Lemon - Outside of a Dog

176 pages

English language

Published Nov. 24, 2022 by Head of Zeus.

ISBN:: 978-1-80024-149-7

In the summer of 2002, Kim Hae-on was killed in what became known as the High School Beauty Murder. There were two suspects: Shin Jeongjun, who had a rock-solid alibi, and Han Manu, to whom no evidence could be pinned. The case went cold.

Seventeen years pass without justice, and the grief and uncertainty take a cruel toll on her younger sister, Da-on, in particular. Unable to move on with her life, Da-on tries in her own twisted way to recover some of what she's lost, ultimately setting out to find the truth of what happened.

Shifting between the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on's classmates, Lemon ostensibly takes the shape of a crime novel. But identifying the perpetrator is not the main objective here: Kwon Yeo-sun uses this well-worn form to craft a searing, timely exploration of privilege, jealousy, trauma, and how we live with the …

In the summer of 2002, Kim Hae-on was killed in what became known as the High School Beauty Murder. There were two suspects: Shin Jeongjun, who had a rock-solid alibi, and Han Manu, to whom no evidence could be pinned. The case went cold.

Seventeen years pass without justice, and the grief and uncertainty take a cruel toll on her younger sister, Da-on, in particular. Unable to move on with her life, Da-on tries in her own twisted way to recover some of what she's lost, ultimately setting out to find the truth of what happened.

Shifting between the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on's classmates, Lemon ostensibly takes the shape of a crime novel. But identifying the perpetrator is not the main objective here: Kwon Yeo-sun uses this well-worn form to craft a searing, timely exploration of privilege, jealousy, trauma, and how we live with the wrongs we have endured and inflicted in turn.

6 editions

Elska Bee reviewed Lemon by Janet Hong

Review of 'Lemon' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I don't think it was until the very end of this short book that I got what I was truly reading about. Don't let the synopsis misguide, this is primarily literary fiction and is about grief and tragedy rather than crime and mystery. For a book so focused on death and loss, it's ultimately bittersweetly hopeful with its emphasis on human connection and continuing to move forward in life.

The complexities of the crime aspect are fascinating at first but quickly become a backdrop to brief but powerful insights into the lives of the character's touched by the tragic death.