NO RULES TONIGHT

A college student in 1984 South Korea addresses the personal and political in this graphic novel drawn from author Kim’s life.

Hyun Sook joins fellow members of Anjeon University’s folk-dance club—a group that performs satirical, sometimes subversive, works—on a winter break hiking trip to the mountains. She packs the copy of Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving that club director Hoon gave her, describing it as a work of “socialist philosophy.” She and Hoon were in a club that read banned books, but they’ve been extra careful ever since a friend was imprisoned after being caught with a history of communism. Although the authoritarian political conditions are improving, Hyun Sook is aware of the cost of dissent. Starting another book club would be dangerous, but she hopes to teach others about the rights they’ve lost. Enjoying the getaway while surreptitiously continuing her political education isn’t easy. The bright, cheerfully cartoonlike drawings contrast with the serious topics, echoing the students’ balancing act as they pursue ordinary interests, such as romance, while protesting the dictatorship. The storyline introduces many characters and subplots that would have benefited from greater explication; Hyun Sook at times gets lost amid the clamor. Nevertheless, small details—a girl being harassed by police for wearing a too-short skirt, students cautiously walking to school past menacing troops in riot gear—authentically evoke the stark realities of the era.

A vivid if overstuffed portrayal of life under a dictatorship that educates and informs.