The author has taken the side of Korea. Is it justifiable?
- Sushan Ekanayake
- Official Reviewer Representative
- Posts: 4864
- Joined: 04 May 2018, 19:13
- Currently Reading: Uplifting The Pain of Behavioral and Learning Styles Through Poetry Now
- Bookshelf Size: 408
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sushan-ekanayake.html
- Latest Review: Unsettled Disruption by Juana Catalina Rodriguez
- Reading Device: B0794JC2K5
The author has taken the side of Korea. Is it justifiable?
- Dee_Robert
- Posts: 395
- Joined: 11 May 2020, 13:10
- Currently Reading: Reel sisters
- Bookshelf Size: 56
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-dee-robert.html
- Latest Review: We are Voulhire: Someone Else's End by Matthew Tysz
-Dee.
- Cristina Chifane
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 2061
- Joined: 07 Jan 2018, 03:51
- Favorite Book: The Magic Mountain
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 898
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-cristina-chifane.html
- Latest Review: The Fold by Dennis Lee
- Reading Device: B00JG8GOWU
- Sasha_100
- Posts: 46
- Joined: 28 Sep 2019, 11:40
- Currently Reading: City of Ghosts
- Bookshelf Size: 71
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sasha-100.html
- Latest Review: Heroes of Atlantis by Ryan Carriere
Wrong actions are wrong no matter how one puts it, but this is about what happened in the past.
As a bystander, who's learning about it now, what I could do is learn about what happened in Japan to cause this and how this could be prevented.
The book does give me strong emotions but I don't think I would hold onto them long enough to forever hate on Japan.
- cd20
- Posts: 1036
- Joined: 29 Nov 2020, 14:54
- Favorite Book: Hope Between the Pages
- Currently Reading: Growing Slow: Lessons on Un-Hurrying Your Heart from an Accidental Farm Girl
- Bookshelf Size: 823
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-cd20.html
- Latest Review: Now Unto Him by Melissa Huggins
- Reading Device: B00IKPYKWG
- Sushan Ekanayake
- Official Reviewer Representative
- Posts: 4864
- Joined: 04 May 2018, 19:13
- Currently Reading: Uplifting The Pain of Behavioral and Learning Styles Through Poetry Now
- Bookshelf Size: 408
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sushan-ekanayake.html
- Latest Review: Unsettled Disruption by Juana Catalina Rodriguez
- Reading Device: B0794JC2K5
That is true. The author, being born in korea, might have heard stories that favour Korea in that struggle. And also we cannot expect the author to not have any affiliation to her native land. So, that might have been the reason for the book to be biased towards KoreaDee_Robert wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 03:16 Ah, I thought so too at first. But then I realised. Its a story, a perspective. The author is entitled to tell it the way it was experienced. Sure, we could do without all that division in writings more and more. But for authenticity purposes, I think our authors work is justifiable
- Sushan Ekanayake
- Official Reviewer Representative
- Posts: 4864
- Joined: 04 May 2018, 19:13
- Currently Reading: Uplifting The Pain of Behavioral and Learning Styles Through Poetry Now
- Bookshelf Size: 408
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sushan-ekanayake.html
- Latest Review: Unsettled Disruption by Juana Catalina Rodriguez
- Reading Device: B0794JC2K5
The author has shown the inadequacies of Korea as well. Yet he has vilified Japan and its soldiers, and some of the actions of Japanese soldiers and officials that are described in this story can turn the reader against Japan. Those things might have been true, but the author could have taken a lighter approachcristinaro wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 06:10 The novel elaborates on the Koreans' perspective regarding the Japanese occupation. In other words, the vilification is expected and justifiable. As for me, the novel did not turn me against Japan. It practically made me curious to read more on the state of international affairs at the time of the story. Besides, the Koreans are not portrayed all in white either. The author often emphasizes the flaws and weaknesses of Korean society.
- evraealtana
- Previous Member of the Month
- Posts: 1528
- Joined: 22 Mar 2019, 19:45
- Currently Reading: The Signature of All Things
- Bookshelf Size: 127
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-evraealtana.html
- Latest Review: Never Teach A Pig to Sing. It is a waste of Time by Freida Atwood
The Japanese did act as aggressors throughout much of their history, and not just the Koreans but the Chinese as well have historically had solid reasons to be "against" them. To portray Korean characters' views of the imperialistic Japanese otherwise than Bradley did would, in my opinion, make the characters not only less realistic but also less relatable.
If a novel were written, for example, from the perspective of a German citizen in the 1920s-30s, it would be reasonable for the novel as a whole to take an anti-Allies stance: for the protagonists to hate the rest of the world, to feel downtrodden and put-upon, and to therefore harbor anger and resentment, which leads to engaging in dehumanizing thought patterns. To write such a character otherwise - as in, "I'm sure the English/French/etc are good people, really; they defeated us fair and square in an honest, well-fought war, and I'm okay with that, even though I can't afford to feed my children right now" - would be inauthentic to the views of the people at the time.
Consider Americans' stance against Japan in WWII, wherein millions of Japanese American citizens were rounded up and locked in concentration camps while Japanese soldiers' body parts were hacked off and kept as "souvenirs". And that was a result of one bombing, not even a country-wide occupation. I can only imagine how much hatred the latter would have engendered. Hate like that doesn't leave much room to see your enemies as humans at all, let alone somewhat decent humans.
In any case, I don't see most readers turning against Japan based on the novel's (admittedly biased) perspective. If that were the case, then novels about English history should be banned worldwide, as the English were at one time or another conquerors and occupiers of just about everywhere.
- Phelicia Gloria
- Posts: 810
- Joined: 10 May 2020, 09:19
- Currently Reading: We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies
- Bookshelf Size: 119
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-phelicia-gloria.html
- Latest Review: Soul Seeker by Kaylin McFarren
- Sou Hi
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 2364
- Joined: 07 Sep 2019, 09:06
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 154
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sou-hi.html
- Latest Review: Project Tau by Jude Austin
Besides, I think the author has pointed out some of Korea's mistakes. As Embon and his friends said, the Koreans were old-fashioned and closed-minded, and the youngsters thought that monarchism was no longer needed. Ironically, in a way, Korea had to thank their foe. Being annexed by Japan offered a golden chance to Korea's young generations: to fall or to rise. We all know the result of that choice: South Korea is now a powerful nation, and despite their closing in, North Korea also employs modern techniques and devices in their daily lives.
So, personally, I think the book is pretty fair about the history aspect.
- Sushan Ekanayake
- Official Reviewer Representative
- Posts: 4864
- Joined: 04 May 2018, 19:13
- Currently Reading: Uplifting The Pain of Behavioral and Learning Styles Through Poetry Now
- Bookshelf Size: 408
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sushan-ekanayake.html
- Latest Review: Unsettled Disruption by Juana Catalina Rodriguez
- Reading Device: B0794JC2K5
If we look at the history, there are many occasions that books have been banned because they had the potential to turn human minds. So this one can'tPhelicia Gloria wrote: ↑04 Jan 2021, 02:15 This is just a novel, the author siding with Korea is okay as the author his coming from Korea so he understands the country better, and I don't think just a mare fiction novel can change one's view on Japan.
be merely ignored as just a novel.
Yes, I agree that the author being Korean, it is fair for her to take the side of Korea. Yet, she could have given a less villainous picture to Japan to be more fair
- Bertha Jackson
- Bookshelves Moderator
- Posts: 2150
- Joined: 19 Aug 2020, 12:57
- Favorite Book: Launchpad Republic: America's Entrepreneurial Edge and Why It Matters
- Currently Reading: The Newton Code
- Bookshelf Size: 761
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bertha-jackson.html
- Latest Review: Deceit by Vernon Baumrind
Book Reviewer at OnlineBookClub.org
- OisheeCk
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 02 Oct 2020, 04:21
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 6
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-oisheeck.html
- Latest Review: The Trafficking Murders by Brian O'Hare
-
- Posts: 34
- Joined: 20 Dec 2020, 17:13
- Currently Reading: A Gentleman in Moscow
- Bookshelf Size: 11
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bardhaselmani.html
- Latest Review: The Mindset by Ace Bowers
- Sushan Ekanayake
- Official Reviewer Representative
- Posts: 4864
- Joined: 04 May 2018, 19:13
- Currently Reading: Uplifting The Pain of Behavioral and Learning Styles Through Poetry Now
- Bookshelf Size: 408
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-sushan-ekanayake.html
- Latest Review: Unsettled Disruption by Juana Catalina Rodriguez
- Reading Device: B0794JC2K5
Any author is biased when it comes to his/her own nation. And it is not unusual to see the enemy as a dangerous devil. Yet, this is not terrorism what we are speaking of. It is a war between two countries, or lets say its a rebellious stand against a country. In that context, the author can elaborate the courageous fight that they had, yet, since the events are already happened and the two countries are in peace today, I think that portraying Japan in an extreme villainous picture is unnecessarySou Hi wrote: ↑04 Jan 2021, 20:38 Hm, first off, nobody writes to praise their enemy and shame their own nation. To some extent, the author is bound to view her country as the victim. Secondly, while being historical, this book is also fictitious. Some details will be modified to suit the plot. (For example, the Joseon dynasty is supposed to end in 1910, two years prior to the book's story.)
Besides, I think the author has pointed out some of Korea's mistakes. As Embon and his friends said, the Koreans were old-fashioned and closed-minded, and the youngsters thought that monarchism was no longer needed. Ironically, in a way, Korea had to thank their foe. Being annexed by Japan offered a golden chance to Korea's young generations: to fall or to rise. We all know the result of that choice: South Korea is now a powerful nation, and despite their closing in, North Korea also employs modern techniques and devices in their daily lives.
So, personally, I think the book is pretty fair about the history aspect.