The Investigation, J.M. Lee

 

The Book

Set in a Japanese prison in the waning days of World War II, a young, smart, highly literate guard is first moved into Ward 3, the ward which houses Korean dissidents and then tasked with the job of solving the murder of one of the most vicious guards in the prison. Watanbe Yuichi lost his father at a young age in the beginning of the war. The father had hoped to keep his son out of the war by volunteering. The money went to Watanbe's mother who used it to open a used book shop. 

Here the brilliant young man fell in love with books. But when the Imperial Air Force attack Pearl Harbor, the fate of Watanbe's future is wrenched from everyone's hands. He enlists in the Imperial Army and is sent to Fukuoka Prison. Not long after his arrival, the vicious Sugiyama is brutally murdered. Watanbe is tasked with investigating the murder. Along the way he finds that the Koreans are a proud people. And one among them is a gifted poet. 

While the Koreans hold on to their identity, Watanbe finds that the poet has so moved the hardened heart of Sugiyama that he helps them surreptitiously, even as he beats the prisoners. Watanbe finds out the truth about a poet and the kites he flew, how the poet moved a pianist, how the poet convinced the guard to look the other way to build and then protect a secret library, and how that poet and Watanbe met, via a book, long before either of them was in Fukuoka Prison. 

Based on the true story of one of the most widely taught poets in Korea, Yun Dong-ju.

My Thoughts

This is the first, and to my investigations, only book by author Korean J.M. Lee to be translated into English. And our world is worse for it. Lee is widely read in his home Korea. And while nobody knows why one book, like Snow Falling on Cedars, another mystery set against the backdrop of World War II, takes off and another one doesn't. What I can tell you is that this book deserved every positive review it received. 

The descriptions are cinematic in quality, despite being translated. And the poetry is beautiful. This book is a book for book nerds, mystery nerds, poetry nerds, and true crime aficionados alike. Masterfully written, I cried when I was supposed to cry. 

I suspect the need for this to be translated from Korean into English is the reason I can't point to a sentence after gorgeous sentence. But the prose is both compelling and pretty. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

This book came to me from my friend Gwen Tolios. (Go subscribe to her Substack!) Her local indie bookstore went out of business, so she went to score some great deals and help ease their debt burden on their last weekend. When I found out, I offered her $20 to go shop the sales for me. I told her pick me out random mysteries. I put this charge into her hands because the last time I took such a challenge I came home with a stack of Michael Connellys, a couple of James Pattersons and one James Comey. Yeah...I'm bad at this. Good news, she only spent $10. Bad news, that's because she had filled up a bag and didn't have hands for more. Now my bookshelf is overstuff and I'm happy as can be. This one book, which was 75% off of the $3.00 sales price, so quick math here, that made it, what, $0.75? Yeah, bargain! Easily the best book I've bought in a long, long time. Will read again. 

This Book                                                               $0.00

Items Reviewed this Year                                       $146.92

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