A second can change everything
Title : White Chrysanthemum
Author : Mary Lynn Bracht
Published : 18/01/2018
Pages : 320
Genre : Historical Fiction
Publisher : Chatto & Windus
Korea, 1943. Hana has lived her entire life under Japanese occupation. As a haenyeo, a female diver of the sea, she enjoys an independence that few other Koreans can still claim. Until the day Hana saves her younger sister from a Japanese soldier and is herself captured and transported to Manchuria. There she is forced to become a "comfort woman" in a Japanese military brothel. But haenyeo are women of power and strength. She will find her way home.
This was a book I was recently recommended by a friend. When setting out to read this book I had not ever read anything about the occupation of much of Asia by the Imperial Japanese empire. My knowledge of Korea mostly comes from pop culture and also the few books I have read about those who have escaped from the north.
This book follows the fate of two sisters ripped apart by a war that I think many now give no thought to. While the events that took place in Europe are well cataloged, what took place throughout much of Asia at least in the west are fading from memory. In introducing us to Hanna and Emi the Author brings to the forefront the truly brutal events that would shape the lives of far too many innocent Korean women. The book is split into two different times, In the present, we get to learn of Emi's fate. Now, old women, she is racked with guilt for the events of her past. She is someone who feels she cannot tell her child the events of her life before they came into her world. This is not to say that she doesn't come across as a person with a strong spirit. She desperately longs to find peace with what happened before she dies. She embodies the guilt someone can put on themselves for actions that were completely out of their control.
During the sections that take place in the past, we learn of the fate of Hana, Emi's big sister. As a teenager, she is living a happy life with her family until one day the Japanese come to her small island. One day while trying to save her sister Hana is captured and soon her life descends into a living hell. It is difficult not to feel an emotional connection with Hana, the life she is thrust into is one no one would ever choose. She is so beautifully written that it makes it at time hard to read through what happens to her. I could not help but feel the anger build up in me as she is treated like something less than human. The author chose not to describe her many rapes in detail, For me, I think this book would have been unbearable had she done so. despite all this Hana has a strong will and never gives up her hope of escape.
This book brought to me some of the true horrors of what happened during the Japanese occupation of Korea. In choosing to write these two sisters stories in the first person we are thrown face first into there worlds. This is not a light read and the subject matter can put a great burden on the reader. But much like the author, I think it is an important one for us to read and remember. While the women in this book are fictitious the things that happened to them are all too real for many women of there generation. And this is what makes the book stand out so much for me. Once again this is a story that shows the cost taken from many women in wars they want no part in. How the actions of powerful men to try and shape the world only ever tare apart the fabric that holds normal people together. Their story for me was so heartbreaking, it is one of those books that bring up so much emotion in the reader that only builds the further into it you get. It is a skilfully written story that she should be very proud to have brought into the world. A tale that shows the love of two sisters can transcend time and location and will never die. For me, it shed light on a part of history that many I think would be happy to leave buried. But the real comfort women deserve to have there story told and their voices heard.
This was a book I was recently recommended by a friend. When setting out to read this book I had not ever read anything about the occupation of much of Asia by the Imperial Japanese empire. My knowledge of Korea mostly comes from pop culture and also the few books I have read about those who have escaped from the north.
This book follows the fate of two sisters ripped apart by a war that I think many now give no thought to. While the events that took place in Europe are well cataloged, what took place throughout much of Asia at least in the west are fading from memory. In introducing us to Hanna and Emi the Author brings to the forefront the truly brutal events that would shape the lives of far too many innocent Korean women. The book is split into two different times, In the present, we get to learn of Emi's fate. Now, old women, she is racked with guilt for the events of her past. She is someone who feels she cannot tell her child the events of her life before they came into her world. This is not to say that she doesn't come across as a person with a strong spirit. She desperately longs to find peace with what happened before she dies. She embodies the guilt someone can put on themselves for actions that were completely out of their control.
During the sections that take place in the past, we learn of the fate of Hana, Emi's big sister. As a teenager, she is living a happy life with her family until one day the Japanese come to her small island. One day while trying to save her sister Hana is captured and soon her life descends into a living hell. It is difficult not to feel an emotional connection with Hana, the life she is thrust into is one no one would ever choose. She is so beautifully written that it makes it at time hard to read through what happens to her. I could not help but feel the anger build up in me as she is treated like something less than human. The author chose not to describe her many rapes in detail, For me, I think this book would have been unbearable had she done so. despite all this Hana has a strong will and never gives up her hope of escape.
This book brought to me some of the true horrors of what happened during the Japanese occupation of Korea. In choosing to write these two sisters stories in the first person we are thrown face first into there worlds. This is not a light read and the subject matter can put a great burden on the reader. But much like the author, I think it is an important one for us to read and remember. While the women in this book are fictitious the things that happened to them are all too real for many women of there generation. And this is what makes the book stand out so much for me. Once again this is a story that shows the cost taken from many women in wars they want no part in. How the actions of powerful men to try and shape the world only ever tare apart the fabric that holds normal people together. Their story for me was so heartbreaking, it is one of those books that bring up so much emotion in the reader that only builds the further into it you get. It is a skilfully written story that she should be very proud to have brought into the world. A tale that shows the love of two sisters can transcend time and location and will never die. For me, it shed light on a part of history that many I think would be happy to leave buried. But the real comfort women deserve to have there story told and their voices heard.
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