Review: Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur

Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not really sure how to rate this book.  There were parts I really liked and parts I didn't.  This probably falls somewhere between a 2.5 and 3 stars for me.  It is well written, has a unique storyline, and interesting characters.  

I love mythology and folklore.  I wasn't very familiar with Korean folklore before, but after reading this I feel like I need to investigate the subject more.  I also love learning about cultures different than my own.  I feel reading own voices books such as this one is a good way to do so.  I was fully immersed in the parts of the story surrounding the folklore and mythology aspect of the story.  Elsa's journey into learning about her mom, her Korean heritage, the magical realism, and the folklore of her ancestors was great.  Unfortunately the writing style didn't work for me.  I spent most of the book being completely confused about what was happening and felt like I was reading several different books at once.  I'm not a fan of stream of consciousness writing, it doesn't work for me personally, though I know some readers love it.  I find it confusing to follow the plot because even though everything is connected, they aren't organized and I find it very hard to follow and connect to the story and the characters.  I constantly feel like I missed something because the subject would dart from one thing to the next.  

This hits on many social justice issues that are timely with social media bringing to light the crimes against those of Asian decent.  The main character gives the impression that she is very anti-white and anti anyone not Korean, as she has experienced racism, prejudice, and bigotry her entire life.  She is going through a discovery and acceptance phase after the death of her mother and part of her journey is to come to terms with her past, her family's past, and who she is not only as a Korean American but as Elsa Park the person.  This also speaks to mental health issues.  I'm not sure I care for the way mental health was portrayed in this book, however it does show what can be the very real and ugly side to living with mental health and perhaps these were written from first hand experience or accounts in the author's life.  If that is the case, then my opinion on the matter doesn't really count.  The author states on her goodreads page that this book is her spiritual debut, and I feel like she accomplished that.  I'm not sure which of her own experiences are on the page, but you can feel the emotion coming through and the care she took with the telling of the story.  She is very blunt about various traumas in this book.  That is either going to really appeal to you or it is not.  There are many heavy and uncomfortable moments in the book.

If you enjoy genre bending stories written in the stream of consciousness style give this one a go.  This is well written and the own voices aspect and folklore is well done.  Being that I don't care for the stream of consciousness style of writing, it made it really hard for me to get through this and connect with the book, but that is a me issue not necessarily an issue with the book itself.  While I may not have loved it, I do think many people will enjoy this.  I think we need more books like this out there.

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