Fiction Book Review : Mina by Kim Sagwa

Digital Library of Korean Literature
Writers & Media
E-News

E-News

We provide news about Korean writers and works from all around the world.

English(English) Article

Fiction Book Review : Mina by Kim Sagwa

About the Article

Article: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-931883-74-0
Journal: PW
Issued Date: October 01, 2018
Page: -
Language: English(English)
Country: UNITED STATES
City: -
Book: MINA
Writer: Kim Sagwa
Translator: KIM Hye-gyeong,Jean-Claude de Crescenzo

About the Author

Kim Sagwa(Apple Kim)
Birth : 1984 ~ -
Occupation : Novelist
First Name : Sagwa
Family Name : Kim
Korean Name : 김사과
ISNI : 0000000355940908
Works : 8

Descriptions - 1 Languages

English(English)

Kim’s English-language debut shines a light on the unique pressures faced by Korean teenagers, and the darker sides of adolescent rage. Outwardly, Crystal seems like an average teen: clever, beautiful, and confident, she studies hard for cram school, goes to karaoke, and has a rotating cast of boyfriends she discards with ease. Her best friend is the titular Mina, whose older brother, Minho, is the boy Crystal has a crush on, and with whom Crystal has a refreshingly realistic and caustic relationship. But when Pak Chiye, a girl from their high school and Mina’s childhood friend, kills herself by jumping from the roof of their school building, Mina is greatly affected, withdrawing from school and growing depressed. For Crystal, this serves as something of a trigger, with her behavior becoming increasingly more erratic as she must reconcile her own sense of self with the pressures placed on young people by a society where “reward means suffering and suffering means reward.” This escalates into random acts of violence, which stand out from the dialogue- and detail-heavy novel as particularly chilling and heartbreaking. As a writer, Kim is wordy and specific, sometimes too concerned with the minutiae of an interaction and drawing attention away from the story at large. But as a cartographer and guide of the teenage experience, she is an expert, crafting an unsettling, deeply felt, and ultimately devastating depiction of the turmoil of youth. (Oct.)

Translated Books8 See More

French(Français) Book Available
MINA
Kim Sagwa(Apple Kim) et al / 김사과 / 2013
English(English) Book Available
The Future of Silence
OH JUNGHEE et al / 오정희 et al / 2016
English(English) Book Available
Asia Literary Review
Cheon Myeong-kwan et al / 천명관 et al / 2016