In The Shadows

It's not often you pick up a collection of short stories that take place in as disparate a list of places as Vienna, Russia, Armenia and China, but the stories in this collection capture something about the true nature of the human spirit, and the similarities that can be found, if you look even a couple of inches below the surface.

Relationships are a central theme of these stories, and their success, or lack thereof provides a brilliant window into the lives of people in all echelons of society. From the wealthy ex-pat who falls for a local, to the poor Russian who finds himself moving up, to the firmly average chinese couple in Austria, whilst their circumstances may differ, a lot of the situations they find themselves in have parallels.

It isn't common for me to pick up a collection of short stories, but these were enthralling. I read it from start to finish in one sitting, and cannot decide which story stood out to me the most, although I do love a cockroach named after Xi Jinping!

I couldn’t wait to read In The Shadows by Nggyn Kim, it is rare to ever read a book written by an author who either lives or is familiar with living in a socialist or dictator run country such as Russia China North Korea ET see in this book we get perspectives from everyone even Americans. There is Mr. Kim in the story Flight. While waiting for his flight back to China their flight gets delayed due to technical issues and while waiting for the crew to sort out lodging‘s for the night he has what I call an eyeball Bromance with an Englishman named Charles. They continuously glanced at each other and noticed the other looking at the glancer Mr. Kim is doing all this while every now and then hearing a voice telling him to run and although he don’t later that night he can’t sleep and goes into the hallway deciding to flee at last but this is when Charles and his redheaded companion stop him in mid flight with the kind of drama westerner‘s and their reality shows are known for. Mr. Kim is given a choice to stop and help or flee. This was one of the last stories in the book up until this point I thought all the books look great especially bicycle summer where the girl has her first kiss with a traveling refugee but every story in the book is awesome. From the impersonator to the ice cream lady to transatlantic they were all so good and given so many different perspectives there is a Russian girl who falls in love with an American but loves her home and doesn’t want to move abroad like a lot of people do. No matter where these stories are sudden every protagonist has great memories and traditions that they love about their home country/village/town. When reading this book I thought there were many instances where this was a pro living in a communist country story and I thought it was quite refreshing since all I ever read about is those wanting to flea communist countries throughout the whole book even though it was pro communist in my opinion there were still no stories about North Korea. I am not passing judgment just making an observation. I really really enjoyed this book and if you are like me and like to hear the other side of the opinion wrapped up in a very entertaining short story you’ll definitely love InThe Shadows. Just an FYI I am almost 100% certain that story one and story three the ice cream lady and the impersonator or linked in some form or fashion and if you read them you’ll see why I cannot say it definitely is. They were both great I love them I want to thank troubadour and Net Galley for my my free arc copy please forgive my mistakes I am blind.

I received a free eARC of this book via NetGalley, and this is my honest and voluntary review.

In The Shadows is a Collection of short stories with running themes of politics and relationships. We see journeys of people from Russia, China, North Korea and Armenia to name a few.

Unfortunately, In The Shadows missed the mark with me. Whilst I did enjoy The Impersonator and The Ice-Cream Woman, the rest of the stories didn’t evoke any emotional response from me. The writing style seemed quite robotic and left me wanting a more human side to the stories. I did enjoy how each story overlapped though, for example with characters from Flight appearing in Insect Life. The recurring themes of politics and intertwining lives were another thing I did enjoy. I can also appreciate the factual side, as I do enjoy learning when reading - but again, with the robotic language, it did feel like reading a textbook.

At 288 pages long, this took me just over six hours to read. I do recommend this to anyone who enjoys factual reads and short stories, but this one just wasn’t for me.

6/10

Short stories are not usually my preferred genre, but I am finding, more and more, that in the hands of a skilled writer like Ijen Kim, they can be satisfying fare.

Most importantly, these nine stories are about authoritarianism. The settings are varied and include Russia. China, North Korea, Syria, Armenia, and Germany. The political systems are tightly controlled by the elite and powerful who define truth and what right or wrong so to sustain and expand their own power. The characters struggle with the realities of their lives where choices are limited and experience conflicts with propaganda. There is a consistent underlying melancholy throughout.

My favorites include: "The Impersonator," where a down on his luck man stumbles into lucrative work as a Putin Impersonator;
"Flight" excavates the conflicted thoughts and feelings of a North Korean ambassador being recalled home; and "In the Shadows" explores the insidious nature of the growth of a surveillance state where a woman and a teenaged boy contemplate escape.
Each story in this collection is insightful and entertaining.

I received a drc from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book, filled with various shorts stories, feels like a journey, like a trip, like a travel. Like a glimpse into the lives of people you have never met. Like reading a journal of someone you are not familiar with.
Each story sucks you in and then stays with you for a while.

it’s not often you get to spend time in authoritarian society (coming from someone in england) and it’s incredibly interesting to see the mindset of someone living there, even if it is just fictional.

the varying short stories deal with places like north korea, russia & syria all of which daily life is difficult to find information about. reading these short stories gave an insight into the potential lives of people living in places where their lives are ruled heavily by the political leaders and propaganda.

there’s a real sense of melancholy and “this is just how i have to live” across the entire selection of stories and whilst some hit emotionally harder than others i really enjoyed them all.