Han Kang, Min Jin Lee, and Crystal Hana Kim have given us their own unique glimpses into the Korean peninsula’s history and present, but few novels of South Korea have gone to so dark a place as Ancco‘s semi-autobiographical work, Bad Friends. This brief, striking vision of South Korea’s early Sixth Republic presents a side of the country rarely seen in the West, one driven by alcohol, drugs, and prostitution.
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There are plenty of great puberty books out there for young people with vaginas. Helloflo: The Guide, Period.: The Everything Puberty Book for the Modern Girl is not one of them. Written by HelloFlo founder Naama Bloom and stamped with her company branding, The Guide, Period promises to be a fantastic addition to a pre-teen’s arsenal of body-awareness books, but it simply doesn’t deliver. Continue reading
Even after decades of U.S. military involvement, the Middle East remains a mystery to many — if not most — people in the West. In Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, Sarah Glidden offers a work of meta-journalism that chronicles the experiences of a small band of reporters as they trek through areas many of us may never visit to gather the stories of individuals impacted by U.S. involvement in Middle Eastern affairs. The result is an intimate view of the journalistic process, accented with its own reporting on the lives of both journalists and their subjects. Continue reading
In her debut essay collection, You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain, 2 Dope Queens co-host Phoebe Robinson lays out everything that’s on her mind, from how it feels to wear a natural hairstyle, to why Michael Fassbender will be the father of her future child. It’s an eclectic collection, and not without its low points, but Robinson’s debut is a solid one, nevertheless. Continue reading
He was just like every other little boy in Pyongyang, taking taekwondo lessons and dreaming of becoming a general in Kim Il-sung’s army. In Every Falling Star: The True Story of How I Survived and Escaped North Korea, DPRK-escapee Sungju Lee tells of his family’s fall from grace, his life as an orphan on the streets, and his eventual path to freedom. Although aimed at a young adult audience, Lee’s memoir provides an unflinching look at what happens to Pyongyang families who displease the Leader. Continue reading