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Eugenia Kim
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Book
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Publisher | Bloomsbury | ||
ISBN | 978-140880618 | ||
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Reviewer
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Claire
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Synopsis
Najin Han, the privileged daughter of a calligrapher, longs to choose her own destiny. Smart and headstrong, she is encouraged by her mother - but her stern father is determined to maintain tradition, especially as the Japanese steadily gain control of his beloved country. When he seeks to marry fourteen-year-old Najin into an aristocratic family, her mother defies generations of obedient wives and instead sends her daughter to serve in the king's court as a companion to a young princess. But the king is soon assassinated, and the centuries-old dynastic culture comes to its end. In the shadow of the dying monarchy, Najin begins a journey through increasing oppression that will change her world forever. As she desperately seeks to continue her education, will the unexpected love she finds along the way be enough to sustain her through the violence and subjugation her country continues to face? Spanning thirty years, "The Calligapher's Daughter" is an exquisite novel about a country torn between ancient customs and modern possibilities, a family ultimately united by love and a woman who never gives up her search for freedom.
Review
This book was set in Korea from 1915 to 1945 and depicts the life of Najin Han. I really enjoy reading this type of fiction, which includes historical facts along with the actual story, so you get an insight into what peoples' lives were like living through these times. I also find it an easier way to learn about a period in history, rather than reading historical text books, which I just wouldn't bother to do.
You feel sympathy for Najin, living with the constraints of strict (yangban) traditions, being a female so not expected to become anything other than a wife and mother. It makes you realise how limited women's lives used to be in Korea (not allowed to attend school plus with the added possibility of being married off at a young age). But she manages with the help of her mother to go against her father's wishes and attend school and avoid being married off at 14 by going to Seoul to become a companion of the princess Deokhye.
Up to this point I found the book interesting but the book became harder to put down after we were introduced to Calvin, her future husband, where she was shown a glimpse of what could be. Then there is the cruel separation after their wedding day and all that she had to endure after that, with her new husband's family and then her arrest by the Japanese soldiers on suspicions of being a spy. You get a feel for what it might have been like living in an occupied country, not being allowed to teach your children their country's history and faith, having your property and freedom taken away, lack of food, imprisonment and torture.
I'm glad I persevered past the slow beginning and kept reading, it was worth it. One I would recommend to friends to read.
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