Jeff Talarigo

The Ginseng Hunter (never named) whose father is a descendant of North Koreans transported generations earlier to China by the Japanese and who had a Chinese mother grows up on a small farm supplementing his crops with ginseng roots he collects and sells. During the spring to fall months he goes monthly to Yanji to sell his roots, buy supplies and visit a brothel. His isolation has kept him from understanding the political situation of North Korea across the Tumen River beside his farm and dividing the 2 countries. Things change when he meets young Korean prostitute who tells him her story. He then begins meeting Korean refugees, a Korean child and a Korean soldier all of which he has an impact on. A very sad, but poetic story.… (more)

While the prose of this novel are excellent and the structure original, the story is one of overwhelming sadness, and I was glad when I was finished. The story is set in post-war Japan and spans 40 decades of the life of a 19-year old pearl diver who is diagnosed with leprosy and is exiled to a leper colony on a small island not far from where she grew up (she can see her hometown island from her new home, Nagashima). She must change her name and takes on “Miss Fuji” for the island she climbed when she was 9 with her Uncle.

Her leprosy is a mild case and she is able to remain relatively healthy compared to the other patients on the island. She struggles to accept her new life and especially the loss of her diving which she loves most in life. While she makes friends and becomes quite useful on the island; eventually becoming a nurse there, her longing for her beloved diving never ends.

Talarigo does a wonderful job of letting the reader feel Miss Fuji’s full range emotions from anger to sorrow, to longing, and even that of joy and hope. She is a complicated character with contradictory feelings about things and people (like real people do) and I found that added much to being able to relate to her and feeling empathy for her.

Although this is a relatively short book, only 237 pages, it is not a light read. There are many themes to explore and consider, it would make a very good selection for a book club.
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