"Kapitan Lee," by Chon Kwangyong

[Sara Newman]

While I really enjoyed the crane metaphor, unexpected change in the narrator's plans, and honors present in "Cranes," I didn't find any of these elements repeated or matched in "Kapitan Lee." This story more directly followed shifts in Korean power structures and helped me better understand how the shifting control between Japanese, American-influnced South Korea, and Russian-influenced North Korea would have made it hard for people to stay safe. But while it does a good job depicting the socio-political tensions of the Korean War, this story doesn't exactly give you anyone to admire or root for. The narrator is surely resourceful and clever, but the writer depicts his as disloyal and spineless. I also felt that unlike with the first story which has a surprising ending, this story has less tension/surprise to propell it forward.