Ms. Mook, currently in a care facility for Alzheimer's, recounts the eight lives she's lived as a slave, an escape artist, a murderer, a terrorist, a spy, a lover, and a mother.

Set in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea and moving back and forth in time, LIVES demonstrates the difficult choices women must make to survive during a tumultuous time in modern Korean history. Lee's lyrical writing makes LIVES a propulsive historical fiction with ample background that doesn't read info-dumpy. I loved Lee's ingenuity in connecting the 8 lives, even though the non-linearity might make it tough to follow on audiobook.

With a brilliant structure and compelling storytelling, LIVES is a gutwrenching debut about the atrocities of ndwar and the brutalities of humanity that glimmers with small moments of joy, hope, and love. We must not look away, and we must not forget.