BookDragon Blog

*STARRED REVIEW
The book is labeled fiction, but the extraordinarily haunting narrative is inspired by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s mother and two elderly survivors of Korean War separations who were briefly allowed to meet their North Korean families; Gendry-Kim’s mother still hopes to glimpse her sister.

That survivor generation is dying, Gendry-Kim warns, “and with them, the painful memories are disappearing, too. The current generation has little interest in the reunification of the two Koreas.” The critical urgency to save their stories – the same desperation for crucial preservation reflected in Gendry-Kim’s Harvey-winning Grass (2019) – again engenders spectacular results.

Jina, a graphic artist with real-estate woes, reluctantly plans to move away from her elderly mother. She works furiously to record Gwija’s near-century-long odyssey, forever defined by the cleaving from her three-year-old son and husband as they fled from north to south. Even as Gwija later remarried, both she and her husband vowed they would return to their original spouses if a reunion miracle happened. Gendry-Kim’s arresting cover displays that promise – the signs hanging on Jina’s aging parents memorialize the hope of finding missing loved ones.

Visually, Gendry-Kim’s stark black-and-white compositions couldn’t be more affecting: the ominous efficacy of all-black pages, unpredictable layouts with and without panels, and prodigiously empathic expressions throughout. Translated into English by lauded Janet Hong, Gendry-Kim’s latest import proves to be another stunning masterpiece.

Review: “Graphic Novels,” Booklist, July 2021

Readers: Adult

Published: 2021 (United States)