In the fast-paced, high-urban landscape of Seoul, C and K are brothers who have
fallen in love with the same woman Se-yeon who tears at both of them as they all
try desperately to find real connection in an atomized world. A spectral, namel
ess narrator haunts the edges of their lives as he tells of his work helping the
lost and hurting find escape through suicide. Dreamlike and beautiful, the Sout
h Korea brought forth in this novel is cinematic in its urgency and its reflecti
on of contemporary life everywhere far beyond the boundaries of the Korean penin
sula. Recalling the emotional tension of Milan Kundera and the existential angui
sh of Bret Easton Ellis, "I Have the Right to Destroy Myself "achieves its autho
r s greatest wish to show Korean literature as part of an international traditio
n. Young-ha Kim is a young master, the leading literary voice of his generation.
