The Law of the Heart by Boris StarlingMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
2.5 Stars
To sum up: Theo, a rollercoaster designer is sent for a commission to North Korea where he will meet Min a tour guide who will show him the hidden beauty of her country but they were not prepared for their feelings to be involved.
This is kind of a mix between contemporary/ historical literary fiction because we see the story through the modern eyes of Min and Theo then we have the past through the story of Cuckoo, Min's grandma. I loved mainly Cuckoo's story and her character, I've to be honest, I didn't care at the end about the romance between Theo and Min, it felt really flat and unrealistic. The author could have written a beautiful book just with Cuckoo's story because Theo and Min's started to get in the way at some point. Of course, there were other themes treated underneath this story about the omission of the human rights with oppressive regime in NK. A real dystopia in the modern world.
It was very slow paced with all the emotional descriptions that the author wanted to put in this story, we get to be aware of the characters' deep feelings more than anything else. It got a bit boring at some point, in addition to all the things said about the rollercoaster which were really irrelevant for me as a reader, all the technical aspect of Theo's job was a nonsense for me.
After reading the author's bio, I'm so curious to know why did he choose to write such a story? It doesn't feel like his other writings and this book looks more like a Nicholas Sparks kind of stories. Also, it felt like the author wanted just to write a story about a doomed, impossible love story and the best setting to do so is in today's North korea.
It wasn't the story that I was waiting for, I don't know but it didn't feel logical. I felt that North Korea was just used here to attract the readers. Also, what is it with Min's husband, the poor guy is completely out and her colleague, Yun Seok, after reading his story at the end ,I was like WHAT? So in this country, we can found out everything about you but no one could discover Yun Seok's secret all this time?!!
For me, only Cuckoo's story was believable and touching, I cried for her. The third part of the book was the best part of the book. I don't say that I hated it but it wasn't the best book that I've ever read. There were some good quotes that I loved for the author writing style is really beautiful here.
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