Wow. What a powerful book that is relatively concisely written....
It is definitely a slow burn in my opinion. Throughout the story it is still groping in the darkness what everything means and why certain things happen, but at the end of this book I still feel a form of emptiness going through me.

This literary fiction is a story about the psychological impact of stabbing issues in South Korea. For instance, the school system is described tremendously harshly in terms of how people go through it and the psychological impact this pressure can leave. It is almost unimaginable to make room in my Western little head that this pressing system is daily fare in another country. Also how certain opportunities can be quickly squandered when you cannot meet certain expectations in this school system. But this is not the main topic of the book. It is largely about being able to express homosexuality in South Korea. You immediately notice the struggle the main character (and the other characters) have to plough through throughout this story. It almost feels like a struggle you are going through yourself, only through the eyes of a fictional person. On top of that, the writing is too wonderful for words.... really waw!
Next, the story contains a lot of suspense. For instance, there are numerous plot-twists that I didn't see coming and yet were interesting enough to say they didn't come from a dead end. With that, I would like to say that each time there was enough framing in terms of explaining how a particular plot came about.

The only thing I perhaps missed a bit were more pieces on the present-day perspective. These pieces were rather short in my opinion and certainly at the end quite 'crammed'. I would have liked to read much more about the main character's contemporary life and how he dealt with certain struggles in his present. So this could easily have been more!

There are so many other topics discussed here in the book. There are just so many that I cannot list them all as a result (and thus the book would possibly miss its feel if you started reading it). Therefore, it is advisable to start reading this special story fairly blindly & try to sit in it with a lot of attention above all else! In conclusion then, this might be an ideal recommendation for those who want to read a book in honour of pride month! :)