An intermittently chaotic novel which manages to snatch poignancy from the jaws of cliché.
A South Korean interpreter recalls her war-torn love life while on tour with Marilyn Monroe.
Lee, a screenwriter, has structured her short novel almost like an avant-garde film: The present action frames several flashbacks as the story follows an emotional, not a linear, arc. In 1954, the Korean War has ended and American forces occupy the South. For four morale-boosting days, Marilyn Monroe (the new Mrs. DiMaggio) is scheduled to visit Seoul and entertain the troops. First-person narrator Alice J. Kim (her nom de guerre), a translator and clerk on an American base, is tapped to serve as the star’s interpreter. From here it is rough chronological sailing; readers are advised to cling to the date headings of each chapter as flotation devices. A talented artist born to wealth, Alice (real name Ae-sun) refused an opportunity to escape. When Northern forces seized Seoul, she survived for a time by drawing propaganda posters for the enemy but eventually endured bombardment, then captivity in a Northern POW camp. Torn between Yo Min-hwan, a married lover, and Joseph Pines, an American agent, she alienated both, and her clumsy revenge had unintended, dire consequences. She seeks redemption by searching for Chong-nim, an orphaned girl she had helped during the evacuation of Hungnam. She is also contemplating suicide for reasons it takes the entire novel to establish. Acknowledging that the Korean War is still “The Forgotten War,” Lee, in this able translation by Kim, depicts several horrific episodes: neighborhoods in flames, hordes of refugees trying to escape the Communist invasion on overcrowded American ships, piles of corpses with those still living trapped beneath. The gritty truth is too often undermined by the banal love triangle, and Kim is perhaps overly fond of pronouncements like “A woman’s beauty is powerful enough to change her fate, though it becomes useless as she grows old.” The Marilyn frame story does pose revealing parallels between two outwardly privileged ingénues with inner scars.
An intermittently chaotic novel which manages to snatch poignancy from the jaws of cliché.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-293026-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Hoover is one of the freshest voices in new-adult fiction, and her latest resonates with true emotion, unforgettable...
Sydney and Ridge make beautiful music together in a love triangle written by Hoover (Losing Hope, 2013, etc.), with a link to a digital soundtrack by American Idol contestant Griffin Peterson.
Hoover is a master at writing scenes from dual perspectives. While music student Sydney is watching her neighbor Ridge play guitar on his balcony across the courtyard, Ridge is watching Sydney’s boyfriend, Hunter, secretly make out with her best friend on her balcony. The two begin a songwriting partnership that grows into something more once Sydney dumps Hunter and decides to crash with Ridge and his two roommates while she gets back on her feet. She finds out after the fact that Ridge already has a long-distance girlfriend, Maggie—and that he's deaf. Ridge’s deafness doesn’t impede their relationship or their music. In fact, it creates opportunities for sexy nonverbal communication and witty text messages: Ridge tenderly washes off a message he wrote on Sydney’s hand in ink, and when Sydney adds a few too many e’s to the word “squee” in her text, Ridge replies, “If those letters really make up a sound, I am so, so glad I can’t hear it.” While they fight their mutual attraction, their hope that “maybe someday” they can be together playfully comes out in their music. Peterson’s eight original songs flesh out Sydney’s lyrics with a good mix of moody musical styles: “Living a Lie” has the drama of a Coldplay piano ballad, while the chorus of “Maybe Someday” marches to the rhythm of the Lumineers. But Ridge’s lingering feelings for Maggie cause heartache for all three of them. Independent Maggie never complains about Ridge’s friendship with Sydney, and it's hard to even want Ridge to leave Maggie when she reveals her devastating secret. But Ridge can’t hide his feelings for Sydney long—and they face their dilemma with refreshing emotional honesty.
Hoover is one of the freshest voices in new-adult fiction, and her latest resonates with true emotion, unforgettable characters and just the right amount of sexual tension.Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-5316-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 6, 2014
Finding positivity in negative pregnancy-test results, this depiction of a marriage in crisis is nearly perfect.
Named for an imperfectly worded fortune cookie, Hoover's (It Ends with Us, 2016, etc.) latest compares a woman’s relationship with her husband before and after she finds out she’s infertile.
Quinn meets her future husband, Graham, in front of her soon-to-be-ex-fiance’s apartment, where Graham is about to confront him for having an affair with his girlfriend. A few years later, they are happily married but struggling to conceive. The “then and now” format—with alternating chapters moving back and forth in time—allows a hopeful romance to blossom within a dark but relatable dilemma. Back then, Quinn’s bad breakup leads her to the love of her life. In the now, she’s exhausted a laundry list of fertility options, from IVF treatments to adoption, and the silver lining is harder to find. Quinn’s bad relationship with her wealthy mother also prevents her from asking for more money to throw at the problem. But just when Quinn’s narrative starts to sound like she’s writing a long Facebook rant about her struggles, she reveals the larger issue: Ever since she and Graham have been trying to have a baby, intimacy has become a chore, and she doesn’t know how to tell him. Instead, she hopes the contents of a mystery box she’s kept since their wedding day will help her decide their fate. With a few well-timed silences, Hoover turns the fairly common problem of infertility into the more universal problem of poor communication. Graham and Quinn may or may not become parents, but if they don’t talk about their feelings, they won’t remain a couple, either.
Finding positivity in negative pregnancy-test results, this depiction of a marriage in crisis is nearly perfect.Pub Date: July 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-7159-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
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