smalltimereads

(I received an advanced reader's copy of Folklorn through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur is published by Erewhon Books and will be available 27 April 2021.

I finished Folklorn this morning and gave myself all day to think about it, to better write this review. Having had all day, I still don't think I can do this book justice, but I'm going to try my best.

First: the cover is beautiful. Second: I love the title.

Most importantly: Folklorn is beautiful, messy, and complicated. It's about stories- their iterations and variations; the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell other people; stories we tell at one point in our life versus another; folktales and history; translations and into what language and by who and why. It's about family. It's about finding a place in the world. Narrowing the scope a bit, Folklorn is about being a Korean-American child of immigrants, and it's about messy relationships with family, and it's about transracial adoption, and it's about being Korean in Sweden.

Most specifically, Folklorn is about Elsa Park, who is just as messy and complicated and wonderful as the book. I'm sure there's a cool physics concept for a smaller piece reflecting a larger concept and the two mirroring each other. Folklorn does that, as well. There were so many times I winced reading Elsa's reaction to certain statements and certain events- it hurt, it was messy, how was she going to come back from this? The other characters all had a weight about them that was wonderful to read, even if (especially because?) the characters were not wonderful themselves. Their experiences shaped them, and life did not leave anyone unscathed.

I cannot speak to the "authenticness" of the book, and I'm not sure I'd want to anyway, the concept of authenticity often being a double-edged sword. What I can say is that the book felt authentic to itself, which is vital.

Folklorn is beautiful, and I can't wait to read it again when it comes out.