A remarkably beautiful story of the agony of loss and injustice.
Yun-Yun’s novel, based on true events, tells the story of a boat accident, as seen through the eyes of one victim’s sibling.
On April 16, 2014, the ferry MV Sewol capsized off the coast of South Korea, resulting in the deaths of more than 300 passengers, including 250 students and 11 teachers on a high school field trip. False reports that the passengers and crew had been rescued, and the lateness of the South Korean coast guard’s rescue efforts, led to a national outcry. This real-life tragedy is the backdrop for this novel, in which 24-year-old Park Yun-young reels from the loss of her 29-year-old sister, Mi-na, whom she calls Unnie (“older sister” in Korean), a teacher who died aboard the Sewol. The story begins with Yun-young retracing the steps that Unnie took in life—revisiting the school she attended, her dormitory, and the cubicle where she tirelessly studied to pass the national exam required to become an educator. At each stop, Yun-young crosses paths with people who knew her sister or who also had a loved one on the Sewol. Shifting back and forth between the present day and memories of Unnie, the narration has a dreamlike quality that heightens its sense of bittersweet nostalgia. Along the way, the author slowly reveals the timeline of events immediately prior to, during, and after the disaster. In one notable scene, months after the ferry’s sinking, Unnie’s suitcase is recovered from the muddy waters, and Yun-young and her family gather in their living room to open it and sift through its contents. Lifting the silt-soaked clothes out, piece by piece, Yun-young’s mother runs to fill a basin with water and stomps the mud out of Mi-na’s possessions, as if to rinse the horror from her daughter’s memory: “Yun-young can hear Mom’s muffled screams as she yells for the dirt to get off, to get off Unnie. The water sloshes for a long time.” The poetic force of the prose enhances the interplay between the past and present, blending them into a familiar, nonlinear pattern of grief.
A remarkably beautiful story of the agony of loss and injustice.Pub Date: April 11, 2024
ISBN: 9791198565105
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Libre Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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