Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Shelter; Jung Yun

Shelter; Jung Yun
Picador - 2016

Kyung Cho is a 36 y/o Korean American who lives near Boston with his Irish American wife
Gillian and the couple's 4 y/old son Ethan. Kyung's life is falling apart. He's a mediocre professor at a
university nearby, the couple's finances are a mess, owing more on their house than it's worth and 
mounting credit card debt to boot. Kyung also feels like a failure as a husband and a father. To make 
his stress even worse is the fact that for years he has had a strained relationship with his parents who live 
in an upscale neighborhood nearby.

Kyung's father is a highly respected professor and inventor who pulls in lots of grant money for the 
university he works for. His father Jin is wife beater and his mother, Mae a child abuser. Needless to say, 
despite being given every material advantage as a child, the emotional scars and hostility he feels toward
his parents have never been forgiven. He's pretty much severed contact with his parents, but hasn't 
totally cut them out of the picture yet.So when a violent home invasion turns his parents life upside down,
Kyung isn't sure how to react. The scars of childhood are ones he can't seem forget.

Shelter is a terrific character study, seen mostly from Kyung's POV, although we do get insight from the 
other characters as well. It isn't really clear until the end as to the extent of abuse that has occurred 
to make him harbor so much resentment and blame others for all his current problems.

This story wasn't perfect but I did enjoy it very much. Readers who enjoy suspense filled stories and
reading about family dysfunction should make sure they add this to their lists. Jung Yun is a promising 
debut author to watch for.

4.5/5 stars
(review copy)

27 comments:

  1. Sounds like it could be a good summer afternoon read.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such a cute photo! Glad you liked this so much, it's already on my list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, Kyung's family sounds like a mess. I love books like this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. Thanks Beth - I'm surprised he sat on the ottoman as he is not a lap cat but, our other two are LOL

      Delete
  5. I'm just over halfway through this right now and am LOVING it! Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad u r loving this. I thought it was excellent - but the ending sos so.

      Delete
  6. Sometimes I wonder what's wrong with me when I read a summary of a book where people do horrible things to each other and I think, "I want to read that!" This is one of those times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL - I'm in that club too - the more deranged the narrator or family the better:)

      Delete
  7. This does sound like a lot of dysfunction. My dysfunction alarm started to go off, in a good way ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've heard lots of things about this book, but all have been media-related, so it's wonderful to discover what a fellow blogger has to say. Thanks for the review!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a mess families (and life!)can be. And appearances can be so deceptive. I've heard good things about this book and your review confirmed for me that this should definitely be on my TBR list!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Diane, I'm glad you enjoyed Shelter. Love the photo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much - he doesn't normally want to be with me like the other 2 do:)

      Delete
  11. I only skimmed your review because I am about to start reading this. I'm glad to know you liked it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a cute pic! Really enjoyed your review and this is one for my list definitely.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I haven't heard of this book before. Definitely sounds like something I'd enjoy.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to visit and double thanks for any comments. If you ask a question in your comments, I will try to reply to it here, or by email if your settings allow me to do so. Thanks again for visiting.