This intense allegorical tale is here translated twice, once into English from the Korean, and then into audio, and the listener has a sense of being estranged from the author’s intentions by one or perhaps both of these processes. The title character, known only by her professional alias, Hornclaw, has been an assassin since she was 15. Now alone, aging, and beginning to make mistakes, she is trying to imagine her opaque future when it becomes apparent that something from her murderous past is also stalking her. Nancy Wu can’t seem to get a handle on this character, abstract as she is, or help the listener much to experience the sorrow and terror of Gu’s plot or her layered meanings about Korean society. B.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
The Old Woman with the Knife
Narrated by Nancy Wu
Gu Byeong-moUnabridged — 6 hours, 29 minutes
The Old Woman with the Knife
Narrated by Nancy Wu
Gu Byeong-moUnabridged — 6 hours, 29 minutes
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Overview
*A Most Anticipated Read in LitHub, CrimeReads, Thrillist, and Popsugar*
The kinetic story of*a sixty-five-year-old female assassin who faces an unexpected threat in the twilight of her career-this is an international bestseller and the English language debut from an award-winning South Korean author*
At sixty-five, Hornclaw is beginning to slow down. She lives modestly in a small apartment, with only her aging dog, a rescue named Deadweight, to keep her company. There are expectations for people her age-that she'll retire and live out the rest of her days quietly. But Hornclaw is not like other people. She is an assassin.
Double-crossers, corporate enemies, cheating spouses-for the past four decades, Hornclaw has killed them all with ruthless efficiency, and the less she's known about her targets, the better. But now, nearing the end of her career, she has just slipped up. An injury leads her to an unexpected connection with a doctor and his family. But emotions, for an assassin, are a dangerous proposition. As Hornclaw's world closes in, this final chapter in her career may also mark her own bloody end.
A sensation in South Korea, and now translated into English for the first time by Chi-Young Kim, The Old Woman with the Knife is an electrifying, singular, mordantly funny novel about the expectations imposed on aging bodies and the dramatic ways in which one woman chooses to reclaim her agency.
Editorial Reviews
04/18/2022
At the start of Korean author Byeong-Mo’s English-language debut, a gripping and often unpredictable suspense novel, a 65-year-old woman on a crowded Seoul subway train observes a male jerk, upset at having to stand, berate a seated young woman, even after she says that her pregnancy merits a seat. When he disembarks, the older woman follows and fatally stabs him with a knife coated with poison. It turns out this woman, code-named Hornclaw, works for a company offering “disease control specialists,” who commit murder for paying clients. Hornclaw’s continuing employment is threatened by younger rivals within her company, her declining physical abilities, and a fear that she’s now someone else’s target. A subtle character portrait is matched by striking prose (Hornclaw “sometimes wonders what difference it makes to take away ten or forty-five years from a life, when the essence of life is continuous loss and abrasion that leaves behind only traces of what used to be, like streaks of chalk on a chalkboard”). Crime fiction readers looking for something a bit different will relish this one. Agent: Barbara Zitwer, Barbara J. Zitwer Agency. (Mar.)
Darkly funny, this South Korean novel examines the universal challenge of aging while maintaining societal relevance.”—The Washington Post
"Sardonic and funny, as it probes expectations around aging women and their bodies."—LitHub
"A suspense-filled thriller like nothing you've read before."—POPSUGAR
"Gu's first novel to be translated into English addresses societal attitudes on aging."—New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
“Incisive...a kick-ass approach to narrative convention.”—The Daily Mail
"Skillfully rendered...a thriller with heart."—Kirkus Reviews
"As a person who loves novels about aging AND crime thrillers, I was thrilled to encounter the mash-up."—Molly Young, New York Times
This startling work upends every stereotype of old ladies and killers...unforgettable."—First Clue
“A slow burner, laced with pitch-black humor and take-no-prisoners observations on aging and how society (not just Korean) views the elderly, until the white-knuckle, action film-ready finale that plays out like a sort of reimagined Die Hard, and it as unexpected as it was satisfying.”—Mystery Scene Magazine
"An unparalleled story only Gu Byeong-mo could create, with a groundbreaking female character as captivating as any in literature."—Kyung-Sook Shin, Man Asian Literary Prize-winning author of Please Look After Mom
"The Old Woman with the Knife is a wild thrill of a novel. I found myself clutching my chest as I turned each page: from fright, heartbreak, and from the devastating gallows humor. It is about revenge and retribution, aging and death, and the quotidian woes of a bureaucratic job—even if that job is murder-for-hire. Hornclaw, our 65-year-old assassin main character, defies expectations: she is brutal, thoughtful, and almost as tender as her beloved dog, Deadweight, who truly steals the show."—Gabriella Burnham, author of It Is Wood, It Is Stone
"A resonant K-noir treat."—Luke Jennings, author of the Killing Eve series
"The Old Woman with the Knife will sweep you away. This electric novel will have you thinking about its beautiful, melancholy, awe-inspiring force for a long time. I can't remember who I used to be before I read this book."—Ko-eun Yun, author of The Disaster Tourist
"What a moving, resounding, and beautifully executed novel."—Seo Mi-ae, author of The Only Child
“The Old Woman with the Knife is a deeply compassionate and rebellious novel. Thrilling and richly meditative, the novel excavates memory, modern life on the edge, and the absolute persistence of the self. With poetic grace, Gu Byeong-mo’s assassin transcends age, power, and the expectations of a society bent on erasing her.”—Michael Zapata, author of The Lost Book of Adana Moreau
"An unforgettable portrait. More than a thriller, The Old Woman with the Knife is also a tale of a profound observation of aging and decline, love and compassion. The story crawled into my soul and never let me go until the last page."—J.M. Lee, author of The Investigation
"The Old Woman with the Knife is unique - a gripping thriller as well as a deeply thoughtful book about out attitudes to ageing and grief. Wonderful stuff."—Doug Johnstone, author of Tombstoning
"It's a thriller with an engrossing plot, but it's also a look at how society views the aging."—Boston Globe
"Sensational."—Yunhap News "Masterful."—Jihu Daily "Evocative and haunting."—Civic News “There has never been a Korean novel with such a groundbreaking heroine.”—Segye Ilbo "I couldn’t hope for a better heroine—a truly powerful character with an aging human body.”—Book DB “This novel breaks out of the box of what constitutes ‘a mystery thriller with a killer as the heroine’ and into a much broader literary territory...a cruel yet beautiful study on what is the fate of being, on bruising and disintegrating life, and on all the inevitable truths of human life.”—Chunji Ilbo
"Fantastic."—London Review of Books
06/01/2022
This incredible, internationally best-selling South Korean thriller (Gu's first to be translated to English), elicits nearly every human emotion throughout its six-and-a-half-hour run time. Hornclaw is a South Korean assassin who is not ready to retire, but she has noticed that at 65, her aging body is beginning to slow her down. Working for Disease Control, a murder-for-hire business, she finds that knowing nothing about her target works best—until the day she messes up. Bleeding profusely, she finds herself beholden to a doctor outside the organization. As Hornclaw's past is slowly revealed, her human side is exposed. She's a ruthless killer, but she also provides an escape route for Deadweight, her lovable rescue dog, should she fail to return from a mission. Poignant and humorous, the story explores aging, relationships, difficult decisions, and vendettas. VERDICT Narrator Nancy Wu's lilt, emphasis, and pacing are impeccable, bringing life to Gu's characters, making them easy to differentiate and identify as the engrossing story unfolds.—Laura Trombley
10/01/2021
At 65, Hornclaw is slowing down at work and content to live quietly in a small apartment with her rescue dog. She should be cashing out her share of the company, but she's made the mistake of growing close to a doctor and his family after an emergency visit. Such connections are dangerous stuff in her business—actually, she's an assassin routinely hired to do in cheating spouses, corporate enemies, and the like—and there are repercussions. From an award-winning, internationally best-selling South Korean author making her English-language debut; with a 50,000-copy first printing.
This intense allegorical tale is here translated twice, once into English from the Korean, and then into audio, and the listener has a sense of being estranged from the author’s intentions by one or perhaps both of these processes. The title character, known only by her professional alias, Hornclaw, has been an assassin since she was 15. Now alone, aging, and beginning to make mistakes, she is trying to imagine her opaque future when it becomes apparent that something from her murderous past is also stalking her. Nancy Wu can’t seem to get a handle on this character, abstract as she is, or help the listener much to experience the sorrow and terror of Gu’s plot or her layered meanings about Korean society. B.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
2021-12-24
What happens when a chance encounter causes a 65-year-old Korean assassin to question what she’s always had to do to survive?
Hornclaw is an aging “disease control specialist” who's built a 45-year-long career on eliminating targets her agency's clientele deem “vermin” without asking any questions—usually with a poisoned knife. Now her increasingly fragile health and the emotional ripples from an unexpected connection she makes with a doctor and his family threaten her plans for a leisurely retirement. Despite the peculiar objective of her work, Hornclaw must also navigate the mundane annoyances of corporate life, including bureaucracy, dismissive younger colleagues, and petty disagreements with management. The realistic detail with which Gu describes the agency’s day-to-day operations prevents the novel from veering into a melodramatic blood bath, as do the novel’s incisive observations about the harsh economic and social realities of modern Korean society, including economic recession, poverty among senior citizens, and the effects of the lingering American military presence. Behind the skillfully rendered (if occasionally drawn-out) fight scenes, Gu poignantly animates the desperate circumstances that motivate these characters to turn to contract killing in the first place. Despite Gu’s skill in dramatizing details, though, the novel's larger narrative arc and epiphanies can feel rushed and mechanical. At times it seems that the characters could use a few more chapters for their complex lives to unfold in a way that does their transformations justice.
A thriller with heart that would benefit from more time to beat just a bit longer.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940172959721 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 03/08/2022 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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