The Hive and the Honey by Paul Yoon

Book Review #751

Title: The Hive and the Honey

Author: Paul Yoon

Publisher: Scribner

Genres: Fiction, Literary fiction, Short stories

Format: Paperback

Source: Pansing

Publication Date: October 10, 2023

Pages: 150

My Rating: 3.5 STARS

SYNOPSIS

From the beloved award-winning author Paul Yoon comes a spectacular collection of unique stories, each confronting themes of identity, belonging, and the collision of cultures across countries and centuries.

A boy searches for his father, a prison guard on Sakhalin Island. In Barcelona, a woman is tasked with spying on a prizefighter who may or may not be her estranged son. A samurai escorts an orphan to his countrymen in the Edo Period. A formerly incarcerated man starts a new life in a small town in upstate New York and attempts to build a family.

The Hive and the Honey is a bold and indelible collection by celebrated author Paul Yoon, one that portrays the vastness and complexity of diasporic communities, with each story bringing to light the knotty inheritances of their characters. How does a North Korean defector connect with the child she once left behind? What are the traumas that haunt a Korean settlement in Far East Russia?

Lauded as a “quotidian – surreal craft – master” ( New York magazine), Yoon’s stunning stories are laced with beauty and cruelty, and The Hive and the Honey is the work of an author writing at the very height of his powers.

BOOK REVIEW

The Hive and the Honey by Paul Yoon is a collection of short stories of the past and present. The stories are really different from one another and you just can’t expect how the story will go. An interesting book that I finished in one sitting.

I honestly am not a huge fan of the stories set in the past. The present, however is quite fascinating. If I have to choose a favourite and one that I find most impactful is the second story, Komarov.

All in all, I’m on the fence for this one so I don’t highly recommend it nor do I dislike it either.