Rating: 
Summary: 10,000 Fabrications
Review: I found most of Kim's claims highly doubtful. As a Korean, I can say that many of the things she writes have little or no support from Korean history or culture, and her story rings false. How can her childhood hut possibly have had an ondol heating system when the floor was made of swept earth? An ondol heating system, by definition, requires a stone floor. If she and her mother were so poor, how on earth could they have afforded rice and quince tea every day? These things were luxuries at the time! Where in Korea did she grow up, that Buddhists and Confucians lived in conflict? First of all, Confucianism is not a religion, and Buddhism and Confucianism easily and peacefully overlap in Korea. There is no such thing as a "Confucian village," and to say that she and her mother were outcasts because they were Buddhists is nonsense.And these are just the details. Kim's other claims raise more serious issues. I have never heard of honor killings in Korea. Maybe Kim's grandfather was some kind of zealot, or was an unusually violent man. But in that case, Kim should say so, instead of giving her mother's death the title of "honor killing," which has a specific cultural connotation that does not apply in Korea. It seems clear to me that the substance of this book is largely, if not completely, false. It is incredible to me that a respectable publishing company could permit it to be printed and distributed as a real-life memoir - I would think that Doubleday would be more responsible to the public and to the truth.
Rating: 
Summary: a guy liked it too
Review: my wife read this book and thought it was excellent. She buys and reads most of the Oprah selections. I looked at the cover, thought about the fact that it was an Oprah selection, and said, "this is like a chick book, right?" she said "some might think so", but encouraged me to try it anyway. I did. I found that as a writer Kim tends to be a bit repetitive or tends to make things last a bit longer than they need last. I would compare it to a half hour show that is stretched into an hour program as an analogy, except the stretch was only about five or ten minutes rather than a half hour. It is very well written and you can truly feel the emotion she communicates. Most important and extraordinary, to me at least, was when I read the last two pages I cried. Even a guy would like this book.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling Reading
Review: I highly recommend this earnest, compelling, gut-wrenching MEMOIR. I was held captive by her words and the vivid imagery. It took only several hours one day to completely read. Someone stated rice was not a daily meal but since they labored in the village rice fields, why wouldn't rice be readily available for a few cents 30 years ago? I found it horrifying as a Christian to learn of her parents cruelty but their actions and words I have often heard while growing up in the church. It is legalism to the highest degree. I have told my husband and daughters very little about Elizabeth Kim's book yet they are lined up to borrow it. It truly is a compelling memoir. I have been greatly disappointed by the negative reviews and denials that others have written. Until you have walked in Elizabeth Kim's exact shoes, do not presume to say categorically that it is a work of fiction. As the mother of 2 adopted Korean young ladies, I know that honor killings are true yet swept under the table as Ms. Kim states. Our agency told us 23 years ago that these children were considered non-persons who would not be allowed a school permit.We were told they would be given menial jobs such as street sweeping if they did not have the possibility of adoption. It is possible to learn English well enough in a week to communicate basic things. We sponsered a Vietnamese family 20 years ago and saw it first hand. Also, my daughter, at about the same age as Ms Kim, learned to play the piano and after a month played simple songs quite well. It is possible to mimic someone or initiate change if it is fueled by fear.
Rating: 
Summary: Heart-Wrenching and Inspirational!
Review: I read this book in a day (and I am not usually a quick reader)! From the moment I started reading, I couldn't turn the page quickly enough to learn more of Elizabeth Kim's life. It's an amazing story of an amazing little girl-turned-woman in a lifetime of challenges and a world of people both good and bad. Heart-wrenching, yet inspirational, you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: AWSOME... MOVING
Review: A BEUTIFULLY WRITTEN BOOK THAT DESCRIBES EVENTS AND PEOPLE THAT ARE UNIMAGINEABLE TO MOST. THIS BOOK HAD ME ALMOST CRYING AND AT TIMES NAUSEATED BY THESE SO CALLED "GOOD CHRISTIAN AMERICANS". I WANTED TO REACH INTO THE PAGES AND TAKE THE LITTLE GIRL HOME, AND TELL HER NOT ALL PEOPLE ARE MEAN, HIPOCRITICAL, OR ABUSIVE.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Memoir at the Center of Controversy
Review: A friend recommended Ms. Kim's book to me recently, so I came to Amazon to buy a copy. Before doing so, however, I read virtually all of the user reviews posted here. I found it difficult to reconcile the astonishingly vast differences in opinion presented. Some readers were moved to tears, others, insulted by various cultural references or factual omissions, charged that certain elements of her personal narrative are pure fiction. I then knew that I had to read the book. Having now read it, I must say that those who criticize Ms. Kim for her lack of hard facts and seemingly too lucid recollection of her early childhood have missed the point altogether. This book is a MEMOIR, not an autobiography, and thus is merely a retelling of events in her memory. The fact that her early life is recounted in exquisite detail seems to me to be the result of years of polishing, through constant revisiting, the only fond memories she has as a means of solace and escape from the horrors of her new, American life. There has been some discussion in this forum about whether "honor killing" has ever been practiced in Korea. Some have asserted that there has never been any such thing, while others, some even writing from Seoul, have acknowledged a long ("1000 year") tradition of this despicable, misogynistic act. I know very little about the subject, other than the horror the idea presents to me, but I feel that before anyone asserts anything further about the subject here on Amazon that one should be prepared to cite solid, scholarly references to justify their claims. Ms. Kim's memoir is compelling, and, at times, utterly breathtaking. I found it a fascinating and moving read.
Rating: 
Summary: counter to the spirit of buddhism
Review: I was disappointed by the mean-spiritedness with which Elizabeth Kim describes her life. So what if she had to do chores when she was growing up? So what if her parents embarrassed her by praying out loud in restaurants? I refuse to believe that anyone who has undergone real suffering, such as being raped or watching her mother murdered, is even going to register such trivial problems. But everything is treated in the book in an equally scandalized tone. I found it telling that Kim spent so much time describing how horrible it was to have to bathe her aged grandmother. If Kim was a real Buddhist, she would now be ashamed of her own revulsion, for Buddhists grasp the transience of youth better than anyone. And real Asians have a more natural relationship to old people's bodies, because they use communal baths. In Japan I have seen children happily scrubbing their grandmothers' backs. But Kim, a typical 60's generation American, asks us all to join her in feeling disgusted by the thought of bathing an elderly woman! Many reviewers here say that Kim's book distorts truth about Korea. It distorts the truth about Buddhism too. Kim mocks fundamentalist Christians, but they cannot be any further from the Way than she is. Any American who has the nerve to refer to her own life as one of Ten Thousand Sorrows - incidentally, without any facts or evidence OF ANY KIND - needs to talk with a Holocaust survivor. Then maybe she won't complain that her parents never gave her orange juice refills.
Rating:
Summary: Ten Thousand Sorrows
Review: Doubleday has publicly released a press statement that retracts the claim of a tradition of honor killings in Korea. And the Associated Press, Korean Quarterly and KoreAm Journal have all published articles debunking much of Kim's claims. But the damage is already done. They should be ashamed of themselves for publishing such a distorted and misleading book. Korea does have a strong patriarchial tradition, and it should be criticized and probed in an honest, thoughtful manner. But to make such a ridiculous claim of honor killings without the basic fact-checking by Doubleday is an insult to the entire country that amounts to slander. Kim is obviously divorced from Korean culture, but the book would have you believe that this is the "real" Korea, a country trapped by "Confucianism," "bloodline," "honor," "tradition" and in need of rescue from the more civilized and enlightened West. The entire thing is patently false just from the descriptions of her mother alone. I can only assume that the book is catered to voyeuristic viewers who enjoy reading about exotic cultures where bad things happen "over there." And the writing style is just plain bad to boot. Most people defending the book know little to nothing about Korea. But ask the overwhelming majority of Korean Americans or Korean experts and you can confirm for yourself. Don't be duped. Ask as many Koreans as you know whether her details make any sense. Don't just recite them; show them the book. The cultural packaging is what is most offensive and ridiculous, where Kim essentializes and reduces Korean society to a backwards, primitive "culture" that would accept the murder of women without prosecution. Show them the descriptions of her Korean village. Show them! Ask them whether a Korean woman's sole purpose in life was to produce male children, to perpetuate a cycle of "mindless cruelty," to wait their entire lives for the mothers-in-law to die. Ask them if a Korean woman wouldn't know about the armistice that ended the Korean War and the division of her own country and would have to be told of these incredible events by an American GI several years AFTER the war has ended. Puh-leeze! In the final scene, Kim espies a Korean family at a Korean restaurant in San Francisco. She longs to be part of that "inviolate circle," to be accepted. This is an honest and genuine emotion. Then, a Korean girl walking out catches Kim's eye and bows to her. Tears springing to her eyes, Kim is overcome by a tremendous wave of grief and love. She explains: "In Korea, the bow is everything." Yeah, right. While I understand the emotion and her desire to claim Korea for herself, statements like this are more a gesture for non-Korean, mainstream readers who need a comforting, assuring, Americanized "stand-in" such as Kim to grant permission to "peek" into the "culture" and to confirm their ideas about the East without really looking at it closely. Doubleday's role in this is reprehensible. I'm disgusted with them for publishing such a blatantly Orientalist, distorted work that exploits "ethnic suffering." And I'm dismayed that so many of you are actually reading it without knowing the truth about Korea.
Rating: 
Summary: 10,000 sorrows, 100 joys
Review: Elizabeth Kim's life story is full of tragedy and pain. At times, it was too painful for me to read and I had to put the book down for several days. Several other reviewers have criticized Ms. Kim for failing to identify the names of people in her book or failing to mention dates, etc. Although these "dry facts" may make the book more "realistic" for some people, they are not necessary as this book is about the author's emotions, experiences and feelings. I am not usually a fan of biographies as I find many of the minute details to be boring. I'm not going to "fact check" the information provided in the book. If you prefer a book which provides you all the names of all the people who played a role in the author's life and the dates that the events occurred, then you are advised to try another tome. Whether the book is fact, fiction or a blend of the two, it is very compelling.
Rating:
Summary: So much pain . . .
Review: It was obviously a very painful life that Elizabeth Kim endured untilmost recently, but it was also very painful for me to read this book;so painful that I had to skim most of it because it was sounrelenting. I, too, found that not ONE fact was given: what stateshe lived in, what newspapers she wrote (writes?) for; and on and on.I am wondering if her imagination has gotten the best of her? Itwouldn't be surprising, given the awful things she had to endure afterher mother was killed. But I can't pass judgment on her, and Icertainly do not mean to belittle any pain she has suffered. However,I did just read... CHANGE ME INTO ZEUS'S DAUGHTER, and what adifferent experience that was! As with ANGELA'S ASHES, CHANGE ME. . . was filled with humor and loving moments within horriblechildhoods. Was there NEVER any laughter in Elizabeth's life? Was NOONE ever kind to her who she may want to credit with broadening herlife and her views? I hope the book was therapeutically helpful forher, and I also hope we will get a journalist to interview her and asksome of these questions . . . . Good journalism, after all, includes"who, what, when, where, and why". As a journalist herself,Ms. Kim knows this.
|
