Tag: Korean setting

Crystal Hana Kim’s—The stone home *****

In an alleyway, Eunju and her mother are captured and driven in a van to the stone home because they’re considered vagrants. On their arrival, they learn that others like them have been locked away for an indefinite period. Eunju and Umma are segregated with the other females to clean and cook while the boys toil in the workshop to complete orders. Warden and Teacher oversee the Keepers who make sure they obey. There are daily Christian sermons about how evil they are. Violence and sexual abuse is common and anyone who disobeys might disappear.

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Linda Sue Park’s—When my name was Keoko *****

In 1940 Sun-hee, her brother Tae-yul, their parents and Uncle live in fear under the Japanese who invaded Korea. As the Japanese advance through Asia, they demand more from Koreans—their food, their metal possessions as well as forcing them to lose their own culture.

This is an accurate account of Japanese colonialism in Korea seen through the eyes of a fictionalized family.

Samuel Park—This burns my heart *****

Soo-Ja grows up in a wealthy family, loved by everyone. With the war ended, she dreams of going to Seoul to become a diplomat, but her father does not want to lose the daughter he idolizes. Soo-ja feels trapped and believes the only way she can succeed is to marry a weak man whom she can convince to accompany her to Korea’s capital. She sets her hopes on Min, a man who claims to be in love with her and not long before their wedding, Yul, who wants to marry her too, warns her that Min is a bad choice. Young and eager to fulfil her dreams, will Soo-ja heed Yul’s warning or, like her father said of a daughter-in-law who marries the oldest son, will she live a life with nothing but drudgery, slaving for everyone else in her new family?

Frances Cha—If I had your face *****

In an exclusive Seoul neigbourhood, is a cheap apartment building where a married couple and several single young women live. Minho is a talented artist, Kyuri, after multiple plastic surgeries, is a beautiful room salon worker in debt, and Ara a hairstylist.

This contemporary tale not only delves into women struggling to survive in an expensive city but explores the attitude of the rich who use and abuse those they consider to be on a lower peg than themselves. A must read for those who are curious about Korea’s social hierarchy and the lives some are forced to live.