The Seed of Joy: A Novel of Korea
An immersive dramatization of a pivotal moment in South Korea's history. Our Verdict: GET IT. - Kirkus Reviews
If you love K-drama, history, and tales of rebellion, you'll love The Seed of Joy: A Novel of Korea.
In 1979, South Korea has serious problems. North Korea is looking for an excuse to attack. A dictatorial president is in power. There's a powerful right-wing turn within the South Korean government, and university students are growing restless, yearning for democracy, itching for a fight.
Into this hornet's nest comes Paul Harkin, a na ve American Midwesterner. A newly-minted Peace Corps volunteer, he deals with the challenges that every expat faces: language, cultural faux pas, homesickness. But when he falls in love with Han Mi Jin, a troubled schoolteacher who supports Korea's democratic movement, his challenges intensify. Increasingly disturbing events swirl around the couple: the president is assassinated, the military takes control of the country and extends martial law, political arrests become commonplace, and violent student demonstrations spill into the streets.
Other forces threaten to tear Paul and Mi Jin apart. The Peace Corps administrators learn of Paul's involvement with political protests and try to expel him. Mi Jin's parents arrange an engagement between her and a local man in an attempt to bring her back home to the countryside. Somehow their love survives.
A still more harrowing challenge is yet to come. Caught up in the horrors of the Gwangju Uprising, also known as the May 18 Democratization Movement, in which over 100 people are killed and thousands injured, Paul takes up Mi Jin's cause. In the chaos that follows, he wrestles with love and loss, freedom and duty.
This edition of The Seed of Joy is substantially rewritten and updated. It includes a new Afterword by Choi Yongju, former director of the National Fact-Finding Commission for the May 18 Democratization Movement.
Readers who loved Human Acts by Han Kang, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, and The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See, will love The Seed of Joy: A Novel of Korea.Customer Reviews
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