i just finished reading a novel in korean!
reading at least one korean fiction before the year ends was a goal i set for myself a couple of weeks ago, because even after half a decade of learning, reading books in korean still feels like a huge challenge to me. i don't know if it's just me, but it's especially hard because it seems that korean has so many adjectives and ways to express things, and so at times i have to open the dictionary every few words and it's disheartening to say the least.
i've only read two other books in korean and so this is my third, which i'm happy about. the book that i just finished reading is categorized as 청소년 소설, which means fiction for teens (youth). in english we usually have middle grade (aimed at elementary students, more or less) and young-adult books (aimed at students in junior high to senior high, depending on the content of the book sometimes). however, it seems that different people have differing opinion on the target of these books.
according to this article, (english) middle grade books are aimed at readers aged 8-12, and YA books are aimed at readers aged 13-18.
in korea, one article says that 청소년 소설 is aimed at junior high school students, or more widely 초등학교 5~6학년부터 중학교 1~2학년까지 (11-14 years old). however, this lecture states that "청소년소설을 가장 단순하게 정의한다면 13~18세 사람을 독자 대상으로 하는 소설이다." which basically means it's aimed to students around 13-18 years old.
anyway, that's not the point of this article. see how it easy it was for me to get sidetracked? the reason why i came here was because i wanted to write about what i think about the story, not about how young-adult books should be categorized.
the book that i just finished reading is called 죽이고 싶은 아이 (lit. the kid i want to kill) written by 이꽃님 작가. one of the reviews that i read said that it's very light and fast-paced and only took said person around one hour to finish, and while i somewhat agree with the former, it took me five times of the time it took them to finish the book. i mean they're a native speaker and i'm a learner, so what can i say, right?
this is the second book that i read from this writer. the first one that i read is called 세계를 건너 너에게 갈게, and i LOVED that book, but i'll save that for another entry.
i think it's safe to say that while i find this one entertaining, the ending was a little bit disappointing. the premise of the story is that one day, a girl called 서은 was found dead at school, and her best friend 주연 was immediately suspected as the murderer. why, you may ask? because the last message 서은 sent was her apologizing over and over about a mistake she apparently did, and 주연 asking her to come to a place where 서은 was later found dead.
it would've been easy for 주연 to deny the accusation, or confess if she did do it, or do something about the accusation, but the thing is: she couldn't remember how things went down the last time they met. in her mind, they're best friends, and there's no way she could've killed her best friend — but why does everyone keep saying that there's no way she didn't do it?
the structure of the book is quite unique. each chapter is short (no more than a few pages at most), and it's either a written transcription of an interview with someone related to the case, or a fragment of things that happened in the past or present, all with different points of view that makes things both interesting but also somewhat confusing because the reader never gets to see things objectively.
that's probably intentional, and i would've been more than fine with that — if only (spoiler alert) things didn't turn out that way at the end, because what do you mean the so-called witness that became the "key" in determining whether 주연 was guilty or not only appeared at the end, basically LIED to everyone's face that 주연 indeed murdered her best friend, and then "justified" to God that the reason she lied in court (instead of confessed, or you know, stayed silent??? like what she had been doing the whole time???) was because she thought 주연 deserved it??? i'm not saying 주연 is 100% innocent or whatever BUT i do believe the way she grew up shaped her to be that kind of person and SHE DIDN'T EVEN MURDER ANYONE SO WHY SHOULD SHE GET PUNISHED?
너무 억울하잖아ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ even if everyone believed that she was indeed the murderer, her lawyer had wanted to believe her and she might've gotten a chance to prove everyone wrong :")
(end of spoiler)
the story aside, i feel like the book is very accessible to intermediate learners because of the short chapters. i have to admit that some chapters are more difficult than others - the interview content chapters were easier because they use spoken language, but other, more descriptive chapters were harder for me. the fact that it's a murder mystery also made it more intriguing and kept me reading even when i was tired of looking up words :")
me finishing the book doesn't mean i understood the whole thing fully though. i'm sure i missed some nuances because of lack of understanding on my side, but the thing is, if i wait until i think i can get things 100%, i'm sure i would never be able to start. the fact is, i learned english partly from reading books above my level as well, so why not do the same thing with korean? you know what they say: practice makes perfect, and done is better than perfect anyway.
anyway, i just looked it up and turns out there's a sequel to this book! i wasn't sure if i wanted to read it because of the ending of this first book, but a review (written in English) said that "[the] follow up really did justice to the characters from the first novel [...]" and now I HAVE TO READ IT. (spoiler alert) i have to know what happens to 주연 because surely the injustice didn't follow her till the end, right???