Hwang Sok-yong

Sora Kim-Russell

Youngjae Josephine Bae

Mater 2-10

Eva Ströberg

Mater 2-10 - Hwang Sok-yong
.
⭐️⭐️
.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a very important book with all the important history about Korea under Japan occupation up to Korean war in the 1950s, also about the movement of Communist Party in Korea and how North Korea started
.
It was however a mouthful to read. I was undaunted by the size of the book (474 pages, big format) thinking that it would be as enjoyable as Pachinko (also a giant epic around the same timeline), but this one was hard to follow and swallow
.
The story started with Jino, in present day Korea, where he was staging a demonstration by staying on chimney and refused to go down because the factory where he worked was sold off and everyone was fired/replaced. The story went flashback several times telling the story about Jino’s ancestors, mainly Jino’s grandfather Ilcheol and grand uncle Icheol who were a railway employee and a communist activist during Japanese occupation.
.
There were so many names in this book, making it hard to follow, and the (untranslated) Korean title as well, I understood some “Eomma” meaning mother “Abeoji” meaning father and so on but it would be helpful with translation. All in all, very interesting story but really hard to read
.
#mater2-10 #hwangsokyong #koreanauthor #bookstagram #currentlyreading #2023reads #2023readingchallenge

Mater 2-10

Reviews