Review by sanjus -- The Vanished by Pejay Bradley

[Sanju Lali]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Vanished" by Pejay Bradley.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Let me give you an example where you may get a nerve-racking experience after reading about an unimaginable taboo among some women. During a marriage ceremony, the bride’s mother ensures her daughter’s eyes would remain closed as a taboo until the marriage ceremony is over. To strictly follow the taboo, the mother would not have any hard feelings to pour some hot wax over the bride’s eyelids in the morning itself on the day of the marriage ceremony. Moreover, you can find how, during the early nineteenth century, the Japanese emperors, at the peak of their power, showed brutality toward the people living in the countries under Japanese imperialism. The story revolves around Emblom, who is born in an aristocratic family under Japanese Imperialism in Korea. You can know more about all these amazing facts by reading the book The Vanished by Pejay Bradley.

This short book has 3045 locations as viewed on Amazon Kindle and is divided into twenty-three chapters. The narrative is from the third-person perspective through the voice of Emblom’s mother. This book focuses on Emblom’s life right from his birth in Seoul and up to his adulthood in Manchuria. Being born in an aristocratic family, he did not have any shortage of anything. To secure a career as a top-level executive in Japanese administration as per his ancestral tradition, he went to Shangai for higher education. Shockingly, his life took a u-turn when he was arrested along with his classmates by the police for supporting the revolutionaries against Japanese imperialism. This untoward event caused him to be infected with tuberculosis in jail, rendering him partially disabled for life. Did Emblom got married, and was he able to maintain his family? How far he supported the revolutionaries against Japan to free Korea, and what was his fate?

The thing I liked the most is the way of depicting the quality of women's lives in the early nineteenth century in Japan and Korea. I could see its reflection on the present-day customs and traditions in those countries. I was glued to the book right from the beginning, wondering what happens next, and the writing style is simple and easy to understand. The book is written in polite language, which makes it suitable for a wide range of audiences. The thing that I disliked the most in this book is the superstition during Emblom's birth, which Emblom’s mother believed, and how it reflected in Emblom's misfortunes. When you read this book, you can know more about that superstition.

This book is suitable to be read by teenagers and the older audience who have a taste for reading about countryside life in the far eastern countries. You may pick this book if you are interested in the history and the culture of East Asian countries like China, Korea, or Japan. I do not recommend this book to readers who dislike reading about the historical content. If you are explicitly looking for romantic scenes in addition to the other content, then you may skip this one.

The book cover and the title intrigued me to find out the suspense hidden behind the word vanished. After reading the book, I realized what the author meant by the word vanished. Moreover, the setting of the story in East Asian countries, especially Korea, boosted my interest in reading until the end. After reading the book, my first thought was to give all four stars. Later, when I found only a few ignorable grammatical errors that are even hard to notice, I could say that this book is professionally edited. Considering all these positive aspects of this book, I decided to rate it with 4 out of 4 stars.

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The Vanished
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