like monologues, not that it is a bad book, but i honestly didn’t enjoy it. it is made to disturb you and it does succeed in that way, but the characters are so despicable, really, i was just waiting for my eyes to hurry and finish those pages.
still, it does criticizes modern society and education (well, in 2008) and its impact on teenagers in an interesting way, but if it wasn’t for my class, i would have taken forever to finish it...
March 12, 2019
Honestly, I enjoyed so much about this book, from the voice of the characters, to the mundane dialogue. But, I was unable to read the final few pages as the ending started to make me physically ill. I skipped to the final moments for closure, and I don’t think I’ll be going back for those few pages.
It’s not a book for everyone, even if there are some insights to glean of the overworked ins unraveling minds of South Korean students.
It’s not a book for everyone, even if there are some insights to glean of the overworked ins unraveling minds of South Korean students.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 22, 2024
Psychotic and dark, or at least the beginnings of something really dark and violent if not already. Like reading the mind of a soon-to-be teen girl serial killer.
Some of the scenes are hard to get through but I think it’s meant to be like that. It’s not supposed to be an easy book to get through, if you have any ounce of sympathy to other beings.
But does all this while describing how cruel the metropolis is towards its inhabitants, how it changes you without you realizing it.
Some of the scenes are hard to get through but I think it’s meant to be like that. It’s not supposed to be an easy book to get through, if you have any ounce of sympathy to other beings.
But does all this while describing how cruel the metropolis is towards its inhabitants, how it changes you without you realizing it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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