Beasts of a Little Land

 Tell me a story...of early 20th century Korea

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

Publication date: December 7, 2021

Date read: February 22, 2022

With Korea under Japanese control, much of the country is starving. Jade’s family sells her to a courtesan school in the city, setting her life on a course that we will follow from her training, to her successes, and finally to the horrors of war. We also follow a young beggar boy, two Korean businessmen with very different political views, and two Japanese military officers. Spanning from 1917 to the end of the Korean War, this is an epic story about destiny and love, both for individuals and for a country. 

This is a hard book to rate. It’s very well-written with some beautiful prose. The characters had a lot of depth and felt very real. Just like in real life, even the characters we were rooting for were both good and bad, and everyone went through their share of highs and lows. I also liked that the life of the courtesan was not overly glamorized in this story. It showed how success in the profession led to money and power while in their prime, but none of the courtesan characters had a typically happy life once their prime was past. 

I also loved how we got multiple points of view throughout the book, from alternating chapters. And I enjoyed how some characters interacted from the start, but some didn’t fit into each other’s lives until the end. This was a fascinating time in history to learn about and one about which I knew very little. And I thought the decision to have some chapters told from the POV of Japanese characters added to the story, and helped establish the Japanese rule of Korea as the main villain of the book. 

I’m not sure how I felt about the Epilogue - I almost wish it wasn’t there. It’s not that it’s bad, but ultimately felt to me that it belonged in a different book.

This is not a fast read. It’s about difficult topics and is a very slow burn. I don’t think there are a lot of readers I would recommend it to, although I thought it was very good. You have to have a real desire to learn about the history of this part of the world. A beautiful book, but not for everyone. 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Trigger warning: sexual assault, rape, physical assault, murder, war, mass death, violent death, torture, masterbation, mysogeny, drug addiction, necrophilia, starvation

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.