No Rules Tonight by Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada. Penguin Workshop, 20204. 97805935211298. 208pp.
This is a sequel of sorts to Banned Book Club, also by Kim and Estrada (though BBC was illustrated by Ko Hyung-Ju). Both graphic novels are about Kim’s experience as a college student in South Korea, when student protests against the ruling dictatorship were frequent. Banned books figure into this volume, too, though Estrada’s art helps it achieve a lighter tone.
At the beginning of the book, South Korea is still ruled by a military dictatorship, but the country-wide late-night curfew is a thing of the past. Hyun Sook has joined a folk dance group at Anjeon University (she’s the janggu player), and during winter vacation they’re planning a group trip to Jiri Mountain. Hoon, the group’s director, is the one who invited Hyun Sook into the banned book club, but they’re taking a break after one of their friends went to prison for possession of a book about communism. Hoon is changing schools next year, and encourages Hyun Sook to start her own banned book club. He’s also in charge of supplies for the trip, which becomes a problem after he’s mistakenly arrested for being a union organizer. This creates last-minute problems for the dance group’s trip, but everyone goes despite Hoon being in police custody. Hoon’s arrest also creates a lot of suspicion among the members; could any of them be government informers?
The trip is filled with friendly banter and a bit of romance despite some realistic paranoia on the part of the students, which particularly affects their view of the ROTC students and the new guy in the group.
Worth noting: I really enjoyed learning a bit more about talchum, “a thousand-year-old art form that [is] like band, musical theater, dance, history, and activism all rolled up into one.” When I lived in Korea I saw a lot of traditional masks, and there were always traditional percussion groups around playing music, but I’ve still never seen a full performance.
