Name: Beasts of a Little Land
Rating: 3.992857142857143 (35 reviews)
ISBN: 9780861543229

Juhea Kim

An expansive epic spanning the turbulent decades of Korea's fight for independence, perfect for fans of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko

Beasts of a Little Land

Lindsay

🌙

Laura Mei

Everyone dreams, but only some people are dreamers. The non-dreamers, by far more numerous, are those who see the world as it is. Then there are the few dreamers, who see the world as 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 are. The moon, the river, the train station, the sound of rain, and even something as mundane as porridge become something else with many layers. The world feels like an oil painting rather than a photograph, and the dreamers are forever seeing hidden colors where others just see the top shade. The non-dreamers look through glasses, and the dreamers through a prism.

The meaning of old age was that all the bliss in one's life must now be found looking backward, not forward.

Life is only bearable because time makes you forget everything. But life is worthwhile because love makes you remember everything ✨️

maddie

Rice, tigers, and women -- that's what Joseon is good for.

Nothing could change without force in the face of such inhumanity.

The Americans' doors remained closed. Their show of solidarity seemed to have been just that -- a show.

How such enormous beasts have flourished in this little land is incomprehensible.

Life is only bearable because time makes you forget everything. But life is worthwhile because love makes you remember everything.

words, memories, gestures, meaningless objects that became tokens and then turn back into meaningless objects

An epic story of love, war, and redemption set against the backdrop of the Korean independence movement, following the intertwined fates of a young girl sold to a courtesan school and the penniless son of a hunter In 1917, deep in the snowy mountains of occupied Korea, an impoverished local hunter on the brink of starvation saves a young Japanese officer from an attacking tiger. In an instant, their fates are connected--and from this encounter unfolds a saga that spans half a century. In the aftermath, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver's courtesan school, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social status. When she befriends an orphan boy named JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets of Seoul, they form a deep friendship. As they come of age, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence, and Jade becomes a sought-after performer with a new romantic prospect of noble birth. Soon Jade must decide whether she will risk everything for the one who would do the same for her. From the perfumed chambers of a courtesan school in Pyongyang to the glamorous cafes of a modernizing Seoul and the boreal forests of Manchuria, where battles rage, Juhea Kim's unforgettable characters forge their own destinies as they wager their nation's. Immersive and elegant, Beasts of a Little Land unveils a world where friends become enemies, enemies become saviors, heroes are persecuted, and beasts take many shapes.

A Novel

A pleasant surprise, worth checking out. It’s a tragic story, just be aware lol

Amira BEN

Eva Ströberg

This book reminds me of Pachinko in many ways, the way Korea was under japan occupation between 1910-1945, and I enjoyed reading this kind of historical fiction immensely, but I felt (compared to Pachinko that was several cm thicker), there was so much things missing out.

Jade, Lotus and Luna were little girls living in northern part of Korea (North Korea) in the 1910s and both were courtesans-in-training. Jade was sent by her mother to be a cleaning lady but ended up befriending Lotus and Luna who were the madam's daughter.

They were sent later to Seoul to a cousin's place who was also a courtesan, to escape the brutality of the Japanese soldiers in the area, especially after what happened to Luna. Life was hard back in the country side, but the city (Seoul) had its own challenges and as they grew older, they went to have separate lives while connected to other characters who were also from the northern part.

It's a story about longing, about what the Korea could have been if Japan didn't came, if World War 2 never happened, about how lives changed according to fate. It's quite an interesting read.

mala

gasps, one book feels like a whole journey. almost like we live along with the characters throughout the book. it is about the korean independence movement, and how the people cope with their own way, surrounded by both comfort and tragedy. also learned for the first time about the concept of 인연 inyeon (fate) and my life never been the same—i'm such a sucker for fate or destiny theme now

altlovesbooks

This is a complex book with a complex cast of characters. Ostensibly this book follows Jade, a girl born to poverty who finds her way to a life of riches and fame, and JungHo, a street urchin who has a fated run-in with Jade and the two become fast friends. Together, then apart, then together again, the two cross and re-cross paths repeatedly throughout this complex story taking place during the Korean independence movement in the early 1900s. 

There's a good story here for someone, unfortunately I never found it. The cast of characters is large and unwieldy, and even though each character's story is woven into the larger story of Jade and JungHo in some way, it was still hard for me to keep track of what was going on and who was who sometimes. I also never really connected with the story, such as it was. To me, the story felt like it was moving at a glacial speed, with large stretches where nothing really happens. I know lots of people love books where the pace is a little slower so they have time to get to know and understand the characters, but it felt extremely slow for my tastes.

I think if you like books paced like Pachinko, you'll like this one. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review.

Anyaconda

An enjoyable read altogether. I like to learn history while reading and the novel certainly managed that, but the dialogue and characters suffered in return. I never rooted for the main characters and it all felt really distant to me. Sexual assault scenes and other highly emotional situations were told too matter of fact for my liking.

If you enjoyed The Exiles, The Island of Sea Women or Pachinko, you might want to check this out.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ivy X

4.7 because some parts were long-winded but rounding up bc this book left a haunting impression on me. It's almost 2 AM, and I'm still thinking about the story and the characters & listening to a podcast featuring the author. 

I love how the author tied everything together. 
As a sucker for xianxia/wuxia dramas, I am not foreign to the concept of "inyeon." The idea of preordained destinies is common in Asian cultures --highlighting how we are all connected and how we all impact one another (almost by fate). This book left me in tears, and it felt befitting to read this book side-by-side with Sharon--someone I would consider to be one of the great inyeons of my life. 

This story encapsulates what it means to live, love, and die.
With a gorgeous cover and a heartwrenching plot, this is a book I will remember for years to come. 

And one final thought--JungHo deserves better. 

 Some Quotes (I tabbed the rest)  
- Soldiers on opposing sides are much more alike than different, often resembling one another more closely than they do their respective civilians. 

-It's an uncanny thing--inyeon. If it's not meant to be, you can't hold on to people no matter how hard you try. Some people you love deeply will turn into a stranger in an instant, if the inyeon has run its course. And sometimes people will be attached to you forever despite all likelihood. 

- Love happens all at once, and also in stages.

-JungHo stared at the smooth green pebble and felt all the ways people keep each other in their lives through material and immaterial means -- words, memories, gestures, meaningless objects that became tokens and then turn back into meaningless objects--resting snugly in the palm of his hand. 

-"I always loved looking at the sky, ever since I was little. So blue things just catch my eye -- whether it's a tie, or a woman's dress. The way I kept noticing you, loving you, it's because you're my blue." 

-Jade saw before her eyes their life together: JungHo shouting at her to jump from the tree so he could catch her; flying out of her house to find a midwife for Luna; holding hands with her the night the war began; standing at the gates with sacks of food when all hope seemed to be lost, so much so that sometimes it felt like all she needed to do to summon him was look at the door. 

-"I said to you once that no one would care if I died. Remember how you said you would?" 

-"....One day you're going to realize the sun isn't shining inside you anymore and you'll know I no longer think of you." 

-"Don't trust anyone, don't suffer unnecessarily, see the truth behind what people say, and always find a way to survive. That's my advice." 

-"I like beginnings, Jade. Remember the beginning of our lives together?" she said, and Jade reached over and patted her shoulder. "That was such a wonderful time, but all we wanted to do was grow up as quickly as possible."

-The meaning of old age was that all the bliss in one's life must now be found looking backward, not forward. 

-Death was such a small price to pay for life. 

-"Oh, confidence isn't something you're born with. If you have it from the beginning, it means you're a fool"....

-JungHo looked into Jade's eyes, her only feature that still looked the same as when they were both young. He ached to discover that even inside the hourglass there was something untouched by time. 

-"...Because Jade, everything is inyeon in this world. It's true what they say, even brushing the hem of one's coat on the streets is inyeon. But the most important inyeon of all is that between husband and wife. That's what I regret...that I didn't get to be with you." 

-"If I were to come back in another life, I would find you and marry you. Even if I don't come back, and I'm stuck somewhere in the eternal twilight...or heaven or hell...I will float around, looking for you." JungHo laughed quietly. 

-"...If I could go back, I would give you all the jewels in the world..." he said, looking away behind her ear so that he wouldn't cry, so he wouldn't burden her with his tears. 

-He was remembering at that moment the parade of courtesans, many years ago now. It was almost at the same spot he'd fallen for the beautiful young girl who threw a flower at his face -- the first time he saw Jade. He had the delirious sensation that he'd been walking this road all this time; and all this time, she was there to meet him. 
....... He began to walk again, one footstep at a time, toward wherever the road ended. 

-What I can still see with great clarity are only the beautiful parts. 

-Life is only bearable because time makes you forget everything. But life is worthwhile because love makes you remember everything.

Trish

❝ I tried to get rid of her but her soul clung to me by a thread. It’s an uncanny thing—inyeon. If it’s not meant to be, you can’t hold on to people no matter how hard you try. Some people you love deeply will turn into a stranger in an instant, if the inyeon has run its course. And sometimes people will be attached to you forever despite all likelihood. 

——

❝ Jungho didn’t understand much of what was said, but he saw around him the rapturous faces, many wet with tears, and was surprised by the hotness welling up in his own eyes. […] What he now understood was that the world was a desperately dark place, not just for his family and for the beggar boys, but for everyone standing there. Their shared pain reverberated through his body like a common heartbeat. 

——

— Do you love me?
— Yes, I love you. I really do. 
— Why? Since when?
— Why? Because you were you, standing there, and I was also standing there… It’s that simple and that complicated. But it couldn’t have been otherwise.

——

❝ Everyone dreams, but only some people are dreamers. 

——

❝ Death was such a small price to pay for life. 

——

❝ There are just two things in the world that give you true confidence. One is overcoming difficulties on your own, and the other is being deeply loved. If you experience both, then you will be confident for the rest of your life. 

—— 

❝ Life is only bearable because time makes you forget everything. But life is worthwhile because love makes you remember everything. 

——

There is a Korean idiom that (roughly translated) says: even if two people, in passing each other, only brush their coat collars, it is karma. 

This idea is the heart of Beasts and 인연 inyeon — human thread — the belief that “connections and encounters between people are preordained,” is the driving force. 

What results is an epic saga in which every encounter between two people is meaningful and significant, eventually revealing its true purpose in shaping the characters’ lives.

Beasts is a dazzling and captivating novel that had my heart in its grip from the prologue all the way to the last page of the epilogue. I absolutely loved it. 🐅

——————

Midway Impressions:

I’m a visual reader - the kind that casts the characters and watches the plot play out like a movie in my head as I read - and this book is a cinematic experience. 

From the very beginning, I was drawn in by the dramatic and captivating encounter between a Korean hunter, a Japanese military group and a tiger in the dark, snowy mountains. 

And though the prologue itself sounds like a climactic episode, it aptly sets the tone and foundation for the political, societal and romantic tensions that follow in the rest of the novel. 

Something I particularly noticed (and appreciate) is how Kim shows us her characters’ vulnerabilities soon after we meet them. Within a few pages, I feel like I know a character’s central motivations, flaws and virtues. This is significant because as I turn each page and begin new chapters, I’m constantly afraid of what fate might have in store for these people I’ve grown to care for — an attachment and feeling that was distinctly lacking when I read Pachinko. Whether I’ve known a character for a few pages or a hundred, Beasts makes me feel like any character’s death would be a great injustice. 

If you loved Pachinko, get this book. If, like me, you found Pachinko lacking in certain qualities but still crave Korean historical fiction, GET THIS BOOK ASAP. The legends, dialogues, social etiquettes and nuances that Kim describes highlight Korean culture and mannerisms in a beautiful and subtle way. It’s the little things like hearts “fluttering” and not pouring one’s own soju when with company that makes this book so incredibly immersive.

Christine Bruce

** spoiler alert **
           
A saga about life under Japanese rule and the decades that followed from the view of a giseng (Korean courtesan/entertainer), a gang member/profiteer, and a rickshaw driver. How their lives intersected, how their lives and those close to them were affected by the Japanese, WWII, and the after effects of the Korean War with the political scapegoating and corruption. 

Here’s the thing about this book. There is not a single man in this entire book worth skin he’s in. MAYBE the dad in the prequel but lord have mercy did every single one of the rest of them suck. The worst is I’m not entirely sure that takeaway was intentional. I could speak AT LENGTH about how the women in this book were constantly excusing, allowing, and suffering because of the men in their lives (in their lives intentionally or not from their perspective). But at the end of the day, so much of the story was glossed over I don’t know if I’d have enough material. (That’s hyperbole. I would)

Despite being a hefty 406 pages, the sheer number of glossed over years gave me whiplash. At one point a character marries his best friends daughter (??) and this note is only briefly mentioned after the main character having not seen him in something like 15 years? Another character marries his bosses daughter who’d previously been mentioned as being a small child when her future husband first got the job (after breaking up with the main character because she couldn’t grant him upward mobility. But that’s totally fine apparently) 

Is it a great view into life at multiple stages during occupation? Yes. But it’s not so clear a picture after the war. It zooms though almost 30 years in the final few chapters despite all the build up previously. It paints a grand tale only to cut it up at the end and paste everything together in a way neither satisfying nor fitting. And having read it so soon after Pachinko (a similar setting with similar passage of time) did not help as it paled in comparison. 

Tw for graphic and mild depictions of r*pe, violence, drug addiction, and racism 

💭 
6/10
Men ain’t shit
Glamorous historical details
Japan ain’t shit
Graphic historical details

anxiouspixie

This book is so beautifully written. There are numerous characters that are so believable and so well written. Honestly the best book I have read in a long time. Highly recommend.

Maisie Smith

was a little too confusing for me cuz i kept forgetting plot lines and i was having a hard time following timelines.

Lauren B

This book is a masterpiece. It’s a wonderful story of resilience and inner strength through the darkest of times. The characters are all so well-developped and endearing that I grew attached to all of them and was emotionally involved from start to finish. This books is a must-read for anyone interested in Korea, its history and the people caught up in it.

Lala's Little Lab on Instagram

i absolutely LOVE this book. i felt like i was watching the characters grow up, and the author really shows the complexity of life and the relationships we have. it’s been a while since i’ve read anything like this and this one will stay with me for a while :’) 

also, there are some trigger warnings to be had here so just be sure to look those up in advance! 

A Recommended Read according to Harper's Bazaar, USA Today, GoodReads, BuzzFeed, LitHub, Fortune, Kirkus Reviews, BookRiot, The Everygirl, Buzz Books 'A spectacular debut filled with great characters and heart.' Lisa See, author of The Island of Sea Women An expansive epic spanning the turbulent decades of Korea's fight for independence, perfect for fans of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko Beasts take many shapes... It is 1917, and Korea is yet to be divided into north and south. With the threat of famine looming, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver's courtesan school in cosmopolitan Pyongyang, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social status. But the city's days as a haven are numbered. The Japanese invasion is coming. Jade flees to Seoul where she forms a deep friendship with an orphan boy called JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets. As Jade becomes a sought-after performer with unexpected romantic prospects, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence. Soon Jade must decide between following her own ambitions, or risking everything for the one she loves. From the perfumed chambers of the courtesan school to the glamorous cafes of a modernising Seoul, the unforgettable characters of Beasts of a Little Land unveil a world where friends become enemies and enemies become saviours, where heroes are persecuted and beasts take many shapes.

Sandy

This is one of those books that have a quiet, constant presence in your life. Now that it's over, I feel a little bit lost, like a good friend you notice the most after they left.

Rina

An epic story of war, poverty, and brutality. I loved reading about Korea in 1917-1965, it's not something I'm particularly familiar with and how it was depicted here was great. The characters, writing, plot, were all well crafted, well written; the author very clearly chose not to shy away from the themes and it swept me away.

Reading this was a slow journey for me even if the writing was far from bad and the historical backdrop was interesting. I haven’t read a lot of books set in Korea, much less in the era this book covers. I don’t know, it took me awhile to feel for any of the main characters. They started as children and I gradually felt for them as they grew older. There were scenes in the book that made me feel so iffy, but considering the subject matter and the characters whose eyes we see through, it’s not surprising to me. All characters’ motivations were clear or were made clear eventually which I appreciated, it gave them more depth and made them more realistic. I just wish the povs of the older men weren’t included. They weren’t exactly good people and I found their chapters dull, but that may also be because there wasn’t a single fiber in my being interested in them; I couldn't bring myself to care. They had nothing against the women in this book who were infinitely better.

What I didn’t much like about this were the romantic relationships. I didn’t root for any of them and much preferred there was none of it; I didn’t expect these to play quite a big part in the story and most were not believable, except maybe that of JungHo’s. 

Anyway this was a good read! Hovering between a 3 and a 4 really. I felt a bit disconnected and held at arm’s length. 

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

Beasts of a Little Land

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