This one is up there with Burmese Days as some of the most repulsive books I have read. It centers around a married woman in South Korea as she is driven to insanity by different men in her life. It includes themes of domestic violence, the patriarchy, and more broadly shame and desire.

I had a hard time initially reviewing this book. It was quite a page turner, so I at least did not have to suffer too much, and the really horrible parts were mostly confined to a couple points. However, the characters felt a bit one-dimensional and flat. The main point of the books seems to shed light on the horrible but invisible consequences of the patriarchal structure in South Korea, which likely looks similar in other places. I think this is a good message, but could be conveyed more strongly with more nuanced male characters. On the other hand, I have not yet researched the author or the book, and if it happens that this has roots in her past or real life experiences, it would become more acceptable with the black and white portrayal.

So, all in all, the book was not really fun to read. Many a time was I disgusted. It is however short and easy to read. It might feel a bit black and white in the morality of its characters, but by doing so, it is able to tell a very strong story in so few pages.