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Q's Reviews > The Hive and the Honey: Stories
The Hive and the Honey: Stories
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This collection of 7 short stories from the very talented Paul Yoon is about Korean people of different ages displaced from their home and family. In an interview I read with him he said he is interested in this subject because his family too was displaced and he doesn’t know what happened to many of them.The stories are set in different periods from edo period Japan to recent times when an inmate in upper NY state gets paroled. Stories are set in Russia and Spain, England, and Korea too. The KGB is involved in one story; His writing is simple and he captures beauty tied to nature or animals or farming and a father touching his son’s hand after a five year separation. He evoked beauty in one of his characters and she felt so alive Each story is unique and he surprised me a lot by the turns he made. There was a lot of surprises of kindness in them and also some violence. One person was so kind until he drank. All of the people are everyday people and Paul Yoon brings their uniqueness out and makes them so real. It speaks to loneliness when ther is no family and how people create families in unique ways. I really enjoyed these stories. The placement of the stories brings a continuity to the collection. He has written about the Korean diaspora and to trauma before in his book The Mountain. It was intense. This is not like that. It’s a different view of the Korean diaspora
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Fran
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Mar 09, 2024 11:18AM
THanks so much for your richly detailed review. (I wonder, with only 7 stories in the book-- are most of the stories very in-depth, maybe more like short novellas? )
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Hi Fran- Thx for asking. Sorry for the delay in responding. First I saw your message. No they are are all short stories - not novellas. Each story is about a different period of time in the Korean diaspora and set in different areas. Diverse. That is the connection. Finishing the book I felt a different sense of Korean history. “Sojova”wrote an excellent review of the book in more detail. It might be more helpful.
THanks for your answer. BTW A novel that gave me a good sense of postwar Korean history is "The Evening Hero" by Marie Myung-Ok Lee. I had no idea!
I'm glad you enjoyed these stories too! Wonderful review, Q!😊
Whoever offered the “The Evening Hero” thank- you so much. Your name was nulled??? Will definitely chec it out. Happy reading
Oh, I suggested "The Evening Hero" (though maybe someone else did, too). I don't know how my name was nulled -- but anyway, I'm glad you like the idea of the book. I'll look forward to your review!
