February 27, 2024
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
bibliothecary graded
민정's family is cursed. In every generation, the eldest male will die before he reaches his 20th birthday. However, there is a way to prevent this from happening: when a child with yellow eyes is born, the boy can swap his destiny for that of the yellow-eyed child by exchanging their names, so he can live out a full life and the yellow-eyed child will die before they turn 20. And it just so happens that 민정 was born with yellow eyes.
민정 keeps a diary in the form of an online blog, changing people's names for anonymity. We find out her father died when she was young, and her mother recently passed away under strange circumstances. Now an orphan, she is taken in by the main family, where she lives in 유철's room. 유철 is 민정's cousin, whom she is to sacrifice her life to save, but he is currently studying abroad. Soon her aunt believes 민정's presence is bringing bad luck to the household, so she tries to kill her with a kitchen knife. 민정 is saved by a 구미호, and is taken to live with her.
The family has saved the life of the eldest son for generations thanks to a contract with this 구미호, who has the power to transfer the curse, and in return takes on the identity of the yellow-eyed child who dies. It turns out that living as a 구미호 in the modern era is rather difficult, because you need government-issued ID for everything!
So now 민정 is living with the 구미호 who is planning to inhabit her body when she dies. Her aunt tries to bring her back home by telling the teachers she's a runaway, but there's a big commotion in school with the aunt chasing her and screaming as 민정 tries to escape, which ends with the school agreeing 민정 should stay with the 구미호, who is now recognised as her guardian.
Soon 민정 learns that one of her cousins is pregnant, and the 구미호 tells her that she has the power to make this child yellow-eyed, effectively saving 민정's life. All 민정 has to do is get a drop of blood from the newborn - the child will die and the 구미호 will inhabit its body. The story ends with 민정 planning to enter the neonatal unit with a box cutter hidden up her sleeve.
Where to start with this one... I like the premise, and it started off well, but the story never really goes anywhere. I think the fact the reader is learning about what happens through blog entries takes away the urgency of the events being described. I'm not even sure why the author decided on that format since nothing in the plot depends on it; rather it detracts from what could be creepy or thrilling scenes, and 민정 tells us what she is feeling rather than the reader being shown her reactions.
There seems to be a lot of superfluous information and plot strands that go nowhere: we hear about 유철 but never see him - he seems to exist only for 민정 to be placed in her particular predicament; the reason for 민정's mothers actions which lead to her own death don't make much sense, and 민정 doesn't seem to dwell on it much or even be particularly affected by it; 민정 claims not to believe in the supernatural, yet she still searches for information about curses and by the end seems to completely accept that the curse on her family is real and she's going to die; when 민정 finds out she can save herself by sacrificing a baby, she has no qualms about doing so... There are lots more examples, which is concerning given how short a story it is. Needless to say, it just doesn't seem well-constructed.
It's also disappointing that not much attention is paid to the main character's thoughts and feelings; her diary is basically a description of things that happen to her, with little reflection of how they affect her emotionally. I think the end in particular presents a great opportunity for introspection given the moral dilemma she finds herself in, but it's completely glossed over.
I think the author relies on the shock factor to keep the reader interested: 민정's mother trying to kill her, then dying herself; the threat of the curse hanging over 민정, never knowing when her life will be over (although she doesn't express much concern about it); 민정's aunt chasing her with a kitchen knife, determined to kill her; the 구미호 appearing late at night in a white 한복, asking for her name; the death of a baby being 민정's salvation. It's unfortunate, as it could have been so much better if the plot were more focused and 민정 given more depth.
I really wanted to like this story, but unfortuantely there was just too much wrong with it: the author has never heard of "show, don't tell", characters lack depth, interesting aspects of the story are ignored (I would have loved to see more of the relationship between 민정 and 유철, the tension knowing one of them had to die for the other to live would have been great to see played out) in favour of overly dramatic scenes (the writer really likes the idea of people being stabbed, I guess)...
Language-wise, the vocabulary is on the easier side, and on the whole the grammar is straightforward. However, the whole story is written in 반말, which is a little unusual and may up the difficulty if you're not used to it.
Overall, there are interesting ideas that are never really fleshed out; I wouldn't recommend it, as it is a bit of a disappointment.