In the fast-paced, high-urban landscape of Seoul, C and K are brothers who have fallen in love with the same woman—Se-yeon—who tears at both of them as they all try desperately to find real connection in an atomized world. A spectral, nameless narrator haunts the edges of their lives as he tells of his work helping the lost and hurting find escape through suicide. Dreamlike and beautiful, the South Korea brought forth in this novel is cinematic in its urgency and its reflection of contemporary life everywhere—far beyond the boundaries of the Korean peninsula. Recalling the emotional tension of Milan Kundera and the existential anguish of Bret Easton Ellis, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself achieves its author’s greatest wish—to show Korean literature as part of an international tradition. Young-ha Kim is a young master, the leading literary voice of his generation.
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I Have The Right To Destroy Myself (Harvest Original)
By Young-ha Kim
In the fast-paced, high-urban landscape of Seoul, C and K are brothers who have fallen in love with the same woman—Se-yeon—who tears at both of them as they all try desperately to find real connection in an atomized world. A spectral, nameless narrator haunts the edges of their lives as he tells of his work helping the lost and hurting find escape through suicide. Dreamlike and beautiful, the South Korea brought forth in this novel is cinematic in its urgency and its reflection of contemporary life everywhere—far beyond the boundaries of the Korean peninsula. Recalling the emotional tension of Milan Kundera and the existential anguish of Bret Easton Ellis, I Have the Right to Destroy Myself achieves its author’s greatest wish—to show Korean literature as part of an international tradition. Young-ha Kim is a young master, the leading literary voice of his generation.
Popular Reviews(1)
Reviewed by ken<i>I Have the Right to Destroy Myself</i> starts off with a presentation of Gustave Klimt's <i>Judith and the Head of Holofernes</i> which immediately sets the theme of seduction. In some ways, the imagery used in the text makes me leery about the overall depiction of women because I can see the virgin/whore dichotomy a mile away. Or, if not that, the sentiment that women are present in order to create emotional anguish for C and K. It's a quick read which didn't give me enough time to not like it, but the male characters (all three of them) are so realistic in their pretentiousness while the two female characters are either depicted as cold, seductive, and/or uncaring. Which is great. But in the confined space of this text, seems too much of a stretch.