Book Review - O Beautiful by Jung Yun

 

O Beautiful by Jung Yun is about a woman, Elinor Hanson, who travels back home to North Dakota to work on a writing assignment.  Elinor is a former model who is trying to reinvent herself as a freelance writer. Her mentor from grad school offered her a life-changing opportunity to write about the Bakken oil boom in North Dakota for a prestigious magazine.

Elinor grew up near Bakken with her sister, a strict father, and a distant Korean mother.  Her mother met her father when he was stationed overseas. Elinor has spent decades away from home, and she wasn’t looking forward to returning. She is surprised at how much the landscape has changed from her youth.

Her home city is now overpopulated with roughnecks chasing a chance to make a fortune in the oil business. Some long-time residents are worried about what the oil boom would do to their local community.  As Elinor tries to work on her article, old feelings of resentment start to boil up.

I am not sure what to make of the novel. It started off okay but then towards the middle and end, I was trying to understand what the point of the book was. Was it to show how detrimental oil drilling was or how some men could be savages and rude? The book felt like it was all over the place and then there was a mystery about a missing woman. However, that went nowhere, and I wanted to know what happened to her. The book was well written, but I didn’t care for Elinor as a character.  I had a hard time connecting with her. I would have enjoyed the book if it had a point to it. I am in no rush to read other books by the author.