Beasts of a Little Land is an interesting novel which encapsulates complex 20th-century Korean history. The book begins in 1917, when Korea is not a divided nation, but under brutal and oppressive Japanese rule. Times are harsh, there is a great famine following the horrors of invasion and occupation, and the people must be resourceful to survive. Korea is a land of a great many beasts, as the title suggests, but the ones that fight the hardest for their existence are its people.
The story focuses mainly on Jade, a pretty child who is sold to a Courtesan House to ensure her family’s continuing existence. She is resourceful and makes her way out of poverty and into the heady world of stage and theatre. In the House she meets the beautiful Luna and her sister, Lotus. Friendships form, ties that will last forever despite changes and the strains of adulthood. Men come and go in their lives; the revolutionary MyungBo, who is determined Korea will one day be independent; JungHo, a tough but loyal leader of a street gang; wealthy and urbane SungSoo; and hardworking rickshaw puller HanChol. All these men have enormous impact on Jade and her friends, but life and love rarely offer a smooth path. As the country reels towards independence, war and an uneasy peace, the world changes for all of them.
The characters are well drawn and believable, particularly the women, however I did occasionally find my attention drifting over the complexities of their relationships and expectations of society. I knew little of Korean history and found this element both engaging and informative. It is a fascinating insight into a time and world now long gone, and an engaging read as a result.
Reviewed by Lesley West
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juhea Kim was born in Incheon, Korea, and moved to Portland, Oregon, at age nine. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Art and Archaeology and a certificate in French. Her debut novel was Beasts of a Little Land, a finalist for the 2022 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and an Indie Bestseller.
Her writing has been published in Granta, Slice, Zyzzyva, Catapult, Times Literary Supplement, Joyland, Shenandoah, Guernica, Sierra Magazine, The Massachusetts Review, The Independent, Portland Monthly, and Dispatches from Annares anthology (Nov 2021, Forest Avenue Press). Her translation of Yi Sang Award-winning author Choi In-Ho was published in Granta.
Juhea is the founder and editor of Peaceful Dumpling, an online magazine covering sustainable lifestyle and ecological literature. She has received fellowships from Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, Regional Arts & Culture Council, and Arizona State University, where she taught a class on ecological fiction as a 2020 Desert Nights Rising Stars Fellow. She has given lectures and workshops at Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Portland Book Festival, Seoul Women’s University, Keimyung University, and more. She’s also spoken about her sustainability entrepreneurship at Princeton University, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Athleta.
She is donating a portion of the worldwide proceeds of Beasts of a Little Land to the Phoenix Fund, a Siberian tiger and Amur leopard conservation nonprofit based in Vladivostok, Russia. She serves as a goodwill ambassador for the Korean Leopard Conservation Fund.
Juhea has been an ethical vegan since the age of 19. She advocates for plant-based eating, composting, low-waste and low-plastic footprint, #adoptdontshop, and other compassionate and eco-friendly ways of living. She lives with three adorable rescue cats: Zeus, Kili (Achilles), and Ody (Odysseus).
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