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A review by wingreads
The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of the Heart by Chesil
4.0
Ginny is a Zainichi Korean teen who is about to be expelled. Her host Mother Stephanie, would like to know why. Stephanie is a author who likes to leave notes around the house; one day Ginny finds a note "if the sky was about to fall, where will you go?"
Ginny embarks on a journey with her journal as a confidente. The journal entries are witty, filled with tensions of living as a Korean teen in Japan; the prejudice, awareness of self identity under the backdrop of nationalism within a Conservative homogenous society.
Ginny retells her story; she attended Junior High at a North Korean school in Japan in 1998, where she did not speak the language, is bullied by her peers and looked upon as a curiosity as she is the "other". From interactions with her family and earsdropping into 'adult' conversations, Ginny begins to learn about he impossible choices faced by those who held a stateless status.
I want to spotlight one of the chapters "Taepodong"; Chesil shared a tension filled scene on public transport, one day after a North Korean missile was fired over Japan. The feeling of discomfort, wishing the ground to swallow me up and the feverish desire to cover up any semblance of heritage in case this invites a violent attack really stayed with me. Even as an adult, this bought back unwanted memories of periods in time where this was me.
Reflecting on my emerging awareness of East Asian history, I have to say that I have not heard of Zainichi Koreans before. However, once I did more research about the timescales, and the history between the Nations...I developed a more naunced understanding of Chesil's experiences.
Although this is marked as an YA, this did not shy aware from speaking to the deep prejudices against Koreans, the choices made by adults around the children and how deep rooted hate, guilt, and shame takes away the agency of the potential changes needed. What is clear is that everyone's perspective changes and as life shifts; no view looks the same.
This YA story is semi autobiographical: Chesil Hong grew up as a Zainichi Korean teen in Japan. This was translated by Takami Nieda.
Ginny embarks on a journey with her journal as a confidente. The journal entries are witty, filled with tensions of living as a Korean teen in Japan; the prejudice, awareness of self identity under the backdrop of nationalism within a Conservative homogenous society.
Ginny retells her story; she attended Junior High at a North Korean school in Japan in 1998, where she did not speak the language, is bullied by her peers and looked upon as a curiosity as she is the "other". From interactions with her family and earsdropping into 'adult' conversations, Ginny begins to learn about he impossible choices faced by those who held a stateless status.
I want to spotlight one of the chapters "Taepodong"; Chesil shared a tension filled scene on public transport, one day after a North Korean missile was fired over Japan. The feeling of discomfort, wishing the ground to swallow me up and the feverish desire to cover up any semblance of heritage in case this invites a violent attack really stayed with me. Even as an adult, this bought back unwanted memories of periods in time where this was me.
Reflecting on my emerging awareness of East Asian history, I have to say that I have not heard of Zainichi Koreans before. However, once I did more research about the timescales, and the history between the Nations...I developed a more naunced understanding of Chesil's experiences.
Although this is marked as an YA, this did not shy aware from speaking to the deep prejudices against Koreans, the choices made by adults around the children and how deep rooted hate, guilt, and shame takes away the agency of the potential changes needed. What is clear is that everyone's perspective changes and as life shifts; no view looks the same.
This YA story is semi autobiographical: Chesil Hong grew up as a Zainichi Korean teen in Japan. This was translated by Takami Nieda.