The Melancholy of Untold History: A Novel

The Melancholy of Untold History: A Novel by Minsoo Kang

There was a lot of potential in this book, but the execution was not quite there. The book has a few parallel interwoven storylines. In the modern times, there is the story of a male history professor and his female protegé. They have a professional relationship and each have great relationships with their significant others. After the professor's wife dies in a helicopter crash, his protegé comforts him and they begin an affair. This seems to get broken off when her boyfriend calls with great remorse to report a minor indiscretion. We learn of the tragic backstories of these four characters as well as the work of the professor. 

He has determined that the "golden era" of history was not as it seemed. In fact, the kingdom was faltering at the time and the leader appeared to perpetrate a grand fraud to make things look good. There is another thread of historical times. We see the grand fraud. There was a great "new city" created. Workers and artisans were recruited from all over the country to work on it. However, instead of the expected visit from the emperor, troops appeared and rounded up and executed everyone involved. Later the emperor is deceived by his consort as to the fidelity of his general. This ends up leading to a the general rebelling and aligning with a queen of another kingdom. The queen's armies end up sneaking away during the heat of conflict and are able to take the empire. Afterwards, the emperor, general, consort and queen meet together and realize that they are another incarnation of the endless cycle of conflict that must be ended through reconciliation if they ever desire peace.

The third thread covers the mythological conflict. Two male and two female deities are having a get together. A naked sky baby appears and asks for some food. They refuse and the baby goes off in a huff. He ends up finding peaches and sharing with a dragon. A peach pit lands and grows a tree. One of the original four finds it and wants it. Another decides he wants it also. A third comes and argues with them. They get mad and continue to argue. Meanwhile the fourth comes, takes the peach and flies of. Finally the other three agree to share it, but it is gone now. They all blame each other and start the big conflict. They later appear in different forms as humans and animals to continue the conflict through history.

The book had interesting exploration of myth and history. The stories felt compelling, but did not quite make it together. The mythology was too vulgar and the modern times felt seemed to be lacking a bit of connection to the past. There was plenty of potential. Perhaps future in-universe books will help realize this potential.

The Name Drop

The Name Drop by Susan Lee

A Korean-American girl is looking forward to an internship with a big Korean company in New York. She thinks this will allow her to get a good recommendation to get scholarships to go to college. Her family cannot afford the school, but are not poor enough for financial aid. She has a challenge of over-sharing when under stress. When she goes to check in for her flight she goes in on details, which end up with her showing her id with her korean name. In the airport she also notices a dapper Korean guy.

The dapper Korean guy is the teenage son of the CEO of the company. He is going to HQ for a special internship for children of executives. However, his Korean name is the same as the Korean name of the girl. When he checks in, he gets the seat in the back that she was supposed to have, while she gets the first class seat. She ends up being picked up by the chauffeur and taken to the townhome, while he ends up joining the intern group in the cramped apartment and the minimum wage internship.

They eventually meet to discuss the situation and realize that both of them like it. The girl works to achieve with her responsibilities. He likes to be a regular guy.

The interns put together a hackathon for the company. It is a success, perhaps too much. The CEO shows up. He acts nice to the girl and offers her a scholarship, but also fires his father. The boy is in the bad grace of his father but still gets strings pulled to go to UCLA. In the epilogue, they meet again. Will the romance go somewhere.

The book is a light, superificial story of teenageers going through challenging situation. It showcases the masculine, patriarchal culture in Korean business. Is it still this bad? The boy and girl have a "trading places" vibe. It seems the company has a lot of talented people that are not listened to while those in authority are underqualified. 

The Passenger

The Passenger by Chaney Kwak

The author was a freelance travel writer sent on a Norwegian cruise on the Viking Sky in 2019. While cruising around the Arctic Circle, the ship hit some rough seas. The engines failed. The ship started flailing in all directions and was getting close to hazards that could sink. Everyone came out to their muster stations to await orders. May passengers were evacuated via helicopter. After a day tossing and turning, the ship was able to get attached to a tugboat. With engines restarted, it was able to take the rest of the passengers back to a port to disembark. 

One of the more memorable parts of the story is the exposure of the facade of the cruise ship. The passengers are mustered with the "forward" facing staff that they see. However, the author convinces the peronelle to let him go to his cabin to get something. There, he sees many of the "back of the ship" people at their muster stations. He also sees his room is a huge wreck with things tossed all over the place. Later when things return to normal and he is allowed to go back to his room. When he gets there, he finds everything is immaculate and the TV is even set to resume the show he was watching.

The drama of the story had a positive ending with everyone surviving. However, in the process, the author describes the end of his relationship, which alas didn't survive.