Sook Nyul Choi

We enter into this book in Pyongyang, Korea during the Japanese occupation towards the end of WWII. The story of Sookan, a 10-year-old girl living under the cruelties of the Japanese and after them the Russians really engaged me. I knew almost nothing about Korean history and had not been interested in Korea before, so I was glad to find this gateway into their culture and history. Since I'm more familiar with Japanese culture and have lived there, I had to wince at how awful they were to the Koreans during that era. Fortunately, Japan has really changed a lot since then. I'd hazard saying that defeat was good for them (not that I condone what happened to the victims of the atomic bombs, but still...).

I could completely understand why many of the North Koreans quickly became fanatical communists after the Russians took over--they were happy to have anyone but the Japanese in power, and quick to believe in the Russians' goodness for the sake of having enough food and shelter. The only catch was if they disagreed with the Russians and tried to leave, like Sookan's family. Being a "little proletariat" didn't sound like much fun to me either.

I thought this was an excellent introduction to Korea and understanding why a "North" and "South" Korea exist today. While some of the prose seemed a tiny bit choppy and it didn't always lead me to empathize with the characters, the pacing was fine and the story itself was extremely interesting.… (more)