'White Rose Nocturne' full of cliches, provocative ridicules, still addictive

Cover of “White Rose Nocturne” by Lim Ji-in

By Nam Hyun-woo

Lim Ji-in’s latest thriller novel “White Rose Nocturne” is another compilation of clichéd scenes that day time soap opera fans will be familiar with.

The story features almost every possible component that can play up a provocative storyline -- a conflict between a to-be-mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, a hidden truth about a birth, a kidnapping, homosexuality, the heroine’s hidden identity, a sex change and so many other twists coming one after another. And, there are some detailed descriptions of sex.

Nonetheless, Lim, a former translator who is releasing her second full-length novel, has been crafty in blending all of those hackneyed elements in this straightforward book.

The story centers on the shocking and complicated story of the Seol family. Hong, a lover of the deceased Seol Da-wit (the Korean pronunciation of David in the Bible), is a rich loan shark haunted by the obsession to reflect Da-wit’s dream of being a successful pianist on Seol Yo-han (the Korean pronunciation of John in the Bible), who was brought up by Hong as her own son but was in fact Da-wit’s younger brother.

As Yo-han introduces his fiancée Lamia Kim, who is 10 years older than him, Hong Hong stubbornly refuses to accept their marriage. As their relationship faces fierce opposition from Hong, Yo-han and Kim devise a plan that gets Yo-han kidnapped in order to “remind Hong of what Yo-han really wants” as well as a sizable ransom which they plan to donate to poor pianists in the future. As Hong apparently believes their lie, he eventually agrees to their marriage, and all seems to be well.

However, this was also Kim’s scheme to use the money for her own purposes, a fact Hong learned while she was digging into Kim’s personal history to find out who she really is. During the process, Hong realizes Kim had something to do with Da-wit’s death.

The book is more a scenario or a script for a TV drama series than a novel, because characters explain situations or brief background information to the readers in their dialogue. And that is well seen in how Lim addresses the climax of this story -- spending almost half of the book to transcript the content of a USB memory that contains video footage of Hong “interrogating” Kim, which disentangles the complications of the narrative.

Readers should not expect literary depth, brilliant metaphors, logic or some serious introspection in this story. Also you don’t need to psych yourself up for the book. And it is too obvious that readers will denounce this book after they finish 470 pages within several hours -- just as we do day time soap operas. But at the same time, you have to admit that a provocative storyline gets readers easily hooked and they lose themselves in all the blood, sex and lies.

Consider this book junk food that isn’t really healthy but is satisfying anyways. It is light reading that can entertain you in your spare time.