Seven Years of Darkness: A Novel Paperback – June 2, 2020

"Seven Years of Darkness" is Jeong You-Jeong's second novel translated into English. Her English debut, "The Good Son", came out in 2018, and quickly became a big hit around the world. The books are quite different in themes and in styles, and I recommend trying "Seven Years of Darkness" without any expectations based on "The Good Son". Personally I enjoyed "Seven Years of Darkness" more, but that seems to be a minority opinion. Either way, if you haven't read either, definitely give Jeong You-Jeong's books a try, and here's hoping to more of her books in translation soon!The story kicks off with Choi Sowoon, the son of a man accused of mass murder. After his father's arrest, Sowoon is passed around from relative to relative and is unable to escape his father's crimes and lead a normal life for seven years following the incident in question. The only person that stands by his side during these seven years is Mr. Ahn, his father's employee from that time. One day, Mr. Ahn fails to return home but instead a strange manuscript is delivered to Sowoon, that sheds light on the events from seven years ago and forces Sowoon to revisit his past and question what he thought he knew about his father.This novel sucked me in and didn't let me go until the very last page. Admittedly, the first 30-40 pages were a bit slow as the scene was getting set and the characters were introduced, but once the manuscript started unfolding the story from the past I couldn't get the characters out of my head. Everyone has a backstory and everyone has things to hide, and that made the story all the more compelling. While we find out early on who is guilty of what, finding out the drive behind each character's actions is what kept me emotionally invested until the end. There is a lot of violence in here, on and off the page, and it ranges from child abuse to domestic violence to animal cruelty. There wasn't an instance, though, where I felt that the writer was sensationalizing this violence. It was just written as part of people's lives, which unfortunately that kind of violence often is. Without preaching anything, the book often shed light on how the societal system often overlooks this kind of abuse, and questions notions of morality.The pacing of the book was done very well, moving swiftly from one character's perspective to another. Often as I was reading I thought that it would probably make good material for a movie adaptation, and fortunately enough, other people thought that too and adapted it into the movie "Seven Years of Night". Now if you will excuse me, I need to go find myself a copy. But before that, I am definitely recommending this to fans of psychological and revenge thrillers.

After having looked forward to reading SEVEN YEARS OF DARKNESS, I ultimately found it a difficult read. The biggest problem was no fault of the author. The book has been translated from the author's native Korean. I had a hard time with the Korean names of the characters in the story. There are about six people central to the story, and I never knew who was who, without making some effort to cross reference. The problem with such unfamiliar (to me) and lengthy names in the story, is it breaks up the momentum. Some of the minor characters had short names, which I can remember (like Lim). None of the impoortant characters had short names --and some of their names were similar to the names of the other important players (at least it seemed so to this non-Korean speaking person.)The story is complicated. There are several narrators and the timeline isn't always current. It has some dark dark stuff going on: spousal abuse, child abuse, animal abuse, alcoholism, death of a child, capitol punishment, stalking, harassment. DARK!!On the plus side, is an extremely original plot which explores the sacrifices humans are willing to make for the people they love. How many innocent people would you be willing to sacrifice to save your own child? It is a terrifying dilema the author presents.The characters themselves were conflicted, interesting, deep and extremely well written. This book will not be forgotten, but it isn't an easy story to read.

This story was at times uncomfortable to read dealing with the subject matter. I became totally immersed in the story and felt so much for the son. At least he had one loyal person beside him. Great story telling!

Although I enjoyed how the writer crafted the story and the characters in detail, the ending nevertheless felt contrived when everything just fell conveniently in place to save the day.

This book in so many ways was so heartbreaking. The end- we needed so badly! I would re-read this book for sure later on, as I feel like I rushed through it because it was hard to put down.

I was very much looking forward to this book after reading The Good Son and it did not disappoint.It has been seven years since Sowon, a teenager now, has seen his father. For seven years he has had to deal with his father being in prison for murder. Sowon is about to learn all that took place seven years ago.This is a book about mistakes and vengeance and secrets. It is about the cruelty of a man and what he causes because of that cruelty. It is about a man that makes one mistake that changes the course of his life and brings him to ruin.It is about darkness and evil but also light and life saved through sacrifice of self.I find her books to be very thought provoking. I love her writing style and the depth in the characters she creates.

Although my heart broke into a million pieces, I absolutely loved this book. Looking forward to reading more books from this author!

This was a very good book that kept me interested all the way through. I highly recommend it.

Very clever. I could see this as a film. Most of the action takes places around Seryong Lake. There's a map at the front to aid orientation. It's told in present day and timeslip as Sowon once again finds himself in danger of being ousted from the village where he lives because of a crime his father committed. However two men coming looking for him and at the same time his guardian has disappeared. Strange packages start appearing about the events surrounding the Seryong Lake tragedy, and as Sowon starts to read and listen to the accounts, he finds out more than he bargained for - but what's his next move?Such a brilliant writer, I do hope there will be more.

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A Korean thriller worth reading! Korean thriller are different! After parasite! Korean drama and Korean stories.

I started the book in the morning, I finished it the same day. It's one of those books that are hard to put down once you've started reading. The story is very well written, paced just right. Just like in an excavation, you see the story emerge bit by bit. The writing style makes it easy to fly through the pages. This does what a great book does: it takes you on a journey and doesn't let you put it down until the last page has been turned. One of the best books I've read in the past few years.

Worth four stars, the denouement is the destination, the journey to the destination is exciting .I would recommend this book as a very good example of the thriller genre.