Fox Girl

Rating:
Summary: Are we all doomed to become our parents?
Review: ...I kinda knew I was in for a harsh ride. I mean, I read the inside flap (...); however, desensitized as I am, I had to force myself to read past the recounting of Hyun Jin's first occupation. Also, this is a book in which the main character, the predicted heroine, is not quite a heroine; the story unfolds from her, but it's her friend Sookie who drives the action, who is the repulsively attractive person we all know, the one that doesn't seem to think in quite the same morals that you do. To Sookie, she thinks to save herself first; but the paradox is that what Sookie does will ultimately save her friend and her child, and I think that she understood this far better than Hyun Jin does. It's not enough to take away the "heroine" label from Hyun Jin, just to chip it.

Through Hyun Jin and Sookie, we see the facets of friendship and the interpretations of motherhood, and how dreams of America that once possessed the people that settled this country has swept, and influenced, the East. It's somewhat low-key in Hyun Jin's narratives; you catch nuances of the tone. It's a disturbing book, pointing out the unredemptive ugliness of human society, but offering the solace that perhaps some can slip through, correct the mistakes made.

Rating:
Summary: A Sadness Pervades
Review: Exploring the complex relationship between America and Korea, this story is set in the aftermath of the Korean War. It's about the abandoned children of American GIs and their survival.

Fox Girl is Hyun Jin, and her best friend is Sookie, a teenage prostitute kept by an American soldier, and there's also Lobetto, a lost boy who makes his living running errands and pimping for the neighborhood girls. Hyun Jin learns that Sookie is her sister, and that Sookie's mother is her "real" mother, and with that, life changes for all of them.

This is a mother-daughter tale, filled with pathos, sadness, terror, and the starkness of survival, and it shows how the girls use their bodies to earn a living. Other characters include Grape Auntie, Duk Hee (real mom), Chazu (the GI "John") as well as Harariya Base, and China Town and the Monkey House.

I wasn't in Korea in the aftermath of the war, but I spent about 13 months there during the late 60's, and the view was that it was "the best kept secret in the world." This book shows how that probably evolved into what it ultimately became, and I found this book to be sad and unflinchingly honest in its portrayal. But a cautionary note: there's adult and sexual situations, and if this kind of thing offends you, you should probably find something else to read. I found it compelling reading, and it sometimes broke my heart, and oftentimes made me angry. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Story of Survival
Review: Fox Girl, by Nora Okja Keller, is a very well written story of survival. It takes place right after the events of the Korean War and shows how it affects the children as they grow up. The main character is Hyun Jin. In the beginning, she lives on a military base with her family and her only friend is an ugly young girl everyone calls Sookie. Sookie, as a child, was in total awe of her beautiful mother and her many boyfriends. Little does either child know, however, is that Sookie's mom is a prostitute. The chapters that tell of their childhood are extremely amusing with the naive thoughts of the young girls about Sookie's mother. These chapters are not all fun and games, though, for they foreshadow Sookie's destiny. Hyun tells of Sookie's mother's talks with them about sex and men which seem to influence how Sookie lives her life later in the book... The book grows slightly darker when the girls grow up and Sookie ends up becoming one of the most beautiful young women in the neighborhood and gets into her mother's profession. Hyun's opinions are as interesting as the story from beginning to end. Overall, this all makes for a good read, at anytime, especially if you have a spring break or summer vacation coming up.

Rating:
Summary: Okja Keller rocks!
Review: I saw the cover and of this book, and that was enough to pique my interest. I read the exerpt and bought the book. This was the first book of this particular topic that I read, and I must say, bravo! It captivates life as it was right after the Korean war between young Korean women and American GI's. It depicts the life of Hyun Jin and her friend Sookie, and the boy Lobetto and how there lives take place from childhood up until early 20's. The time line of the book begins when the three are youngins and their lives eventually go seperate ways. The book portrays life as Korean "prostitutes" as you may call them evolve. The Hyun Jin and Sookie want to make it to America and the path along the way takes several intersting turns and halts. There are rapes, beatings, friendship, relationships, family, and the brining of life.

Rating:
Summary: Okja Keller rocks!
Review: I saw the cover and of this book, and that was enough to pique my interest. I read the exerpt and bought the book. This was the first book of this particular topic that I read, and I must say, bravo! It captivates life as it was right after the Korean war between young Korean women and American GI's. It depicts the life of Hyun Jin and her friend Sookie, and the boy Lobetto and how there lives take place from childhood up until early 20's. The time line of the book begins when the three are youngins and their lives eventually go seperate ways. The book portrays life as Korean "prostitutes" as you may call them evolve. The Hyun Jin and Sookie want to make it to America and the path along the way takes several intersting turns and halts. There are rapes, beatings, friendship, relationships, family, and the brining of life.

Rating:
Summary: waste of time
Review: I thought this book was terrible. The writing was simplistic and juvenile. The story was predictable, and the ending was silly and unbelievable. At first it was interesting to read about the relationship between Sookie and Hyun Jin as children, but when they both became lured into the Korean prostitute ring the story became incredibly boring. I was very disappointed and I don't think I will read any more of this author's works.

Rating:
Summary: Different and Intense
Review: I was hooked on this book after just the intro chapter. I wanted to read something different. Something more than boy meets girl. I found it in Fox Girl. It is an eerie look at a world and culture I never imagined. Though sometimes depressing, it's always thought-provoking. I could hardly put it down. I just had to keep finding out what was going to happen.

Sookie's absence of feeling and remorse is amazing. Hyung Jin is also a little selfish, except for when it comes to the baby. Her first "honeymoon" scene is rather brutal and hard to read, but very well written. Very emotional. I recommend the book.

Rating:
Summary: Depressing, but rings with authenticity
Review: There are other biographies out there that fill the same niche "Fox Girl" does, but it's hard to think of it as a work of fiction. No doubt Nora Keller's experience writing "Comfort Woman" provided plenty of background for the author to make "Fox Girl" ring true. Hyun-jin speaks with the voice of naivete, and it's up to the reader to fill in warnings left unsaid as she follows a common path of survival through the GI support infrastructure known as "America Town".

Nora Keller strains at the end to provide something of a happy ending, although it's more like the temporary relief felt from getting off a bed of nails - an afterthought, perhaps, demanded by the publisher for the benefit of the audience. Why, and how, did Hyun-jin get so irrational about her desire to raise her sister's daughter at any cost? It seems out of character with the rest of her personality which the experience of her own (possibly artificially induced) miscarriage doesn't quite justify.

The interview with the author at the end of the book, along with the Social-Studies like questions make me think that Nora wrote the book with high-school English class discussions in mind - and indeed, if "Lord Of The Flies" qualifies, then so does "Fox Girl".

Rating:
Summary: It breaks my heart to say it, but this book left me cold
Review: This book held so much promise. Like her first movel, Comfort Woman, Okja Keller's Fox Girl promised me the tale of a forgotten victim of war: the off-spring of American G.I. and Korean hookers. Theirs is a story that needs to be told. Much like Comfort Women, these children are a forgotten people and are often ignored in Korean society, as if the entire society hopes these children would just go away.

Unfortunately, Fox Girl never really worked for me. It's difficult for me to say why. Thankfully, the book never sunk to the self-pitying depths of Ten Thousand Sorrows, which was a genuine fear of mine as I started reading the book. I suppose the main criticism for me was that the characters never really came alive and felt real. To one degree or another, each character lacked depth and their relationships with each other never really rang true for me (except for the lead character's relationship with her adoptive daughter at the end).

One final note of caution: There are portions of this book that are genuinely disturbing, as one might expect from a book centering around the off-spring of prostitutes.

Rating:
Summary: Scary and Touching
Review: This book It you into the front line of poverty and desperation. You ache for the main character as she falls into prostitution, but you also rejoice in her love for the child she takes into her heart. While the begining of the book is good, and the middle is very strong, the ending is sadly weak and anticlimatic. The book definitly leaves a bad taste in your mouth about prostitution, and leaves you wondering about whatever did happen to the children of American GIs in Korea.....