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Grace M. Cho's account of her mother's struggle with mental illness, tied into their experiences dealing with the aftermath of the Korean War, is a book that I think will stay with me for a long time. As my experience of Korea has been at a distance, voluntary, and pleasant, reading about her experiences, which were immediate, involuntary, and often extremely unpleasant, brought up a lot of feelings. I wish the world was better than it is. I wish that people were better than they are. Sometimes being an aware person is tough, and this is one of those times for me.

Historical fiction. Interesting historical research underpinning a story about the London river police (who knew?) and various nefarious goings on among the high and mighty set at the turn of the nineteenth century. Likeable main character and supporters. The villains are ... villainous; the plot, at times, is stretched a bit thin.

Interesting historical research underpinning a story of the London river police (who knew?) and various nefarious goings on among the high and mighty at the turn of the nineteenth century. Likeable main character and supporters. The villains are ... villainous, the plot, at times, is stretched a bit thin.

In the modern storyline, sometimes the dialogue seemed to go from one heartfelt, poetic and insightful conversation to another - which sometimes worked really well, but other times seemed a bit improbable for the young protagonist. I really liked switching between the two storylines, and as I'm not very familiar with the places where it takes place, I was also switching between the book and Wikipedia throughout :)

Honestly this book simply fits into a genre I didn't know I loved, but I do and oh so much. The flow of the writing as thoughts through a person's mind gave us the intimacy with a character as well as an attachment to the characters as if we were them. Absolutely loved it and looking forward to reading more of Woolf's books.