Summary

The novel opens with a devastating scene. A crowd of people is gathered in a main square of the South Korean city, Gwangju. On a rainy day in front of the Provincial Office, a woman with a microphone announces, “Our loved ones are being brought here today from the Red Cross hospital” (2). As a memorial service for the deceased gets underway, thousands of voices join together to sing the national anthem.

Using the second person perspective, the narrator frequently uses “you” to describe the events that take place. “You” (the reader) are put into the position of Dong-ho, a boy in his third year of middle school. Thus, the chapter is entitled "The Boy, 1980." You stay behind at the gymnasium, where dozens of corpses are laid out, waiting for a family member or friend to identify them. Meanwhile, you listen to the proceedings of...