Do not dare disrespect her plants.
The cover, at first glance, is very simple. It is of a lady wearing an apron and standing in a room full of plants. Then when you take a second look, you notice that there is blood dripping down onto her boots from the pair of bloody scissors that she is holding. This plant lady is a female Dexter, and men are disappearing.
This cover very quietly hints at the subtle horror that is written about inside. You know she is killing men, but you don’t know what happens to them afterwards. I thought that maybe she was somehow putting their remains in the fertilizer. That would have been a very fitting end for them. Was I right? You will have to read the book to find out.
Plant lady. Doesn’t sound very dangerous, does it? Her shop is filled with lush and vibrant plants, but no one suspects her of murder. But there is this one cop who does think she is somehow involved. Will he be her undoing?
And I will say that the men she kills are not nice men. Killing is wrong, definitely, but in some cases, it is very tempting.
Plant Lady is very well written and the story is great, but it isn’t needlessly graphic. There is some blood. It would be kind of hard to write about these vicious killings without any mention of blood.
If you like psychological horror, then you will love this story. If you’re looking for a fantastic horror story that isn’t overly graphic, then this is the story you’re looking for. This book that I thoroughly enjoyed publishes on August 4. If you order a Kindle copy before then, it will automatically be delivered to you on that date.
Amazon Link: Plant Lady
Favorite Sentences
A sharp pain, greater than anything she had ever felt, more intense than any playground mocking or parental slap, began to radiate from the deepest part of her gut, as if someone had punched her with the force of a wrecking ball.
Yoohee’s mind flashed back to the infestation—how the scale insects had clung on so persistently that she’d had to wipe away their viscous fluid from every leaf; how the cursed creatures wouldn’t die, not even with the strongest of insecticides.
Once she had carved everything into small pieces, unrecognizable from their original form, they could join the rest under her garden.
As her thoughts turned to the boys from school who had stomped so brutally on a frog as if it were the most entertaining sport, she felt something sharp and sour rise to her throat.
New Words Learned
ajusshis – a Korean term used to respectfully address a middle-aged man, typically in his 40s to 60s, similar to “mister” or “uncle” in English
calathea – any of various tropical American plants of the genus Calathea, some of which have colorful, variegated leaves and are often cultivated as houseplants
jangma – The dictionary definition of ‘Jangma’ is the phenomenon of rain falling over several days during the summer, or the rain itself. Meteorologically, it means continuous rain under the influence of the Jangma front.
https://m.dongascience.com/en/news/62569
lithops – living stones; any of various succulent plants of the genus Lithops, native to Africa, having solitary yellow or white flowers and thick leaves that resemble stones
schefflera – an evergreen tropical or subtropical shrub or small tree that is widely grown as a houseplant for its decorative foliage.
Amazon Links:
About the Author:
Minyoung Kang is a writer and editor-in-chief of film magazine CAST. Her publications include the novel Don’t Let Me Freeze Up, Please and the essay collection Ride a Bicycle and Keep Going. She also publishes short stories on the popular Korean e-book platform RIDIBooks. She lives in South Korea.
Shanna Tan is a literary translator working from Korean, Chinese, and Japanese into English. Her translations include the bestselling Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum. Born and raised in Singapore, she is currently spending some time in Bangkok.
