I have to say, this was a rollercoaster, in terms of story, in terms of learning about the history and also my feelings towards this book.
I didn't know anything about the jeju massacre, but considering how I've read Human Acts and learned from it I was open to stepping into it blind. And I feel like this book really showed the history parts in it well. I wouldn't say they were narratively explained well with Kyungha and Inseon basically just going back and forth on reading notes about it at one point, but from a perspective of "I didn't know anything about this" I definetly learned a lot from it. Hearing not only what happened there was emotional, but also the brutailty it took to exterminate all those people including children, but also the effects it had on the survivors like Inseon's mother being tortured by the thoughts of what happened. I just feel like there were some moments where conveying these stories could've been less history book and more poetic and emotional like we've seen in Human Acts. It felt like i was reading these clippings itself, but there were a lot of clippings and eventually I lost track of what was going on in the book.
The dynamic with Kyungha and Inseon is also good and sad in a way. You can see they both have yearned for a relationship like this, even if Kyungha didn't consider Inseon for her will. To be able to come together like this weird state and relive these stories and see how they grew on Incheon and also take effect on Kyungha was breathtaking and just beautifully written. I was hooked from the start and I'm happy to have finished it, seeing Kyungha be so invested in this story for Inseon. I definetly think that Kyungha actually died, together with Inseon and that they had the whole discussion of part 2 onward as spirits in the house because of how surreal but also so detailed everything was.
That being said, I still have mixed feelings. My enthusiasm definetly dropped in part 2, because it felt more and more like i was reading a non-fiction history book and less like a work of fiction. Human Acts there gripped me more in telling the historical fiction part of the story. Maybe because we were just reading clippings and notes all the time it made it less interesting to read? I don't know. In a way it really felt like I was there holding the clippings like i said but idk if I really was expecting that from this.
Idk. for the final rating I'll definetly have to let this sit for a while. not sure what to feel or think now even while writing this
especially because part 3, even though i came out of part 2 kind of dissapointed, Part 3 just made me rethink a lot of things about the book. How Inseon has seen her mother struggle and take those struggles on her own and become a whole different person from learning all about her history and the jeju massacre, it just makes the end more poetic.