The South Korean port city is ruled by gangs, areas and fields of activity are divided and the small gangsters have to pay taxes to the big ones. Big brother Huisu was once a hopeful boxer who could compete in national competitions. He is now forty years old and has been working for father Son for 20 years, whose own family has already passed away. Huisu is dissatisfied, he has not achieved much in the last 20 years. He is in debt and is still Father Son’s henchman. Even with his great love it didn’t work out. Huisu is determined to make plans. Something has to change.
Economic life is precisely regulated in this thriller. Huisu and his cronies drink, beat and blackmail, although Huisu stands out because he sometimes thinks about his actions and also wonders what he actually wants from life. He is grateful to Father Son for taking him under his wing. However, Huisu wants to set up something of its own. The way there is difficult, however. There are small skirmishes among the gangs, but Father Son pleads for keeping calm. Sometimes it’s better if it stays the way it is. Huisu doesn’t want to see it that way.
The author describes the actions of the rival gangs very vividly. The gangsters appear violent, drunk and gloomy, but they also enjoy relaxing by the sea, intelligent and sensitive. The monotonous everyday life is as interesting as the unusual setting is, as it is described extravagantly. It seems as if Huisu only became a rebel at the age of 40 and he is not completely taken away from the late pubescent. The choice of language gives the novel a lightness that goes against the subject. This gives the reading a special, somewhat crazy note. Even if the death rate is ultimately quite high, the plot is cleverly structured and surprising.
3.5 stars
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