Diary of a Murderer by Young-Ha Kim, translated by Krys Lee
A Throwback Thursday Short Fiction Review by Ian Colford
Diary of a Murderer, Young-Ha Kim’s provocatively titled collection of short fiction, is a surprisingly entertaining volume that stretches the boundaries of the short story toward genre-fiction territory. The novella-length title story is the volume’s show-stopper. Elderly serial killer Kim Byeongsu, afflicted with Alzheimer’s, starts keeping a journal because of worsening memory loss. Recently, there have been several violent deaths in his neighbourhood. Kim suspects he knows who is responsible and is driven to act by concern for his adopted daughter Eunhui’s safety. But difficulties arise when he decides to protect her by eliminating the threat. He can’t formulate a coherent plan of action because he’s often confused; he doesn’t always know what he has done and what he hasn’t done, and he’s rapidly losing the ability to distinguish delusion from reality. As his mind unravels, and the police become involved, important aspects of his life turn out not to be as he thought they were.
“The Origin of Life” follows the relationship between two childhood friends who reconnect (via social media) after many years of separation, only to see the relationship degenerate into jealousy, violence and tragedy. “Missing Child” is the story of a husband and wife who are reunited with their son after his abduction ten years earlier. The husband had never given up the search—badgering the police and distributing flyers the whole time. However, his wife has not fared as well during the years of the boy’s absence, withdrawing into a state of emotional frigidity and, after his return, refusing to acknowledge her teenage son. Unfortunately for the husband, finding the boy, who over those same years developed a strong and enduring emotional bond with his abductor, does not turn out to be the miracle panacea he had been hoping for. And in “The Writer,” a famous writer accepts his publisher’s offer of a Manhattan apartment as a haven in which to finish his new novel, only to find himself embroiled in a reckless sexual liaison with the publisher’s wife, leading to unforeseen and dangerous complications.
In Diary of a Murderer (deftly translated from Korean by Krys Lee), Young-Ha Kim has written a series of high-spirited, twisty narratives that gallop headlong toward ambiguous resolutions. The book is drolly humorous, exceedingly clever and relentlessly sardonic in tone. And while a lack of emotional depth makes the stories hard to take seriously, it is entirely possible that seriousness is not the author’s intent.
About the Author
Born in 1968, Kim Young-ha kicked off his writing career with his first novel I Have The Right To Destroy Myself, which won him the much-coveted Munhak-dongne Prize in 1995. Since then, he has gained a reputation as the most talented and prolific Korean writer of his generation, publishing five novels and three collections of short stories.
About the Reviewer
Ian Colford was born, raised and educated in Halifax. His reviews and stories have appeared in many print and online publications. He is the author of two collections of short fiction and two novels and is the recipient of the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award for Evidence.
Book Details
ISBN-13: 9781328545428
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 04/16/2019
Pages: 208