Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written and very touching story
Review: I was very touched by the story of growing up in the after effects of the Korean War. The author describes the plot in such poetic words that I had tears in my eyes throughout the book. There is also charming, funny and educational content. I believe it should also be read by students to gain a sense of that part of history and culture. All in all it was a very beautiful story of the Korean culture.
Rating:
Summary: I cried!
Review: One day during my lunch hour, I was listening to the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC. One of the guests that day was Mia Yun whom I had never heard about before. I was very intrigued by what she had to say about the book and the way she read so evocatively from her novel. I bought the book and read it and I cried! It was so different from anything I had read before. Sad and beautiful and painful and yet so joyful! I love it.
Rating: 
Summary: A series of vignettes
Review: This book is noteworthy because it is one of the few books "about" Korea that is not written in a "fortune-cookie fiction" mode; the passages are lyrical, fluid, and evocative. She writes more like James Joyce describing a Dublin childhood rather than a "this-is-how-we-do-it-in-Korean" cultural guidebook. No broken-English, Charlie Chan aphorisms here.Yun describes life in Korea in the '50's and '60's in a series of vignettes; there isn't a single, linear plot that unfolds, but a series of "snapshots" taken from the author's memory (or so I presume). There is a definite sense of loss and mourning as well as nostalgia for the past now that the writer is in America; a sense that she wishes to recover the past by looking back across that chasm one takes once one crosses over to another land. In a sense, you never go back. "Preserve your memories," she says. The real kicker in the story is at the end, when the narrator, in America, recounts her mother's life in very sad, beautiful hues and tones. For anyone who would like to take a retrospective look back at a time and place in Korea that is slowly fading from the memories of the still-living, this is a good place to start.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting, provocative, a breathtaking insight into Korea.
Review: This is a mesmorizing book, a wonderful read. However, the first 100 pages might be tough: prolix. Keep going; I promise you it is well worth it and a real page turner. Don't be fearful of all the splendid reviews that refer to Yun's "poetry." She's a tough-minded observer and superb storyteller.
Rating:
Summary: Can't praise it highly enough
Review: What a beautiful and elegantly written book! Mia Yun writes so well but the great achievement of this book is beyond its poetic language. The characters are so real and so human and so richly developed, that the novel transported me deep into their world. The images are so vivid and so visual, I felt as though I was right there accompanying the characters living their lives. I would recommend this stunning book to anyone looking for a true literary experience!
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