I'm not sure what I expected this book to be.

I was left floundering early on, feeling lost in the narrative voice and not able to get a grasp on it. The first couple of viewpoints are, I think, deliberately jarring - and then they begin to settle and what feel like disparate voices become harmonious.

Some of the voices were more enjoyable/engrossing than others but all of them kept my attention and I love this kind of Tarantino-esqe mixed up chronology.

Some of this novel is painfully harrowing. I don't know loads about Korean history - aside from the very basics. But this novel is a really thoughtful and readable exploration of identity - how does it form, change, and develop? How do we use it to survive? What does language have to do with identity? How is being a part of the diaspora interact with our notions of identity? What happens to our identity when we are forcefully removed from our roots?