G.P. Putnam's Sons
White Chrysanthemum
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For fans of Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours and Min Jin Lee's Pachinko, a deeply moving novel that follows two Korean sisters separated by World War II.
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.
South Korea, 2011. Emi has spent more than sixty years trying to forget the sacrifice her sister made, but she must confront the past to discover peace. Seeing the healing of her children and her country, can Emi move beyond the legacy of war to find forgiveness?
Suspenseful, hopeful, and ultimately redemptive, White Chrysanthemum tells a story of two sisters whose love for each other is strong enough to triumph over the grim evils of war.
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Book Details
ISBN:
9780735214446
EAN:
9780735214446
Binding:
Paperback
Pages:
320
Authors:
Mary Lynn Bracht
Publisher:
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Published Date: 2018-02-10
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This is an excellent book but a very difficult read. It’s a story that not many Westerners know and is an important read, but deals with a lot of sexual violence.
This is a wonderful book about two sisters who were skin divers during the twentieth century. They were separated by the war and both suffered in different ways by being women in patriarchal cultures. It is grim reading, at times like an adventure story. Horrible to know how many women suffer this way then and now. Author did good job with characters. Recommend.
I couldn’t put this book down. IMO, the ending was not predictable.The topic of this book is not for everyone. Be prepared for horrific parts, but you will learn a lot.
I feel like crying when I hear the story because Hana was strong and an indelible ink that cannot be washed away. Soo and Hana were kids and especially Soo-Sang (sp) was a baby. And Hana was the poster child for sadness, an elegant ruby among the thistles. and s story is a legacy of a comfort girl. There are hundreds of thousands of girls who were stolen, too innocent to know, with braces and hobbled by beatings. Today Korean, Japanese, Americans, Russian, Chinese, etc, disavow and cover up what they did. It does no good to have hate, although not having a remembrance is a catastrophic lie. Comfort girls are not disgusting. The term is Patronizing, Patriarchal and women died, the dust of shoes, slovenly drunks who tainted the young girls, who ran over and ended up in mass graves. Still, the shoddy men who bartered with innocent girls. Most never made it back. Mothers were lost in tears and families still fall to their knees and arrogant men were afraid as the west , moved in. From Penang to Seoul evil men who wanted forgiveness. Haha's life was taken, forfeited to a butt , but not her and Emi. Heroes they were. Always.
Many books inspire. Some books build happy thoughts. Some make me think deeper. Some create a sadness. And some never leave my mind. This story, this book, encompasses all of those emotions. All of them and more. This is a story well worth reading….and reading again. The characters are written about with superior care. Reading this story I began to live the character journey with them. Finishing this story I more fully understood the pain and agony of the Comfort Women. This is an incredible story. Well researched and well written. Thank you Mary Lynn Bracht.
