I hovered around my cheeks, the nape of my neck, clinging to these contours so as not to be parted from my body. Strangely, I found myself alone in the truck. There were the bodies, of course, but I didn't meet any others like me. They were there, perhaps, pressing close to the confines of the truck, but I couldn't see them, couldn't feel them. 'We'll meet in the next world,' people used to say. Those words are meaningless now.

I'm at a loss for words in regards to this book. I had tried reading The Vegetarian back in 2016 when it won the Man Booker International Prize, and I had loved the first part of it--then I felt bucked out of it when it moved onto the second perspective and I put it down. Looking back, I think it was just down to bad timing for me personally (a lot was going on) so I don't think this is any fault of the book itself. A few years go by...I have The Vegetarian, Human Acts and The White Book sitting on my shelves, unread, and I suddenly get the urge to pick the second book up and give it a try. I can't say exactly what drew me to this one in particular (I only realised the events depicted in the novel occurred in the month of May whilst I was reading it) but I'm so glad I did.

This book--it blew me away a little bit. I've heard some people say Deborah Smith's translation was more refined here than it was in The Vegetarian and, while I can't comment on that having not completed that book, I thought it was excellent here. I read her note on the translation beforehand and I definitely agreed with a lot of her choices, particularly in differentiating between past and present when, in certain segments, character's traumatic memories bleed into their current every day lives, and I think it would have been extremely confusing without Smith's amendments. I thought the language was gorgeous and the imagery--the second chapter was, without doubt, my absolute favourite.The contrast of the beautiful, haunting imagery slashed with violence and unspeakable horror was devastating to read and, while it made my stomach turn at points, I felt it was respectful of the events and didn't romanticise the deaths of these people...it was just wonderfully handled and I really respect Kang for that.

The stories are all skilfully interconnected; Kang builds the emotions of the reader up to a crescendo as you piece together how everyone was, in one way or another, connected and subsequently scarred by these events, from grieving mothers to fellow prisoners. I did have to refresh my memory sometimes on who everyone was but it wasn't hard to work it out and immerse myself back into the story.

I really loved this book. I'm definitely going to return to The Vegetarian sometime soon and I can't wait to see what else Han Kang writes.