David Halberstam The Coldest Winter – America and the Korean War 718pp, Hyperion, 2007 The subtitle of David Halberstam’s magnum opus, The Coldest Winter – America and the Korean War, at first seems a bit unimaginative. But it is to the point. After all, without Truman’s decision to commit US ground forces, the whole Korean … [Read More]
Category: Book Reviews (page 12)
Ragnarok – one of Korea’s top manhwa
Manhwa in Korea was born 100 years ago. From their beginnings as cartoons in the newspapers, they have grown into long-running graphic novel serials with spin-offs in online games and big screen adaptations. Among the most celebrated of modern Manhwa series are Priest (Hyung Min-woo) and Ragnarok (Lee Myung-jin). Both of these have been translated … [Read More]
Book Review: Reginald Thompson — Cry Korea
As British war veterans gather in Korea to mark the anniversary of the battle of the Imjin River, Jennifer Barclay reviews a recently republished eye-witness account of the early months of the war. Cry Korea is the most unusual book I’ve read about the Korean War. While interviewing British veterans of that war, I’m often … [Read More]
Book review: Michael Pettid – Korean Cuisine – an illustrated history
Michael Pettid: Korean Cuisine – an illustrated history Reaktion Books, 2008 Michael Pettid’s fascinating study is maybe not for a general reader. But for those who take more than a passing interest in Korean food and culture, this is an informative read. Importantly, the book’s title is Korean Cuisine, not Cookery. Pettid defines Cuisine as … [Read More]
Korea Yearbook 2008
Korea Yearbook 2008 Eds Rüdiger Frank, James E Hoare, Patrick Köllner, Susan Pares Brill, 2009 The 2008 Korea Yearbook – Politics, Economy and Society does many of the things that a reader might expect: it contains a collection of papers which review the key developments in its chosen subject areas for the past year. At … [Read More]
The wave that never was? Mark James Russell’s Pop Goes Korea
Eighteen months ago, Mark Russell caused a minor stir at Naver and in the local Korean press by christening the hallyu the “Zombie Wave”. At the time, industry watchers were concerned that the momentum behind the overseas success of some of Korea’s TV dramas and movie seemed to be waning. Was the Korean wave dying? … [Read More]
Donald Kirk on the late 90s financial crisis
Donald Kirk: Korean Crisis: Unraveling of the Miracle in the IMF Era Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (1999) The strength of this book is that is brings together in one place the reportage of one of the key foreign journalists based in Seoul during the 1990s. With access to politicians, press releases and Korean and foreign businessmen, … [Read More]
Yuasa Katsuei: a Japanese colonial novelist
Yuasa Katsuei: Two Japanese Colonial Novels Kannani (1934), Document of Flames (1935). Translated by Mark Driscoll, Duke University Press (2005) Yuasa Katsuei was born in Japan in 1910 and before his second birthday moved to Korea where his father worked in the colonial police force. He went to university in Tokyo from 1929, before returning … [Read More]
Books for your Christmas shopping list
For those pondering what to buy your loved ones for Christmas, here’s a few suggestions from the many books published this year: Meeting Mister Kim. If you haven’t already bought lots of copies of this entertaining book by Jennifer Barclay, shame on you. Awarded 5 stars by LKL, and, to show we’re not biased in … [Read More]
Hwang Sun-won: Trees on a Slope
Hwang Sun-won: Trees on a Slope Originally published 1960. Translation by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton, University of Hawaii Press, 2005 Hwang Sun-won’s Trees on a Slope is one of the few Korean novels directly dealing with the Korean War to be available in English. That’s not to say it’s anything like the bludgeoning experience of … [Read More]
The end of the line — a review of Y Euny Hong: Kept
Y Euny Hong: Kept – a comedy of sex and manners Simon & Schuster, 2006 The author of this entertaining comedy, Y Euny Hong, claims to speak from experience as a surviving descendent of a declining Korean aristocratic family. Making a living now as a journalist, she was given the generous opportunity of 3 pages … [Read More]
Jennifer Barclay: Meeting Mr Kim
Summersdale Publishers, 2008 Jennifer Barclay went to Seoul with her musician boyfriend eight years ago with no fixed agenda other than a desire to get away from her job. Fortunately, while in Korea she took advantage of her free time to explore parts of the country which are not necessarily on the tourist route. This … [Read More]
The Gyopo PI
Leonard Chang: Fade to Clear Thomas Dunne Books, 2004 This is the third novel featuring the private investigator Allen Choice, a Korean American whose name indicates how far he has moved away from his Korean roots. He can’t speak the language, but he gets annoyed when people call him Chinese or Japanese. He dates a … [Read More]
Book review: The Dawn of Modern Korea
Andrei Lankov – The Dawn of Modern Korea EunHaeng NaMu publishing, 2008 This entertaining book has, paradoxically, taken me a devil of a long time to finish. That’s not because it’s difficult. It’s because it’s the opposite. The book is co-branded with a series of articles that Andrei Lankov has been writing for the Korea … [Read More]
James Church: Hidden Moon
(Thomas Dunne Books, 2007) After A Corpse in the Koryo, the rip-roaring start to the Inspector O series, Hidden Moon comes as a bit of a disappointment. Maybe the freshness of the debut is a tough act to follow, but somehow the first time round Inspector O had more character. He’s still got his quirky … [Read More]
A border-crosser’s tale (a brief review of Hyejin Kim’s novel, Jia)
Hyejin Kim: Jia – a novel of North Korea Cleis Press, 2007 A novel about a talented dancer from the wrong family background who finds she needs to escape across the border to China. Those who have shown an interest in the reports from Amnesty International and Christian Solidarity Worldwide will not be surprised at … [Read More]