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Sign up todayHurt You
Narrator
Jolene Kim
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Length
9 hours 40 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Hurt You, Marie Lee's YA retelling of Of Mice and Men, is such an important book. There is much to say about this novel, which takes on not only ableism and coming of ages issues, but also race, class, gun violence and heartbreaking loss. What stands out most, however, is the incredible insight Lee brings into the life of Leo, a neuro-atypical youth. At the heart of this story is the powerful bond between Leo and his younger sister Georgia - a high school student and our narrator. Highly recommend.”
— Kathy • Belmont Books
With echoes of Marieke Nijkamp and Jason Reynolds, acclaimed author Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s stunning YA homage to Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men tells the tragic story of a Korean American teen who fights to protect herself and her neurodivergent older brother from a hostile community.
Moving beyond the quasi-fraternal bond of the unforgettable George and Lenny from Of Mice and Men, Hurt You explores the actual sibling bond of Georgia and Leonardo da Vinci Daewoo Kim, who has an unnamed neurological disability that resembles autism. The themes of race, disability, and class spin themselves out in a suburban high school where the Kim family has moved in order to access better services for Leonardo.
Suddenly unmoored from the familiar, including the support of her Aunt Clara, Georgia struggles to find her place in an Asian-majority school where whites still dominate culturally, and she finds herself feeling not Korean “enough.” Her one pole star is her commitment to her brother, a loyalty that finds itself at odds with her immigrant parents’ dreams for her, and an ableist, racist society that may bring violence to Leonardo despite her efforts to keep him safe.
Hurt You is a deep exploration of family, society, and the bond between siblings and reflects the reality that people with intellectual disabilities are far more likely to be the victim of a violent crime, not the perpetrator.
Marie Myung-Ok Lee is the author of The Evening Hero, Somebody’s Daughter, the YA novel Finding My Voice (heralded as the first Korean American own voices novel for teens), and middle-grade novels If It Hadn’t Been for Yoon Jun and Night of the Chupacabras. Her books have won awards such as Friends of American Writers, New York Public Library’s Best Books for the Teen Age, and NCTE’s Children’s Choice. She has been a judge for the National Book Awards, a Fulbright Fellow, and one of the few Korean American journalists allowed into North Korea. She currently teaches creative writing as a writer-in-residence at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity & Race. She has an adult son on the autistic spectrum who helped to inspire her latest novel.
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Reviews
“Marie Myung-Ok Lee wonderfully recasts Of Mice and Men for a new America. Lee is a brave and insightful storyteller, and her words of pain—and hope—seep into our souls.”
“Hurt You is a big, brave story of ‘otherness’ juxtaposed with ‘extreme otherness,’ and friendship under fire. The issues, in their sheer number and intensity, could have been taken over the top by a less accomplished storyteller, but Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s protagonist, Georgia Kim, tells it seamlessly. If you’re not swept away by Georgia’s tough and completely honest loyalty, read the book again.”
“Hurt You reads like something written by a master’s hand, a powerful and heartbreaking story that resonates with the force of love and legend.”
“I learned so much from these pages. Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s timely and critical work recasts Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men as Korean American siblings and pushes much-needed conversations on neurodiversity, racism, and what families—and communities—owe to each other.”
“This contemporary take on Of Mice and Men tackles numerous heavy issues, including racism, ableism, gun control, and the challenges of caring for a significantly disabled family member, but offers no easy answers…Devastating.”
“Hurt You smartly updates Steinbeck’s classic for a young adult readership, foregrounding issues of class, cultural identity, disability, and gun violence. Each of Lee’s beautifully complex characters reveals a potential not captured by the labels that overtake them in young adulthood…I find Hurt You profoundly relevant right now.”
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