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The Curse of Kim’s Daughters

Author:
Translated by:
Publisher: , 2005
Link to online store *

Songsu Kim is orphaned when his father runs away from home and her mother takes poison. Raised by his uncle, he inherits the family pharmacy and later invests in a small fishing fleet. He marries Punshi of his uncle’s choosing and has five daughters, but curse is the undercurrent of their lives – the eldest daughter by an allegation of baby murder; the second daughter by a failed love affair; the third by insanity resulting from her shameless pursuit of personal happiness; and the fourth by a grave misfortune at sea. Intriguing and engaging, The Curse of Kim’s Daughters takes a fascinating look at the vast evolution of the Korean society in the first half of the 20th century.

LKL says:

I  ground to a halt 60 pages in to this 300-page novel, and will not bother picking it up again. Far too many characters to care about any of them, and rather too many magpies perching in zelkova trees

LKL rating: score-2score-0score-0score-0score-0. Read our review of this book here.

Entry on Goodreads.com here.

* Where the book is available from a number of sources, they are prioritised as follows: (1) Amazon UK site, or Bookshop.org for the more recent uploads (2) Amazon US site (3) Other sites in US or Europe, including second-hand outlets (4) LTI Korea, where the title is advertised as available from there (5) Onlines stores in Korea. Links to Bookshop.org and Amazon UK site contain an affiliate code which, should you make a purchase, gives a small commission to LKL at no additional cost to you.