curiouslykatt's Reviews (1.12k)

Feral and sticky and messy and dizzy. 

For me, another successful (in a backwards way) patio and pages selection. 

Brutes is an ode to a certain type of girl. The girls who had their first cigarette before they had breasts. The girls who learned to drink Jack & coke because that was what was bootlegged. To the troublemakers. To the girls who are more spice than sugar. To the girls who belonged to the group and could be on the fringe the very next day. To the girls who grow up too fast and too slow all in the same moment.

This is one of the more challenging books I’ve read this year, not in terms of content, but in the ability to read what is written and read what’s not written all at the same time. 

Did I understand everything in this book? Absolutely not. Which to be a 13 year old girl that makes perfect sense, when some things make no sense while being perfectly logical. 

If you’re looking for a clear plot and an easily understood story, this is not the one for you. If you’re looking for a hive of thoughts, plurals told in singularity, and a story that requires purposeful attention, read this one. 

“We would not be born out of sweetness, we were born out of rage, we felt it in our bones.”

“Our brains are made so that we can only love a cat as a cat and not as a bird or an elephant. If we want to love a cat, we want to see a cat, touch its fur, hear it purr, and get scratched if we get our petting wrong. We don't want to hear it bark, and if the cat started growing feathers, we would kill, study, and finally, exhibit it as a monster.”

What a wonderfully chaotic, cringe, and uncomfortable read. There’s a talent in making a reader laugh one moment and cringe the next, before the page is turned. I think most readers will decide within the first three pages if they can get into this novella, needing a certain level of perverse curiosity, or if they’ll bug their eyes out and say “NOPE”. 

Told in a rapid fluid monologue, our narrator is visiting Dr.Seligman and while the doctor has his head between the patient’s legs, our narrator begins a story of how they dreamt they were Hitler. What follows is our patient unburdening themselves of all the inner strifes they are carrying, frankly it reads like unfiltered anesthesia word vomit. Unhappiness in their life, body dysmorphia, fear of turning into their mother, inequality in gender norms, guilt of nationality, and the reality that having sex with a robot would make life easier. 

This is a book that explores identity. How do we determine our identity, can we change our identity, and frankly how much of our identity is determined outside of our control. 

It’s a story I loved and it had me laughing, had me questioning why I was laughing, and should I be laughing, all in one paragraph. 

It was considered too taboo to be published originally in the authors native tongue, and while it’s a book I loved and enjoyed fiercely, I don’t recommend it to many. If you do end up reading it and loving it, I like you. You little wonderful weirdo. 

“You know when you look back at your life and suddenly can't pretend anymore that you didn't know something? In some ways, I have always known that I was a barking cat.”

“I am often asked, “Which Korea do you come from? North or South?” It is a nonsensical question. The chance of me or any Korean out and about in the world being from the North is almost nil. Virtually no one gets out of North Korea.”

Suki Kim spent six months teaching the sons of the North Korea’s elite, at the university of Pyongyang University of Science & Tech. She is in the country under the guise of being a missionary and English teacher, all while collecting notes to offer a glimpse inside the strangeness that is North Korea. 

This was a fascinating read and a rare opportunity to hear stories from a different class of citizens (the sons of the elite) versus the stories of commoners which are more readily available. Typically the memoirs around North Korea are from defectors and escapees trying to flee the country. Kim takes a different approach and is actively trying to get into North Korea. 

For many, North Korea appears so backwards and it’s hard to imagine and truly grasp the claustrophobic censorship because it is not a reality we experience. There are glimpses of outside influences sneaking through the cracks, these kids know who Bill Gates is, but have never heard of Steve Jobs. A country hell bent on isolation to maintain its regime, all the while students need to learn English to be successful. They are taught to believe America is the enemy but getting American cigarettes is a status symbol. It’s a constant push and pull of conflicting duality. 

One part of the memoir that stuck with me is how the students speak and act as a collective, even from their youth there is no individuality and the rampant lying as a whole is almost encouraged. Students easily lie to cover for one another in any instance, and there is no “I” only “we”. I found this absolutely fascinating and can’t help but wonder if it’s a survival technique (think Zebra’s herding together so predators can’t isolate one out of the herd) and if lying and truth telling are one in the same when you know no difference. 

Overall a worthwhile memoir about a teacher’s time in a prison, hidden behind an academic facade and an opportunity to peek into a not quite real not quite dystopian country.