The Island of Sea Women: A Novel

The Island of Sea Women: A Novel by Lisa See

Rural Jeju island in Korea had a somewhat matriarchal society. The women served as divers where they would skin dive to harvest sea creatures for food. They would do this even when the waters were cold. Men would stay home and watch he kids. The book tells the story of an old woman who is now gathering algae on the beach. She is created by some young children who would like to hear her story. The old woman had lived through the Japanese occupation and the American / Soviet partition. There were great atrocities and massacres committed on the island. Fellow Koreans in power would shoot their countrymen out of fear of ideological differences.  Americans would often turn a blind eye. They would even restore Japanese collaborators to power to the chagrin of the others.

Much of the book is flashbacks into the early life of the old lady. She had many challenges, including the deaths of her mother and the near-death of a friend while diving. She had befriended a daughter of Japanese collaborator and ended her friendship after she failed to help save her during a massacre. Only at the end does she learn that the children seeing her were descendents of that friend. The collaborator woman had struggled through her life with the grief of not being able to help her friend. 

The book deals with a quest for forgiveness as well as the struggles of historical cultures in the face of modernity. What culture should be preserved and how should it be maintained?

K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television

K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television by Grace Jung

When reading this book, I waffled from loving it to not liking it. Overall, I went for the positive. K-Drama is covered extensively, but is almost incidental to the book. korean Drama serves as a framing mechanism for the author to discuss her life and challenges, as well as the experiences of Koreans and Asians. Koreans has had a challenging history with large falls and rapid rises. Japan occupied Korea, kicked out the monarchs and attempted to wipe out Korean identity. Korea achieved freedom at the end of World War II, only to be divided into two. Many travesties occurred in the Korean War. The war was inconclusive (and technical is still ongoing.) South Korea has a large US military base (despite being an ally.) Televisions were introduced to Korea at this time. The dictatorship ruling the country created a television network to help spread propaganda. Television manufacturers created their own network to sell televisions. Korean Drama came out of this setting. The country suffered from many wounds and still had challenges ahead. Korean dramas were created rapidly and at low cost. There were limits on what could be shown (with the producers often hitten the edge of these limits.) Various tropes, such as amnesia were employed. Dramas also focussed on important parts of the Korean psyche. Society is heavily driven to succeed.  We can see both general as well as individual challenges in the dramas.

The author looks at various dramas and discusses how they relate to her experience (which includes various forms of abuse) as well as Korean life (including adoptions.) She has the power to look beyond the immediate problems. Abusers are people who often suffered from abuse earlier in their life. Ending the cycle is important. She suffered significant abuse from her parents. (In one case she received a huge beating from her mom after her mom misunderstood an elementary school teacher.) She suffered greatly and wanted to separate herself from her family. However, she was able to make peace with them. She is critical of woke people who bring people down for behavior they do not respect. This does not help. Instead we are better understanding and helping others to learn. She received many degrees but was turned off from the academic culture. She finally found an area that she enjoyed. 

Korean Folktales for Language Learners: Traditional Stories in English and Korean

Korean Folktales for Language Learners: Traditional Stories in English and Korean by Sukyeon Cho, Yeon-Jeong Kim and Andrew Killick

This is a language learning book disguised as a storybook. The Korean folktales are presented in both English and Korean. The book contains additional instruction on the basics of Korean characters and language. There are also definitions of many of the Korean words used. This would be a great text for intermediate Korean language study. Even without knowledge of Korean, the book works as a series of English stories. The folktales are short and include a paragraph of discussion. There are some that have parallels in the west (such as Cinderella). Many of them emphasize traits important to Koreans, such as humility and family loyalty. It would be a great book to revisit after learning more Korean.

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam

This long book brings the Korean War to life. The author writes a riveting account of the war that was fought on multiple different levels. Korea was a key location in the ideological battle between western capitalism and eastern Communism. The United States had little understanding of Korea and had reneged on previous promises. On the communist side, the conflicts conflicts between Russia and China created issues for support. On the battlefield, Korea was in the realm of Douglas MacArthur. However, he spent much of his time in Japan and had very little understanding of the Koreans or the conditions on the ground. The book portrays him as a cocky old man who thinks he is above the law. He had great victories in the past and won't listen to his subordinates. However, he will gladly take credit for their plans after they succeed. His arrogance is a big cause of the prolongation of the Korean war. The victory at Incheon probably helped delay his eventual firing. The other sycophants under him denied intelligence and resulted in significant loses. Only with better leadership did the western UN forces gain ground.

Mao's communist forces were able to take advantage of MacArthur's arrogance to achieve some early victories after they entered the war. However, he also fell to arrogance.

In the end, the long war left Korea back in the state it was where the allies divided it after the end of World War II. On the geopolitical front, the US and China ended up needlessly poisoning their relationship. Attempts to contain communism probably helped more to maintain it.

The author is very opinionated, with sources to back his opinions. The Korean War had plenty of heroes and villains. What did it accomplish?

Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History

Korea's Place in the Sun: A Modern History by Bruce Cumings Ph.D.

This is a long history of Korea that was written a couple decades ago. At time of the writing, the author didn't know of any Korean movie that was released in the US. Since then a Korean movie has won the best picture Oscar. Korean drama and music have also exploded on the world stage. The government has become more stable. When a president attempted to implement martial law, he was instead impeached. The South Korea's economy has continued to grow and is now vastly larger than North Korea.

Korea has been one defined area with one population for much of its history. It has had significant interactions with Japan and China. It previously used China's characters, but later adopted its own alphabet. Japan controlled Korea during much of the first half of the twentieth century. After World War 2, America artificially divided the country in two. The Korean War was a civil war between two parties that looked to different sources for influence (USSR vs US). Both sides committed plenty of atrocities. The North was probably in better condition to succeed. However, it was also more heavily bombed. After the end of fighting, both sides were lead by dictators. The North seemed to be industrializing faster and was centrally commanded. The south was relying more heavily on US largess. In the south there were coups, assassinations and other not so great leadership transitions. With heavy government support, big companies grew bigger and grew to compete on the global market.

The author has experience in both North and South Korea. The history primarily focuses on "modern" Korean, though the book was originally written in 1997 and revised in 2005. The coverage of the Koreas is balanced, though the book is quite long.

The Korean War: A History

The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cumings

While subtitled "a history", this book is just as much a meta-history of the Korean war as a history of the conflict itself. There is a significant review of past writings about Korea. It explores how the war was perceived at the time and how perceptions have changed, especially after Vietnam. The actual western "Korean War" is placed as one small chapter in an ongoing conflict between Korea and Japan, with significant Chinese, Russian and American involvement. Korea itself has had well-defined boundaries for centuries. The division between North and South Korea, however, the divicsion between North and South Korea was based on an arbitrary line created by Americans. The North had been dominated by anti-Japanese freedom fighters, while the south had more collaborators. The sides both were filled with corruption and committed numerous atrocities during the conflict. Neither side could really lay claim to the title of "good guys". South Korea has looked into the atrocities with a truth and reconciliation commission. The North remains autocratic and continues to be officially at war with the South. The goals of the Koreans are not the same as the goals of other countries in the conflict. The western forces had little respect for Koreans themselves, and ended up fighting an indeterminate conflict that gets lost between the "success" of World War II and the "failure" of Vietnam. Korea continues to live with this small episode in the ongoing conflict.

If You Live To 100, You Might As Well Be Happy: Lessons for a Long and Joyful Life

If You Live To 100, You Might As Well Be Happy: Lessons for a Long and Joyful Life by Rhee Kun Hoo, translated by Suphil Lee Park

People are living to be older and older. What should they do with the lives? The author has had a positive experience doing things that bring joy.  You wont make the olympics in old age, but you can still find joy in working out. Other pursuits can continue to carried out late in life. It is also important to build up relationships and act on needs to maintain the relationships. things will change. Younger generations will do things differently. Getting caught up in changes can make it difficult to appreciate the positives of the moment. Forgiving others can help you live a positive life. The advice here seems very similar to what is given in Christian work. Maybe the secular approach is easier to sell.

King Sejong Invents an Alphabet

King Sejong Invents an Alphabet by Carol Kim, illustrated by Cindy Kang

From boyhood, King Sejong loved to read. He wanted his subjects to be able to read and write also. However, it was difficult because they had to use Chinese characters. He invented an alphabet that represented how sounds were made that would be easy for everyone to learn. After many centuries this caught on and became the official alphabet of Korea. The book tells the simple tale and then has a brief historical explanation at the end. There is also a small explanation of the alphabet (though I wish there would have been more.)

Wicked Fox

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho

If you mix Twilight and Korean drama you'll get Wicked Fox. A family of human-like "fox" creatures must feast on humans to survive. They move to a small town where the daughter goes to public school. She has struggles with some kids. However, she falls for a boy who she helps save from goblins. For a fantasy story, this is pretty good, but it is still a fantasy.

Korea: The Impossible Country

Korea: The Impossible Country by Daniel Tudor

There are surprisingly few histories of South Korea in English. Most of those that do exist focus on the Korean war of North Korea. South Korea meanwhile has grown from almost nothing to be a significant economic power. Korea has been occupied by various other powers, with Japan and China both exerting influence. Japan was in the process of wiping out Korean language and culture, and may have wiped out "Korea" had it won World War II. In the Korean war, Korea was a proxy in the West vs. Communism cold war. At the end of the cold war, the country was torn apart and extremely poor. South Korea successfully used import substitution and built up a significant economy. Seoul became a great city. The tight knit, hard working Korean culture has helped to build up the economy. The big conglomerates such as Samsung have been able to compete on the global market. They would often copy, but do things better. Today, Korean media is another popular export. There are still challenges. Korea has a high suicide rate. People work and study for long hours. The outcomes may be good, but other places have achieved similar outcomes with significantly less effort.  The book is a good introduction to Korea and their history from ancient times to today.

The Power of Nunchi: The Korean Secret to Happiness and Success

The Power of Nunchi: The Korean Secret to Happiness and Success by Euny Hong

When you are good at Nunchi, you are said to have "quick Nunchi", yet a key nunchi skill is to be quiet and not immediately respond. Nunchi is somewhat related to empathy, but very different. It requires quickly assessing the mood of the room and the condition of others. Small clues are used to understand how people feel and what they are communicating non-verbally. Nunchi also involves picking up and understanding local customs and behavior quickly. Those with quick nunchi can pick up on these and do what is needed to fit in. In many situations, just sitting there quietly can encourage others to play their cards and give out details. (Most people do not like silence.)

This skill seems especially appropriate in Korean culture. The verbal communication is often only a small part of what is going on. It is highly ritualized, with the "real" communication going on in the very subtle back channels. Even in cultures with very open communication, there is still value in understanding these small cues and communication needs.

We Do Not Part: A Novel

We Do Not Part: A Novel by Han Kang, translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris

A journalist's photographer friend has a bad accident and is in the hospital in the city. The journalist goes to see her and is asked to travel back to her hometown near Jeju  help feed her birds. She tries to fulfil the request, but is caught in a big snow storm. She gets there and finds the bird dead - or is it? Much if the story is remembrances of things that happened in the past and how the small town got caught up the civil war and ideology. There were many people that suffered in various ways. I was even wondering if the story was told as a "post death" view after the characters had passed away. The story is of loyalty and uncovering the past woven beautifully together.

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner

A woman was the daughter of an American father and Korean mother. She was challenged by her Korean heritage. However, she began to respect it more after her mother died young. She also talks a bit about her experience with music and joining a band. It is an interesting look at split desires to fit in and respect heritage.

The Name Drop

The Name Drop by Susan Lee

A Korean-American girl is looking forward to an internship with a big Korean company in New York. She thinks this will allow her to get a good recommendation to get scholarships to go to college. Her family cannot afford the school, but are not poor enough for financial aid. She has a challenge of over-sharing when under stress. When she goes to check in for her flight she goes in on details, which end up with her showing her id with her korean name. In the airport she also notices a dapper Korean guy.

The dapper Korean guy is the teenage son of the CEO of the company. He is going to HQ for a special internship for children of executives. However, his Korean name is the same as the Korean name of the girl. When he checks in, he gets the seat in the back that she was supposed to have, while she gets the first class seat. She ends up being picked up by the chauffeur and taken to the townhome, while he ends up joining the intern group in the cramped apartment and the minimum wage internship.

They eventually meet to discuss the situation and realize that both of them like it. The girl works to achieve with her responsibilities. He likes to be a regular guy.

The interns put together a hackathon for the company. It is a success, perhaps too much. The CEO shows up. He acts nice to the girl and offers her a scholarship, but also fires his father. The boy is in the bad grace of his father but still gets strings pulled to go to UCLA. In the epilogue, they meet again. Will the romance go somewhere.

The book is a light, superificial story of teenageers going through challenging situation. It showcases the masculine, patriarchal culture in Korean business. Is it still this bad? The boy and girl have a "trading places" vibe. It seems the company has a lot of talented people that are not listened to while those in authority are underqualified. 

The Dallergut Dream Department Store: A Novel

The Dallergut Dream Department Store: A Novel by Miye Lee

A woman gets a job at a dream department store. This store is open 24 hours and visited by people to find dreams during their sleep. They don't remember past visits to the store. Many dreams are sold on the "pay later" basis, where people only pay if they are satisfied. The woman gets to explore the various departments and their different personalities and types of dreams. There are also special dreams. Precog dreams tell the future. These are typically not sold to people that want them. The people that do buy them will later have déjà vu. There are also special dreams related to death.

After touring the departments, the woman is not sure what she wants. Then she hears of an opportunity to work on the front desk and takes it. She has a number of interesting experiences in the store and gets to know the people better. We also learn of some of the best dream authors, including Santa Claus. There are award ceremonies for the most popular as well as "best" dreams. The book ends with a humorous epilogue of somebody that is optimizing everything for time. After seeing a long queue at the bank, he accuses one man of "preying on the elderly" as a means for shortening his wait. This works and he is able to complete his errands as he desired and have a successful day. However, he doesn't realize that he helped topple a crime ring and been offered a reward.

The book has a gentle, whimsical tone that explores an interesting topic in a matter-of-fact manner.

Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles

Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles by Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester attempted to duplicate a walk through Korea. He wasn't able to complete the portion in North Korea, however, he did ask and was granted permission to visit the north at a later date. Along his walk, he meets with many Koreans (as well as some ex-patriots.) Korea was still a very traditional society with a strong emphasis on saving face. There are bits covering people engaged in activities ranging from diving for seafood to processing ginseng. South Korea at the time was just at the start of its big economic growth spurt. There were some hints of that at the time. However, the society was still very closed. It has changed a lot from the time it was written.

I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki: A Memoir

The author details her struggles with mental illness and self esteem. She lives in Korea and has a moderately successful career, yet she does not feel great. She has trouble with relationships. She doesn't like being with people, but needs them. She struggles with drinking and overeating. The book starts with her view, but also provides some details from her psychiatrist (who is also quite open with her personal struggles.)

The Sense of Wonder

At first, I thought I was listening to a sports non-fiction work. It really sounded like Jeremy Lin. However, the name and other details (such as his ethnicity) were not quite right. The author has used the general framework of "Linsanity" to tell the story of the Korean-American experience. The basketball story is intertwined with the story of another character who is working on bringing Korean dramas to a wider audience. There are relationships involved and struggles with identities (especially when it goes through an adoption and "rediscovery" of the ancestral tongue. At times the story is told within the context of a Korean drama with its appropriate rules.

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

North Korea really is in its own little world. It is surrounded by two booming economies, yet it lives on as a totalitarian Stalinist police state. Wrongs against the state are punished to the third generation. Thus we get the experiences of people that are born in prison camps. Despite never having committed a wrong, they live their entire lives in a camp. Their parents may also have been innocent, with their only crime being having a relative that did something offensive to the state.

Shin Dong-hyuk grew up in one of these camps. His parents were allowed the privilege of marrying and having a child. He did not know anything outside of the camp. He witnessed the execution of his mother and brother. He barely knew what life was like outside of the camp. Hearing tales of meat and good food from a fellow prisoner whetted his appetite for escape. (Life in North Korea was glamorous compared to what he knew in the camp.) When he befriended another prisoner who had lived in China, they plotted an escape. Alas, his friend was killed on the electric fence, but he made it out alive. He wandered around North Korea for a while until he escaped into China, and then with the help of a journalist he ran into made it to the South Korean embassy and into South Korea and then the United States. Once he made it to South Korea, he became part of a support network of people that have been eager to help him (and use him to further the anti-North Korea cause.) He has had trouble adapting to the new life and reconciling his past behavior.

Escape from Camp 14 was told by the escapee through an American writer. Due to the dearth of information available about North Korea, it is very difficult to verify much of the story. (However, the author states that some google map imagery meshes with the locations in the story.) The story does seem convincing enough. It is eye-opening to realize that the concentration camps and their de-humanizing conditions still exist.