Janet Hong
2) Lemon
Author
Publisher
Other Press
Pub. Date
[2021]
Language
English
Description
"In this piercing psychological portrait that takes the shape of a crime novel, a woman haunted by her sister's unsolved murder transforms herself in order to cope with the pain of absence and unknowing. In the summer of 2002, when Korea is abuzz over hosting the FIFA World Cup, nineteen-year-old Kim Hae-on is killed in what becomes known as the High School Beauty Murder. Two suspects quickly emerge: rich kid Shin Jeongjun, whose car Hae-on was last...
3) Dog days
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly, a client publisher of Farrar Straus & Giroux
Pub. Date
2024.
Language
English
Description
Yuna never wanted to adopt a dog. But with her partner in mourning - and in desperate need of a boost in morale - she gives in to his humble request. And in the grand tradition of reluctant pet owners, she and their puppy soon become inseparable. The young couple even goes so far as to relocate to soothe their new canine pal's anxiety. After all, there's nothing like a move to the country to set yourself right. Right? --
4) Grass
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
Pub. Date
2019.
Language
English
Description
"Grass is a powerful anti-war graphic novel, offering up firsthand the life story of a Korean girl named Okseon Lee who was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the second World War - a disputed chapter in 20th century Asian history. Beginning in Lee's childhood, Grass shows the leadup to World War II from a child's vulnerable perspective, detailing how one person experienced the Japanese occupation and the widespread suffering...
5) Bad friends
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Description
"Jinju is bad. She smokes, drinks, runs away from home, and has no qualms about making her parents worry. Her mother and sister beg her to be a better student, sister, daughter; her beleaguered father expresses his concerns with his fists. Bad Friends is set in the 1990s in a South Korea torn between tradition and Western modernity and haunted by an air of generalized gloom. Cycles of abuse abound as the characters enact violence within their power...
6) Moms
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
"Lee Soyeon, Myeong-ok, and Yeonsun are all mothers in their mid-fifties. And they've had it. Inspired by his own mom's experiences, cartoonist Yeong-shin Ma crafts a refreshingly honest and unfiltered comic about a group of women who yearn for something more meaningful than what the mediocre men they love or their abusive and power-hungry employers can provide. Despite their less-than-desirable jobs, salaries, husbands, and boyfriends, these moms...
7) The waiting
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
Pub. Date
2021.
Accelerated Reader
IL: UG - BL: 3.8 - AR Pts: 2
Language
English
Description
"Keum Suk Gendry-Kim was an adult when her mother revealed a family secret: she was separated from her sister during the Korean War. It's not an uncommon story--the peninsula was split down the 38th parallel, dividing one country into two. As many fled violence in the north, not everyone was able to make it south. Her mother's story inspired Gendry-Kim to begin interviewing her and other Koreans separated by the war; that research fueled a deeply...
8) Umma's table
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
"The joy of food and tradition brings a family together. Madang is an artist and new father who moves to a quiet home in the countryside with his wife and young baby, excited to build a new life full of hope and joy, complete with a garden and even snow. But soon reality sets in and his attention is divided between his growing happy family and his impoverished parents back in Seoul in a dingy basement apartment. With an ailing mother in and out of...
9) Artist
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
Pub. Date
2022.
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"A novelist, single, forty-four years old. A painter, divorced, forty-six years old. A musician, single, forty-two years old. On the outer limits of relevancy in an arts culture that celebrates youth, these three men make up the artist group Arcade. Caught in circular arguments about what makes real art and concerned about the vapid interests of their younger contemporaries, none of them are reaping the benefits of success. But there's always another...
10) Nineteen
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
At nineteen, the idea that you have your whole life ahead of you with endless possibilities can leave you terrifyingly stiff. Throwing mobility to the wind, you dull yourself with booze. The grown-ups around you are stunted by their own failures so they act outwith alcohol, too, sometimes with violence. What was once the hope of youth quickly spirals into powerlessness and malaise as the days trickle by. Ancco expertly renders the moment of suspension...
11) Naked tree
Author
Publisher
Drawn & Quarterly
Pub. Date
2023.
Language
English
Description
"The year is 1951. Twenty-year-old wallflower Lee Kyung ekes out a living at the US Post Exchange, where goods and services of varying stripe are available for purchase. She peddles hand-painted portraits on silk handkerchiefs to soldiers passing through. When a handsome young northern escapee and erstwhile fine artist is hired despite waning demand, an unlikely friendship blossoms into a young woman's first brush with desire against the backdrop...
Author
Pub. Date
2025
Language
English
Formats
Description
In this million-copy international bestseller from Korea, the owner of a corner store takes in an unhoused man who does a good deed, a kind soul whose presence will transform the whole neighborhood—a heartwarming tale of community and redemption reminiscent of the bestselling novels of Matt Haig and Gabrielle Zevin.
Dok-go lives in Seoul Station. He can't remember his past, and the only thing he knows for certain is
...