Richard E. Kim (1932–2009)
Author of Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood
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Wonderful book about the agonizing of an unbelieving priest who feels he needs to keep his flock believing, as their life on earth is so miserable.
(Reminiscent of Unamuno's story, St Emanual, the Good, Martyr)
(Reminiscent of Unamuno's story, St Emanual, the Good, Martyr)
North Korea
A fictionalized memoir, by which I assume the author means what Lucy Grealy did in Autobiography of a Face--the people and events are real, but the conversations and other aspects of the text are not. Kim describes the events of World War II from the perspective of a North Korean family under Japanese occupation. This includes the gradual erosion of Korean culture, including the mandate to discard Korean names. In the contemporary U.S., we do not tend to remember the perceptions of the Japanese held by the generation that came of age during the war; Kim reminds us of those images. Kim writes well and the narrative flows easily. I'd like to read Kang Chol Hwan's Aquariums of Pyongyang to extend my knowledge of North Korea with a more contemporary account.… (more)
A fictionalized memoir, by which I assume the author means what Lucy Grealy did in Autobiography of a Face--the people and events are real, but the conversations and other aspects of the text are not. Kim describes the events of World War II from the perspective of a North Korean family under Japanese occupation. This includes the gradual erosion of Korean culture, including the mandate to discard Korean names. In the contemporary U.S., we do not tend to remember the perceptions of the Japanese held by the generation that came of age during the war; Kim reminds us of those images. Kim writes well and the narrative flows easily. I'd like to read Kang Chol Hwan's Aquariums of Pyongyang to extend my knowledge of North Korea with a more contemporary account.… (more)
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Characters: 7
Setting: 9.0
Prose: 7.5
Note that the Author's Preface contains lengthy excerpts from the book. I would suggest skipping it altogether. It's main themes are how publishers describe Kim, namely as American, or Korean, as well as the concept of Han. I read the preface after finishing the book. The Author's Note was far more interesting.