A review by amyvl93
Concerning My Daughter by Kim Hye-Jin

challenging slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This is an interesting little book. Concerning My Daughter is a Korean novel which is narrated by an older woman who is struggling with her daughter - known as Green through the book, despite the mother resenting this nickname - living a life she doesn't recognise, as a gay politically active young woman. Green and her girlfriend Lane end up living with the mother, who also spends her days caring for the elderly as an agency care worker, meaning she is forced to grapple with both a relationship she doesn't recognise and her belief that by staying quiet and sticking to the status quo is the best way to live a happy life.

It's hard to spend time in the head of someone so deeply homophobic but who still claims to love her daughter and want the best for her, but it was a perspective that was interesting to be forced to grapple with by the author. As was the insight into the gruelling, cost saving adult care world that the narrator works within, forcing her to grapple with her impending mortality and the risk of becoming invisible and unknown as you age.

It did feel that this book didn't quite have the depth it needed to really fly in exploring the issues that it wants to - ideas are introduced and then disappear and we never really get to know any of the side characters. 

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