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Title details for The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo - Available

The Old Woman with the Knife

A Novel

by Gu Byeong-mo
Nancy Wu
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
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2 of 2 copies available
*A New York Times Editors' Choice* Pick
*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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 8, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781488213229
      • File size: 186780 KB
      • Duration: 06:29:07

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      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
    • Library Journal

      June 1, 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

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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