The Good Son

Yu-jin wakes up, the evening before a muddled blur perhaps due to his refusal to take his anti-seizure medication, and he's covered in blood. It doesn't take long as he retraces the bloody path leading from his room to discover his mother dead, her throat slit with the very razor he now holds. We follow along as Yu-jin tries to piece together what happened. It seems hard to imagine any plausible scenario where Yu-jin isn't in fact the murderer so I'm excited to see how Jeong You-jeong plans on resolving the scenario she's set out for us here.

It's a quick read that slowly metes out information and fills in the blanks. Saying anything more would diminish the surprise so I won't go into more detail. The translation felt a little wooden at times and I found myself yelling at the ending in the same way you can't help but object to the girl in the horror movie exploring the darkened basement to investigate a strange sound. A great, straight ahead thriller novella that didn't quite stick the landing as much as I'd hoped.

I can see how this story would strike a particular chord in South Korea where mothers give up so much of themselves for the sake of their children. South Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD member nations. Every year there is a rash of academic suicides when children fail their university admissions. That comes with an uptick in maternal suicides as mothers feel the brunt of responsibility and shame of their children failing. It is that degree of parental responsibility that might propel this particular story in South Korea and create an added dimension of visceral empathy.

Just saying.