![]() ![]() In one of the more understated moments in the novel, Gwija explains that she and her second married in order to survive, each pledging to divorce the other immediately should a lost spouse ever return from the North or be discovered amongst the chaos of war. Gwija left behind her husband and a son named Sang-il, and her second husband also lost his own family. As refugees, each was separated from their families. At this delicate juncture, Jina decides to pick up a thread her mother presented to her when she was in fifth grade: her mother and her father had each been married to different people before the war. Jina is struggling with her role as the family’s primary caregiver for Gwija, a woman who, despite her frailty, is determined to be independent and continue to mother her adult daughter. Worse, from the perspective of her aging mother, she is entering middle age unmarried. However, though she has published many works, she is still struggling financially. Unlike her siblings, as the last born, she has enjoyed the privilege of pursuing an education in the arts. ![]() In the fictional present, Jina is a novelist. Gendry-Kim uses that still-aching family wound to tell of relationships that are both like and unlike those experienced by her own family. The tale is partly inspired by a real-life experience: late in life, the author’s own mother explained that she had a sister from whom she was separated while fleeing the advancing communist army in Pyongyang in 1950. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |