Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for the eARC! I enjoyed Human Acts from Kang so I was very excited to read more from her.

I loved the vivid descriptions of the snow, which made it feel perfect to read in winter! Kang has a beautiful way with words. Although it could be confusing at times, it often felt like a fever dream with the way some things unfolded.

okay so Inseon is in the hospital but then she reappears? How does our MC hear about this story then? Is our MC still stuck in the riverbed since she’s out in the snow? Literally had no idea what the fuck was happening!!

So I felt like it was going over my head a lot of the time 😂

It also felt like two different books the way it starts versus how it ends. I had a hard time feeling engaged throughout the middle as things dragged with the telling over showing. While I did enjoy the imagery and learning about such a heartbreaking, horrific period in history (to the surprise of no one, once again US military involvement is to blame) I think I would’ve enjoyed the book more had it been more focused?

So to summarize:
-learned new history that I now want to look into more
-love the atmospheric setting/imagery with Kang’s poetic writing
-enjoyed the first and last thirds
-slumped in the middle
-too much telling over showing
-and for those that deeply care: there are no quotation marks for dialogue (I got used to it eventually)