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Summary: A riveting, harrowing tale you can't put down!
Review: Elizabeth Kim tells her astounding story in a voice that is at once eloquent and accessible. To look at the photo of the cute little girl on the cover, it is difficult to imagine how this intelligent, incredibly gifted woman could ever perceive herself as repulsive, worthless and unloveable. But the tragedy that marked her life from her very conception has shaped the impressionable little girl into the woman who grew up to find the courage to tell her story in this book.As a lifelong Christian and daughter of a pastor, I was cut to the heart by her recollections of abuse at the hands of her fundamentalist Christian adoptive parents. As a second-generation Korean American female, I also identified with many of the emotions and thoughts Kim expresses in recounting her experiences of struggling to claim an identity between two cultures that refused to accept her as their own, thrust as she was into the role of the subservient, obedient, unquestioning daughter and wife. It would be easy for any writer with such a heartbreaking story to descend into a melodramatic tone of self pity. However, Kim writes with such clarity that you never pity her, you can't avert your eyes from the atrocities she describes, you simply weep for the brilliant, precious little girl and young woman who endured such unimaginable human suffering. A must read for any Asian American and highly recommended for anyone with an Asian American loved one.
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Summary: Ten Thousand Sorrows review
Review: The first half of the book Ten Thousand Sorrows by Elizabeth Kim was gripping. I couldn't put the book down. I was horrified by the way she and her mother were treated and, later, how Elizabeth was treated by her adoptive parents. The influence that fundamentalist Christianity play on the psyche of Ms Kim is astounding. The latter half of the book however, weakens. I got the feeling that Ms Kim was trying to finish up the book quickly. She didn't delve into the process of her healing, or really how her relationship is with her parents now. She also offered a couple of paragraphs of advice for parents who adopt a child from another culture--which, in my mind, clashed with the rest of the book. It left me asking a lot of questions. While reading, I advise others to keep in mind that a lot of these recollections come from a child, so her perspective could be skewed by age and the abrupt transition from one culture to another. Even though there is now some controversy regarding fact checking and accuracy, the book is worth reading.
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Summary: Powerful, Amazing and Haunting
Review: Elizabeth Kim has managed to capture the true essence of life in a simple yet complex book. I was moved at the struggle, and the intense pain she endured. Her style of writing is refreshing; the book was simple, clear, concise and beautifully descriptive. If you have ever experienced pain, hurt, rejection, love, passion and have hope that you will prevail, this book is for you. I was able to relate to many aspects of Elizabeth's life and it helped me deal will allot of my past. This is by no means a self-help book, but it is a journey of great courage and faith and I am pleased I was invited along. Elizabeth thank you so much for sharing your blessings with me.
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Summary: A TRULY TOUCHING TRUE STORY
Review: This incredible journey of not just the protagonist, but also the responder (i.e. myself) is thought-provoking and just simply astounding. I was stunned with the incredible captivating style Elizabeth Kim has utilised.
I recommend every person to read this memoir. It is like no other book I have every read and I finished it within hours, only stopping to eat my meals! Even then, all that lurked in my mind was the contents of the book and it was so poignantly moving that I was engrossed with the tragedy of her life. I can't believe she was tormented one year after another for the most crucial part of her life in socialisation (i.e. her entire childhood and teenage years). It is easy to understand her, to sympathise with her and to give her the love she yearns for as an outsider.
I can not stress how inspirational this will be to all who read it. Even I who finds it difficult to concentrate on many texts flowed through the emotions of Kim's story and felt as thoguh I should embrace life and not take my own blessings for granted. I am a Korean who lives in Australia and had little knowledge of the Korean war orphans. In great clarity, I can now imagine precisely the context of the time and experience. This story has excellent potential to become a box office smash hit if it was retold in the form of a film.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fantasy, not Reality
Review: Welcome to the Matrix: this is fantasyland, folks. Elizabeth Kim must have conjured up "repressed memories" and added a lot of embellishment or fantasized the whole thing, which means she has major psychological problems or else she's a great liar. The "Korea" in this book is a cartoon caricature that doesn't make any sense to me as a Korean. Its so obvious that she stole facts and tidbits from cultural guidebooks: the fairy tale she mentions can be found in any Korean bookstore for foreigners! The other cultural references are so laughably obscure that a Korean child wouldn't be able to remember let alone comprehend at an early age, like the "Seven Sins of Women" or Confucian rituals, etc. Padding the memory with Oriental knick-knacks, hmmm? But non-Koreans seem to eat it up: Notice that some of the reviews that praise this book seem to think that Korea is a "third-world country" and that its justified to slander Korean men. Aren't we lucky to live in the good ol' USA?, they seem to be saying. Yet Korea has the 14 largest economy in the world and Seoul (where this story purportedly takes place) is one of the largest and most modern cities in the world. And ironically, US GI's have committed much abuse and murder of Korean women WITH IMPUNITY under the unfair SOFA accord between the US and Korean government, not Korean men. I really feel sorry for Elizabeth Kim and others who will continue to believe what is clearly a fantasy or figment of a confused person's imagination.
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Summary: Too much detail = doubt
Review: I have a real problems with memoirs when an author recalls so many minute details from the early part of her life. It is just not believable and colors my opinion of the rest of the book. There is no way that Elizabeth Kim could have recalled the early events of her life in such great detail...not just her mother's death, but all the tiny details of her life prior to that and even in the Korean orphanage. That said, I did find the book very compelling, even if not very well-written. Kim's life as an adopted Asian child in a white community was very tough, and her adoptive parents' treatment of her was appalling. They did not adopt a child, they got a servant! Just when I thought Elizabeth's life could not get any worse, she married that sadistic animal. I only hope that everyone in the town now knows who he is! I thought the book really got bogged down toward the end - very repetitive and I thought it would never end. I was also very disappointed in her near-braggadocio about her affairs with married men, and the fact that she showed no remorse nor any concern for those whom she was hurting.
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Summary: well crafted fiction
Review: Well, what can I say? This is a very well done piece of fiction that appeals to very sympathetic people who are possibly familiar with the kind of situation depicted in this story. Anybody who has lived in Korea during the same time period would think that the author is talking about some very foreign country. Publishing this book is akin to submitting a falsified resume. It's frustrating to find that this kind of work is possible in the world where Korea is very little known.
Rating: 
Summary: Ten Thousand Sorrows
Review: I read TEN THOUSAND SORROWS by Elizabeth Kims. It is a book about strength, hope, and wanting to be loved. If you like truth and fact, smiling and frowning, you would love this book. I enjoyed reading TEN THOUSAND SORROWS. It made me realize how lucky I am to be in the U.S. with great parents who love me and treat me like a person. I would definatly read it again. It has brought a new light into my life.
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Summary: Ten Thousand To Many.....
Review: The book Ten Thousand Sorrows was a very interesting book. It not only told a life story but it made you feel like you were reading on your own life. In my own opinion I would definitly recommend this story only to women because it has a definite womenly insight. But other than that it is an overall good story. This is a definite heart pounder, that makes your heart beat and then break.
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Summary: A controversial book, but a great read...
Review: There has been much written about the validity of Kim's statements and her overall memoirs. We may never truly know whether the book is an accurate reflection of her life, but the story was inspiring and emotionally moving. Be warned that there are moments within the book where you may need to put it down for some of the accounts are not pleasant. But, overall, I found the book to be thoroughly enjoyable to read. It's a quick read and I absolutely loved the epilogue...Read it!
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