The Friday 56 – The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted over at Freda’s Voice. The rules are simple and go something like this.

1. Grab a book, any book.
2. Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it)
4. Post it.
5. Add the post URL, not your blog URL, to the Linky.
6. Tweet it #Friday56 (not an official Freda’s Voice rule)

I don’t know why, but the past couple months I have wanted to read nothing but horror. And, yes, I’ve been enjoying every bone chilling moment. The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong was on my July TBR, however, I decided to move it August for Women in Translation month. I just started Part II and so far I’m loving the creepy vibe I’m getting from it.

She was faster. She blocked me with her arm and lunged at me. I was completely caught off guard. It was as if she were fighting off a rapist, she was so determined. I lost my balance, stepped back and fell; my head snapped backward and banged on the stairs. Everything darkened and shook. I felt clammy and I couldn’t breath. I managed to brace myself against the stairs and raise my head. Our eyes met.

The Good Son, pg. 56

Summary: Early one morning, twenty-six-year-old Yu-jin wakes up to a strange metallic smell, and a phone call from his brother asking if everything’s all right at home – he missed a call from their mother in the middle of the night. Yu-jin soon discovers her murdered body, lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs of their stylish Seoul duplex. He can’t remember much about the night before. All he has is a faint impression of his mother calling his name. But was she calling for help? Or begging for her life?