Standing at this border where land and water meet, watching the seemingly endless recurrence of the waves (though this eternity is in fact illusion: the earth will one day vanish, everything will one day vanish), the fact that our lives are no more than brief instants is felt with unequivocal clarity.
Ji-won’s life tumbles into disarray in the wake of her Appa’s extramarital affair and subsequent departure. Her mother, distraught. Her younger sister, hurt and confused. Her college freshman grades, failing. Her dreams, horrifying… yet enticing.
In them, Ji-won walks through bloody rooms full of eyes. Succulent blue eyes. Salivatingly blue eyes. Eyes the same shape and shade as George’s, who is Umma’s obnoxious new boyfriend. George has already overstayed his welcome in her family’s claustrophobic apartment. He brags about his puffed-up consulting job, ogles Asian waitresses while dining out, and acts condescending toward Ji-won and her sister as if he deserves all of Umma’s fawning adoration. No, George doesn’t deserve anything from her family. Ji-won will make sure of that.
For no matter how many victims accumulate around her campus or how many people she must deceive and manipulate, Ji-won’s hunger and her rage deserve to be sated.
CW book cover with eye related gore under the cut
Content warnings
Violence
Blood, gore, body horror
Cannibalism
Racism, fetishisation of East Asian women
Misogyny
Sexual harassment
Pedophilia (brief)
Stalking
Psychosis
Hospital/medical content
Alcohol consumption
Review
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC! 🔪👁️🍽️
I loved this so much!
The chapters are rather short and the writing was accessible, which made this a quick and easy read, although at times I found some of the dialogue to be a little awkward.
I am not easily grossed out, but the writing and the descriptions of some of the gory bits were legit gruesome, but also impossible to look away from.
I loved how Ji-Won's descent into madness/cannibalism/serial killing was portrayed. The way her internal narration was written, of growing obsession and paranoia and justification of her actions, paired with the dream sequences, creates an immersive atmosphere of unreality that was unnerving to read.
I found myself relating a lot with Ji-Won's struggles to make and maintain friendships, as well as her struggles to handle all the changes in her life. Although she's manipulative and does some truly awful things (outside of murder), I can't help rooting for her.
I wished Ji-Won's attraction to Alexis was explored more. Given how much the book focuses on male entitlement and the fetishisation of East Asian women, I think it would have been interesting to see how Ji-Won navigates her own feelings of attraction towards women (or just one particular woman) as well as how this attraction affects the way she is viewed by men/society. But I understand that this is not the focus of the book so its fine.
The way the different elements of the story come together and culminates in that ending was sooo satisfying to read.
I know this book is a standalone, and I am not one to advocate for sequels to things that wraps up by itself, but I would LOVE to read a sequel to this.
Hello everyone! It has been a while since I made a book review and posted it here on my tumblr. I was thinking of stopping this blog because my writing juices faded and it felt like I can’t write anything decent to post here but I can’t just sit back and not gush about this book because I think this deserves more recognition and hype. So here’s my review on Wicked fox by Kat Cho.
“Not all predators are monsters. But if you beat them enough, they’ll bite.”
Plot: Inspired by Korean folklore, this book tells the story of Gu Miyoung, a teenage gumiho or a nine-tailed fox who consumes energy of men as her means of survival. She is different from other gumihos for she is half human and with the help of a young shaman, she only feeds on bad men who did terrible things. Then, she crosses paths with a highschool kid named Ahn Jihoon on a very dangerous circumstance resulting to her fox bead being separated from her body. When they met again, their connection and blossoming relationship made it hard for Miyoung to hide what she really is. A generations-old feud made it more complicated leading to very difficult decisions that could completely change both of their lives.
Thoughts: One of my favorite K-Drama of all time is My Girlfriend is a Gumiho. So, when I knew about this book, I was immediately interested. I told myself that I need to have a copy of this one ASAP! That’s how excited I am for this book. But, when I started reading this, my excitement went from 100 to 0 real quick. Despite of that, for the love of Korean culture (also I don’t want my money to go to waste lol), I continued reading and it was worth it because my excitement went from 0 to 100 again.
What I love:
1. Atmospheric writing. The author knows how to put well a setting. And the foods? Perfect. It will make you crave for Korean food! I think watching a lot of K-Drama and TV shows made it easier for me to visualize the scenes vividly. It is also spooky and sometimes the darkness of the story will come to you. I just really love it when folklores and myths have modern twists.
2. Junu. He is a goblin. A very handsome goblin who earns money by running errands of other creatures and he ended up being Miyoung’s babysitter. He is my favorite among all the characters. It was surprising because he is not one of the main protagonists yet he caught my attention. He just exudes this bright energy and I thought he is funny. I just love his personality and he reminds me sometimes of Magnus Bane, the warlock in The Shadowhunter Chronicles.
3. The yearning between Miyoung and Jihoon. Here’s the thing, this is one of those books that I never thought I would shed even a single tear. But the joke’s on me! After the first half (which pretty much bored me), I was starting to get emotional then on the last few chapters, I started crying. I wasn’t really into their relationship at first because I can’t feel any sparks but the yearning between them as you go on with the story was a game changer for me. I was rooting for them and want them just to be together so badly.
What I don’t love:
1. The plot. Could’ve been done better. Sometimes it was just all over the place and felt like the story has no direction. There were just many repetitive arguments that it felt like it was just going round and round in circles. Also, it gets predictable and the first half wasn’t very impressive so my excitement crashed. (But don;t worry about it, it gets good towards the end!)
2. The High school drama. I personally don’t like high school settings sometimes because they get very predictable, boring and annoying. In this book, it was used as a filler and wasn’t effective. Like it was just put there to stir up a drama that I think was done poorly.
Recommending to:
1. K-Drama fans!
2. People who are into folklores, myths and urban legends.
South Korean author Han Kang wins the 2024 Nobel prize in literature. She was praised for her ‘intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life’
“Is it true that human beings are fundamentally cruel? Is the experience of cruelty the only thing we share as a species? Is the dignity that we cling to nothing but self-delusion, masking from ourselves the single truth: that each one of us is capable of being reduced to an insect, a ravening beast, a lump of meat? To be degraded, slaughtered - is this the essential of humankind, one which history has confirmed as inevitable?” ~Han Kang
(Book: Human Acts)
Human Acts is a powerful novel that delves into the physical and psychological trauma experienced by survivors, as well as the ways in which memory can both heal and haunt.
Set against the backdrop of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising in South Korea, the story follows the lives of individuals who were affected by the brutal suppression of the pro-democracy protests.
The novel also examines the power of language and storytelling to preserve history and give voice to the silenced.
