Beasts of a Little Land caught my attention quickly as the author, Juhea Kim, set the mood and pace with excellent description that continued to reel me in to a story never experienced ..in a place and time that many no nothing about. Japanese occupied Korea and
its effect on the people involved was terrible. The characters lost personal rights and were forced to grow through situations never even imagined. This book will not disappoint the reader who will have lasting effects from the experience.

I am a reader who particularly enjoys historical fiction works that let me travel to periods of history and parts of the globe that I’ve never been to before. As a result, I am also a reader who often finds myself frustrated by the fact that English language-historical fiction still seems to be lopsidedly made up of works set in Europe and the United States. So I more or less leap at any reading opportunity that will let me explore a new combination of time, location, and people.

So that’s precisely what I did with Juhea Kim’s “Beasts of a Little Land,” which provided me with exactly what I wanted. I was able to get lost in a complex tale where the lives of the rich cast of characters constantly intersected with one another as their various fortunes shifted over the course of several tumultuous decades. But on top of that, I also feel like the book also told a lot of the story about Japanese-occupied Korea, which was all fresh historical territory for me. All in all, definitely a recommended read - and that goes double for readers whose appetites have been whetted by works like Min Jin Lee’s “Pachinko” and Lisa See’s “The Island of Sea Women” and are looking for even more great reading about Korea and its people’s turbulent 20th century.

This is an absolutely wonderful and engrossing story that takes place during the Korean Independence movement. There are a few main characters that intersect throughout the years, and their lives from childhood to mature adulthood create a saga that you won't be able to put down, so be prepared to stay up late into the night. It's the story of Korea, which is a very bitter one and unknown to most Americans. It traces the colonization of Korea by Japan through those cruel years and with characters from different walks of life, the reader can gain understanding of this era in history. The choices the characters make in their lives are discussion-worthy and as such, this would make an excellent book club selection for a book group focused on Asia.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I greatly enjoyed reading it.