Hyun Sook Kim

For some reason, I’ve always gravitated toward graphic novel memoirs. So I may be biased, but I thoroughly enjoyed Kim Hyun Sook’s graphic novel about coming of age as a college student in early 1980s South Korea. I was woefully uninformed about the authoritarian regime there in those days and its history before and after, so part of what made it compelling was learning an important history I didn’t know. And, of course, it couldn’t be more timely. I finished this a day before show more Barr’s secret police started kidnapping people in Portland, so learning about this latest abuse of power was especially eerie given what I’d just read in Banned Book Club. Of course, the graphic novel isn’t just history or current events. The characters are really well fleshed out, and their personal stories are as gripping as the background of government repression and police abuse and torture. And, ultimately it’s a hopeful story. Things change, but people have to fight for that change, and fight to keep it. show less

Agroup of young people in South Korea in 1985 come together for a traditional holiday and learn they have more in common than they knew.

College student Taehee isn’t getting along with her dad. She isn’t allowed to date; he barely even trusts her with her friends. Still, she manages to have a secret boyfriend, Kiwoo, who’s very supportive—even when she brings up the idea of tricking the members of their masked folk dance team into participating in her grandmother’s eerie Daeboreum show more full-moon holiday ceremony. Taehee’s mom forces her to take part in the old tradition, which involves spending the night at Halmoni’s “haunted persimmon farm”—and facing some sort of sacrifice. The setting is rich and immersive; against a backdrop of everyday interpersonal angst and misunderstandings, the story covers political events, such as protests against the book-banning military dictatorship. One team member’s father deems the dance club insufficiently manly, there’s a shaman exorcism, and a transracial Korean American adoptee experiences cultural clashes. Daeboreum becomes more than just a tradition about scaring away evil spirits that Taehee’s grandmother and her friends pull the young people into—it’s also a time for found family to persevere and confront past horrors. The colorful, cartoonlike illustration style is attractive but at times feels dissonant with the story’s themes and doesn’t quite do justice to the strengths of this touching book.

A hopeful and entertaining exploration of a difficult era. (creators’ note, sketches) (Graphic fiction. 14-18)

-Kirkus Review show less

This is a fast-paced graphic novel that illustrates and narrates the life and struggles of a young adult(s) in South Korea in the 1980s. It describes the perils of a country blanketed in Fascism and how fascism pervasively impacts the daily lives of the people, stealing simple joys and basic rights. It explains how the people fight back, silently and loudly, through creative and overt means. Although this happened in a foreign country, thirty years ago, it is relevant to the current show more political climate experienced today and provides a peek into what the not-to-distant future might look like at some point in time. show less

A story of censorship, dictatorship, and state sponsored torture and terrorism of its own people. The book gets real quickly, not shying away from the violence but also showing the college students being young and impetuous. I appreciated that it showed how someone can be living a normal life and then realize that their government is oppressive in a short time. I loved that Hyun Sook called out the sexism she experienced even with her fellow book club members. A book for our times.