Han's disjointed narrative is pitched towards lamentation. In both cases the official death tolls have always been judged not to reflect the true loss of civilian life. It suggests what would happen nine years later in Beijing, when pro-democracy students were similarly shown no mercy. The scale of brutality inflicted by soldiers, who randomly clubbed and bayoneted their way through the crowds, is savage, and Han leaves little doubt as to how protesters were indiscriminately killed. Most powerful of all is the twilight zone existence to which the traumatised survivors are doomed. In writing about the vicious events of May 1980 in Gwangju, when students supported trade unionists in a pro-democracy protest against the military dictatorship of army general Chun Doo-hwan, Han Kang explores the thin lie between the dead and the living dead. History overpowers this eerie South Korean novel, which does no disservice to its author.
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