I received a free copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not even really sure what I just read but I didn't particularly enjoy it. This is a novel about every day life in South Korea in the early 2000's. It's told from 3 perspectives: 2 naive students from the US who are there to teach english, a self-hating Korean ex-music exec who is divorced and does not have custody of his child, and finally a frustrated and moderately angry teenager from Korea. All 2 work at the school in some capacity and flit in and out of one another's lives.
There's not much connection to the characters and the story line isn't really all that compelling. There were definite themes of racism, oppression, and failed family relationships. I got the overwhelming sense in reading it that Korean people greatly dislike white people since it was so blatantly discussed in every chapter and that women's roles are very, very different from that of Western society; in a nutshell, life is very different from East to West.
I was really hoping to enjoy this read but it wasn't for me. I wouldn't recommend.

The premise of this book was interesting, but the writing fell short. The story is told through three characters in South Korea during the 2002 World Cup. A terrible accident causes a rise in anti-American sentiments. The three stories are somewhat connected, but it still feels disjointed. Overall this is a quick read but I wish there was more development to the characters and the story.

Jamie Zerndt spent a year teaching English in South Korea in 2002, during which time he became aware of the Yangju Highway Incident in which two Korean girls were killed in an accident involving an American tank, and both of those led to the writing of The Korean Word for Butterfly.

Zerndt’s novel presents us with three main characters: Billie, a young American newly arrived in Korea to teach at an English language institute called “Kids, Inc!” along with her boyfriend; Yun-ji, a young Korean woman who works as a secretary at the institute; and Moon, who used to work as a music producer, and who now works at Kids, Inc! The narrative shifts back and forth among the three characters, intending to give us different perspectives or points of view.

Much of the writing consists of a series of short sentences, without much variation. Perhaps the intention was spare prose, but the result is a lack of rhythm in the writing.

There are also issues with the use of Korean in the text – most notably when Yun-ji sends a message to Shaun, the American she’s met by chance while out for a walk with a friend – sending the words for Korean numerals for her phone number, and telling him if he can figure out what they are he can text her. The problem, though, is the words used are for the Native Korean numbering system, whereas for telephone numbers Yun-ji would have used the Sino-Korean numbering system. As well, Zerndt doesn’t apply standard Romanizations for Korean words, so, to use one example, Moon refers to his son’s grandmother as “hal-mu-nee”, when the more accepted Romanization is “halmeoni”. And there are mistakes in the Korean used by the Koreans in the story: Zerndt consistently writes “Megook” for “American”, where it would be more correct to use “migugin”. One might think that’s trivial, but it’s these sorts of details that make or break the believability of the story being told. And that’s one of the problems with independent publishing platforms – no matter how interesting the subject matter, it needs the attention of a good editor to ensure that the writing is as polished as it can be, and that small details are attended to and corrected when necessary in order to make the writing more believable and grounded. It’s not just Korean, though – Moon recalls a CD he’s been given by a band called The Feelings – I couldn’t help wonder if this was just a coincidence, or if Zerndt had meant to reference the English band The Feeling (without the “s”). It may seem that I’m being incredibly picky, but as a reader, these moments – where I have niggling doubts about what I’m reading – pull me out of the story Zerndt is trying to tell.

And all of this is a shame, because there are moments in the book when I was truly engaged – I loved the backdrop of the 2002 World Cup – I was living in France at the time, and fully invested in World Cup fever. I fell in love with the energy of the South Korean team, and even developed a crush on Ahn Jung-hwan (who is mentioned in the book – albeit with his name misspelled). The mix of football, K-pop, language tutors heading to Korea to teach – all of this is timely and could potentially make for an interesting setting for a story about contemporary Korea. Martin Limón’s series of novels featuring investigators Sueño and Bascom have shown that you can look at South Korea of the 1970s and explore the American presence on the Korean peninsula as well as give a reasonably accurate reflection of that period in South Korean history and culture. It would be intriguing, I think, in an era in which many foreigners head to South Korea to teach English, for example, and where there remains an American military presence (albeit much reduced), and where K-pop has become an international phenomenon – to tell the stories that happen when these worlds collide. The Korean Word for Butterfly, though it may have been written with the best of intentions, is, sadly, not the place to find those stories.

First of all, I am grateful to receive a copy of the book, The Korean Word For Butterfly by Jamies Zerndt. It has been a very beautiful experience as I paged through the book, losing myself in the world created by the author.

The book is written in different perspectives. It focussed more on the cross-cultural sentiments of the immigrants and the natives of South Korea rather than a plot. We all come across different people daily, little do we realize what is happening in their lives or what their perspectives on life are? This book also focuses on how we question the tough decisions we take in our lives, how it influences others and how important it is to make the right decisions.
One unique feature of the book which fascinated me was the availability of Korean vocabulary and the beautiful description of the words "snowflakes" and "snowball".

# net galley# The Korean word for butterfly#

I really enjoyed this book! I liked following the three different perspectives and the way that parenthood (or the prospect of it) affected them all differently. I especially liked Moon and the depth of his character in having overcome his demons and committed to wholeheartedly being there for his son. As someone who felt she had no options at age 23 and sadly chose abortion, I loved that the author did not gloss over Billy’s feelings surrounding this life-altering event; even 23 years later, I live with the “what ifs “ almost daily.
The conflict between Koreans and Americans was quite interesting,especially given that the main characters were invited to come to Korea from America.
This was an intertwining and well-written book that I would highly recommend.

The three characters in this book are connected via a central theme and all have their unique strengths and flaws. Each also had moments of being selfish. This was definitely a book that made me think.