CBR14 BINGO: Heart Square
(And so begins one of my favorite times of the year: CBR Bingo! This is a literal “heart” square filler as every character with a heart has it broken.)
I wanted to like this one more than I did. It is a beautifully written novel about love that somehow lacks warmth. In a weird way, it reminded me of the Elena Ferrante’s Neopolitan novels. I loved those books but was always haunted by the coldness of them. This book has a casual cruelness to it that hits the same buttons for me.
Kim’s book takes place in Korea generally between the world wars. The narrative follows a group of characters but mostly concerns a young girl, Jade, who is sold by her family to a courtesan school run by Miss Silver. When the sister of Jade’s friend is raped by a Japanese military leader and becomes pregnant, Jade and the two sisters are secreted away to Aunt Dani, a famous courteson in Seoul. Here, Jade’s life becomes intertwined with two ambitious boys: a beggar and a rickshaw driver. As the boys become men, one strives to be successful enough to deserve her while the other, outgrows her. It’s a story of unrequited love in a whirlwind of political and social change.
A lot is going on here and maybe too much? Both the traditions of the courtesans and the occupation and ultimate separation of North and South Korea were interesting and not something that I knew very much about. Unfortunately, neither is given the depth I would have liked. In some ways, this could have been broken up into multiple books like the aforementioned Ferrante novels since they do encompass almost the entire lifespan of most of the characters. A deeper dive into the world the characters inhabited would have helped to bolster it a little for me.
It had all the building blocks of my favorite epic tales, but managed to keep me at arm’s length. Ultimately, I couldn’t really tap into the heart (ahem) of the story in an emotionally connected way.