So begins a sweeping saga of exceptional people in exile from a homeland they never knew and caught in the indifferent arc of history. In Japan, Sunja's family members endure harsh discrimination, catastrophes, and poverty, yet they also encounter great joy as they pursue their passions and rise to meet the challenges this new home presents. Through desperate struggles and hard-won triumphs, they are bound together by deep roots as their family faces enduring questions of faith, family, and identity.
Comment: despite the current worries of the world, time does not stop and it's once again time for the TBR Challenge post. In July the theme is "family ties" which is purposely a rather broad theme and the reader can go different directions with this.
For me, family ties makes me think of sagas, of those books that follow a family through years. I looked through my TBR and I had this book to read which I think it would suit the theme very well, for it follows a few generations of a family since the 1930s until the 1990s.
In this book we meet a poor Korean family through time and adversity right from the moment Japan takes over Korea until more current days. In all this time, the different generations of the family face many obstacles and prejudice but they always find a way to make it through while keeping up with traditional values.
The main character has to be Sunje, whom we meet as a young girl and follow until she is an old woman. As Sunje faces many problems, she also meets loving people and has hard won successes and her family is the reason for all her sacrifices. Moving along with the changes of the time and society they are living in, we can't help but caring for her and those she loves. However, nothing is ever simple and some things can't really be solved, only dealt with as best as they can...
First of all, this is a very rich novel set in a place I'm not familiar with and that means anything I say is obviously minimal and can't really encompass all the layers and features of Korean and Japanese culture which the author tried to depict and exemplify.
I liked reading this book because it did allow me to learn more about the history of different cultures and, although this is not the first novel I read set in an Asian background, it was still fascinating and touching to see how things are so intrinsically different from what I tend to be exposed to the most.
The book starts in the 30s, around the time Japan has annexed Korea and all the instability the region was facing comes across the page. Of course we are able to read about this as a backstage subject, since the focus is on the fictional characters and how their lives are affected by their surroundings.
Sometimes, it does seem so odd how the characters react to some situations but we cannot forget the way of life in the beginning of the past century was seriously different from contemporary life and all the politics and economics have changed, even though, culturally and financially, many families maintain the same traditions.
Sunje is born of two poor parents but they love her and have always shown that love to her. When Sunje gets pregnant while not married, of course that was cause for a great shame (it still is nowadays in so many places) and worry, especially for her mother, since her father had died before. This description is very simple but reading the book, the author has managed to create this moody atmosphere where we can both feel the worry Sunje's mother feels for her but the resignation that what is done is done. I also felt really sad for Sunje for she kept thinking how disappointed her father would feel. Haven't we all, somehow, felt this? The dual love/worry we might not be what out parents want us to be?
The whole book presents many daily life situations, many custom and tradition issues which we might understand or not, based on our own experiences. I could spend hours and hours dissecting each little choice the characters make but there's no time. Let me just say these characters feel alive, they feel so human and flawed as well as deserving of a voice that it felt like spending time with fascinating people. Even the "villains" if one wants to use this word, have their merits. The author didn't try to create a saga where we have good people and bad people doing good and bad things.
The "good" guys still make less than wise choices and the bad guys pull the strings but not always with bad intentions.
I'd say the biggest issue for me is that since we follow Sunje and her children and grandchildren, and other family members and friends, there's a big cast to focus on. This is not the problem because they all feel well fleshed and complex, even with small descriptions or scenes.
I think the issue is how, by wanting to encompass so many years and around four generations (Sunje, her parents, her children, grandchildren) and so much history and geographic distances, it's inevitable the pace doesn't feel the same throughout the whole novel.
We do spend more time on some moments than in others and the constant change of year (for instance, we have a chapter in 1967, then the next one is in 1974, etc,) makes the matching changes/evolution of the characters to feel choppy, sudden, without enough context.
The history notions, the mention of traditional aspects, the focus on discrimination and alienation are ever present through the book. Yes, this happens mostly on the Japanese side since so many Koreans had to live in Japan but it still exists nowadays, according to the last pages of the book, where we can glimpse how in a more subdued manner. It does intrigue me, because there are many similar traditions between the two countries but history does that... it influences how every single new generation is seen and acts upon the other people. It's not only in Asia, of course, but that was what we saw in this novel. There are so many little subjects here, that it would really be too difficult to address them all.
There are many amazing moments, many amazing situations the characters face and successfully overcome. But there are also some sadder and despairing ones and I admit I shed some tears here and there thinking of it.
I'd say the biggest issue I felt was developed is the notion of identity. Who are we? Is it being born in a specific country the only identity card we have? Are we not more than just that? Is our family history, our cultural background, our family's roots the only thing that should shape the way others see us? I can't still answer this, despite the radical way one or two characters in the story tried to do.
All issues aside, which could be developed more exhaustively in a non-fiction work, I had a great time reading about these characters, knowing what they thought and felt, empathizing and feeling sorry for them... history and fiction is quite well mixed in this book but I don't think I'd forget the book so soon.
Grade: 8/10
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