001: monsters made, not born

this is a disturbing epistolary revenge tale told from four perspectives: a mother and her two sons (jiwon, yuchan and yujae), and the main narrator, mira. the style is formal, precise and dispassionate, which is fitting for the varying degrees of iciness each character embodies, and the reasons for it.

mira first reveals the crime that led to the deaths of her mother and brother. yet, the draw of the tale is not in the mystery of the singular culprit. it is in the slow unravelling of responsibility: why and how it was allowed to happen at all and by whom.

the graphic, violent scenes work precisely because of the cold and detached tone of the novel. they are not there to merely shock or horrify. they are a means by which we are forced to consider just how inhuman a person can be.

this short read certainly leaves one with a disturbing, lingering question: what monsters might never have been made, had petty lies never been told.