Book Review: Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

 

⋆⋆⋆½

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for allowing me to read this ARC!

Content Warning: graphic violence, murder, graphic rape, sexism, graphic sexual assault, animal death.

Beginning in the snowy mountains of Korea in 1917, Beasts of a Little Land stars two primary characters, the irascible, wily JungHo, and a young girl named Jade. They're both victims of circumstance, thrust into frightening new lives by poverty and the ongoing war, and when by chance they meet in Seoul, it spurs on a friendship that will last for decades.

I can't tell you how highly anticipated this book was for me. The idea of a novel that spans the majority of the Korean War for Independence, going from place to place and following a group of several main characters who all get their own chapters at some point, was thrilling. The first couple of pages are immediately engaging, the descriptions of this snow-encrusted mountainside and the weary hunter vivid and picturesque. There were some truly beautiful similes and turns-of-phrase.

Kim's depiction of the Japanese colonizers is appropriately brutal, leaving you with scenes that are both hard to stomach and yet beautifully written nonetheless. It struck me as being aptly and efficiently done, and while there are many graphic scenes in this book, never did I feel it was used purely for shock value. Like many of the books we read about atrocities in history, this one was both grim and yet beneath the surfaced flowed a current of hope.

I'm afraid to say that I was a touch disappointed, not so much in the book itself, but in my reaction to it! I thought I would be absolutely enamored with the characters and the world, but unfortunately, it didn't quite reach that level for me. I think that because the novel spans so many decades with so many main and supporting characters, it leaves you feeling a bit as if you're rushing through their lives. There were moments when I wanted to spend another chapter in, for example, 1933, but we moved onto the beginning of WWII.

I was also unsure if I was meant to sympathize with JungHo in some parts. At first, I found him very charming, and I rooted for him, but as the novel goes on he does some things that left me feeling quite cold towards him. 

However, I by no means would not recommend Kim's beautiful, heartrending showcase of Korea's fight for freedom. If you're a lover of history and fascinated by Korea and its history, I would heartily recommend picking it up and giving it a go. Something to be kept in mind is that the story itself isn't so much about the characters within, but about Korea as if it were its own living, breathing being.