Michell expertly crafted a delicately tense novel following Sae, the protagonist, who tries to figure out what happened to her missing husband after the collapse of a building (drawing inspiration from an actual Seoul department store collapsing in 1995). I admit that I wasn’t expecting too much from this book when I started it, but I found myself utterly drawn to Michell’s stark commentary on truth and history. South Korea’s history is an incredibly tumultuous one that she explores in this novel, and the question that reverberates throughout this novel is who gets to tell that history.

Excavations shifted around time but was primarily set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, yet Michell provided incredible insight into how South Korea was shaped since the end of Japanese colonialism in 1945 by drawing attention to political tensions between the people and the government (as well as companies) across time, but especially in the 1980s. This novel was as much a story about Sae trying to uncover the truth about her missing husband as it was about learning what truth and justice mean to South Koreans in relation to their history. For those familiar with South Korean history, it comes as no surprise that truth has incredible power, and the fierce fight for the people to hold onto that truth is an ongoing one, and, as Michell revealed, often comes at a pricey cost. In addition to this layered exploration of truth and history, there was another theme woven into the story about motherhood. I admit that I wasn’t as interested in this aspect of the novel, though I still recognize and understand it to be a crucial part of the story; I couldn’t imagine the book without the attention Michell gave to motherhood.

The ending felt slightly rushed, in my opinion, but it wasn’t unsatisfying or anything. I will say that I felt like something was missing from this novel as I was reading it, but I honestly can’t place my finger on what that might be. Overall, though, I think the pacing and atmosphere were well done with the right amount of quiet tension carrying the reader from start to end. I’m pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.