“The Liberators” by E. J. Koh

The Korean peninsula has been the site of some of the most brutal horror, combat, and political repression of the past 75 years. World War II saw the land and its citizens subject to abject terror at all physical and psychological levels. This was then followed by the Korean War horrors of chemical warfare, famine, generational trauma with constant threats of nuclear obliteration, military enforced division of the country, executions, forced labor, rape, incarceration, exile.

Much fiction and non-fiction has been written documenting all aspects of these war crimes and atrocities. Acclaimed poet and prize-winning story teller E.J. Koh takes the baton in her compelling debut novel, “The Liberators”, a profoundly sad and beautiful novel, clearly based on deep research and knowledge.

Koh’s style of using multiple characters to narrate individual sections led me to settle in for the classic multigenerational tale of families exiled, torn apart, reborn — diasporan hopes dashed and eventually overcome. “The Liberators” is certainly all that, written in a visceral sparse and emotional register. But it surprised and delighted me that Koh did so much more by also focusing on the political and devastating social scars of the horrors, separation, exile, families and friends torn apart — spying, informing, deceiving. The political/psycho thriller aspect of “The Liberators” will stay with me as much as the family tales. The desire for reunification in all its forms will remain forever.

Koh has much to offer and is worth following closely moving forward.

Thanks to Tin House and NetGalley for the eARC.