sadiaa's reviews
177 reviews

It took a while to get into it but then I was hooked. This book shows the perspective of different ordinary people during the brutal gwanju uprising and massacre and we follow these people and see how their stories all converge. The book describes cruel and indifferent treatment by the soldiers and the fear and determination of the primary student protesters. This book could not be more important during a time like this, following the recent attempts by the south Korean president to enact martial law and the conflict in countries like Gaza and Ukraine. This is not a long book, but it is an important book.
Recommended by jack edwards

This story follows a new trend of fiction, particularly thriller/crime fiction, with an elderly protagonist. 
We follow Maggie Burkhardt at the Royal Karnak, someone who takes it upon herself to meddle in the lives of other hotel guests in the aim of freeing them from their doomed relationships. We are introduced to Otto, a boy who finds out about her secret role. 
Maggie is the protagonist and through her narration we come to dislike and despise Otto, as we watch the escalation in their revenges it reaches a climax and lives are ruined. Maggie is an unreliable narrator as we find out, but I am someone who dislikes abrupt and ambiguous endings so I wish it was more clearer. Ultimately Otto is evil and I hate him, also his mother and Zacks constant excuse and inability to see ottos disturbing behaviour was infuriating. 
I enjoyed the story but it did take a while to get into the story and there were some parts where it did drag and nothing much happened, but it was interesting and I liked it.

Also this book is set during the COVID lockdown so there is a lot of mention of it which was jarring, it's not something I want to read so be warned

Very 'silence of the lamb'