Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

So Far from the Bamboo Grove

by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, Jean Fritz (Foreword by)

3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 · rating details · 1,389 ratings · 257 reviews

Prequel to My Brother, My Sister, and I.

Though Japanese, eleven-year-old Yoko has lived with her family in northern Korea near the border with China all her life. But when the Second World War comes to an end, Japanese on the Korean peninsula are suddenly in terrible danger; the Korean people want control of their homeland and they want to punish the Japanese, who have o

...more

Paperback, 183 pages

Published May 24th 1994 by HarperCollins (first published April 1st 1986)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Female Heroine Books (or books centered around girls)

63rd out of 223 books — 179 voters

Unforgettables

327th out of 924 books — 1,049 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 1,945)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Sep 29, 2011 Kajal Patel rated it 3 of 5 stars

So Far from the Bamboo Grove was spectacular! This memoir reminds me much of the story of Anne Frank because of both of their inner-self. If I were to be in Anne Frank's or Yoko Kawashima(the main character in So Far From The Bamboo Grove) and I was in the middle of World War II going on and I have to travel from one place to another, I would be with my family, but I wouldn't be in the same home I have lived, grew up, and created memories in; I would be in a place that was half-comfortable to me...more So Far from the Bamboo Grove was spectacular! This memoir reminds me much of the story of Anne Frank because of both of their inner-self. If I were to be in Anne Frank's or Yoko Kawashima(the main character in So Far From The Bamboo Grove) and I was in the middle of World War II going on and I have to travel from one place to another, I would be with my family, but I wouldn't be in the same home I have lived, grew up, and created memories in; I would be in a place that was half-comfortable to me. For instance, if I were to be sleeping in a bed, or no bed at all, it wouldn't feel like "home" to me because I've adjusted myself to be sleeping in a caved in bed with white sheets and a crazy pattern-like bedding, but to be taking that away from me is a struggle to get use to and if I was known to have my mom make food for me and take care of me and love me, it changes when you are in a struggle to survive if you were just a 12 year old girl who only knew little about surviving as an escapee/refugee.

I could tell throughout the memoir that the Yoko, the main character, developed herself as a character by her needs and just her dialogue in general! From time in the book, Yoko was happy, but for silly things a rich person would think was completely nothing; silly objects like food, money, and a home. Yoko had transparent emotions, even though it was secretly hiding through a blanket of words. What really took me was when Yoko started going to school in Japan right after they (Ko, Mother and Yoko)came back from Korea; the city they were in was Fukuoka, Japan.
"She turned to me. 'For your cleaning assignment today you will be part of the group that does this room.' Then she placed me in a back seat. I felt desperately unhappy and out of place with these girls in their fine clothes. All had long hair, some in braids. Then a man teacher came in, a history teacher, it turned out. I had no books, no pencil or paper, but I listened. Loneliness attacked me again and I sniffed back tears. I could not wait for school to be over so that I could get back to the station, where I belonged, with Mother and Ko. After class, I had to linger for my cleaning assignment. Some of the girls, as they went out, tossed papers into a wastepaper basket. This gave me an idea and I examined the basket. The papers were crumpled, but many had little writing and all were blank on one side. I picked them up and smoothed the wrinkled sheets. I looked for a pencil too, but there was none. 'You want more paper?' a girl asked. She made an airplane with a piece of notebook paper and aimed at me. The others laughed. I bit my lip, but I did not shed tears when it flew, for collecting papers was a lot easier than looking for food in trash cans. Trying to ignore the girls, I unfolded the airplane and smoothed the wrinkles. There were six of us left to do the cleaning assignment. I had no dustcloth so I asked a girl with a broom if I could sweep, and she shoved the broom at me and walked off. As I swept and came near the girls who were dusting, they scattered, as if I were carrying contagion. If they had gone through what we had experienced, I thought, they would be compassionate. They just don't know! Tears came again as I swept. I longed not only for Mother and Ko but for Father and Hideyo." paragraph six, seven, and eight from page 95 and paragraph one, two, and three from page 96 in So Far From the Bamboo Grove.
In these paragraphs(in quotes), I could react to the pain Yoko was going through (because with all the travelling and hiding your true identity and other elements that were obvious in the text) because if I were to be caught up in the "drama" with the girls that were bullying me about my appearence, it would hurt me because of knowing what such I went through. If I were to be one of the girls and I was looking Yoko up and down in her torn-like, poor clothes, I would know to be supportive of her, just by her appearence.

In Yoko's point of view, her older sister, Ko, can be harsh most of the time and bossy, but what comes out of that is even more. "My legs became numb. I whined, 'I can't walk anymore.' 'You've got to,' Ko said bluntly, 'Don't talk, just walk!' She was getting very bossy." The first two dialogues on page 38 of So Far From The Bamboo Grove. "And then Ko yelled, 'Stay where you are!' She was hopping back on the ties as easily as if she were jumping rope. She had no pack on her back. When she reached us she turned around, bent over and said to me, 'Hop on.' I put myself on her back and locked my arms around her neck. 'Don't choke me, Little One,' said Ko, and coughed. I turned my head toward Mother, and the smile she gave me spoke worlds." At the bottom of page 39 and top of page 40. Those harsh and demanding words took more loving action than the Anti-Japenese Communist Army's similar words. It really means that if you yell and demand something at a person you love and want to survive and do well in life, the words are worth something and it's for the "person that is listening's" sake. It just shows that they (Ko, in this case) believes that whoever they are talking to (Yoko) can make it (Yoko can win the fight for survival).
How Yoko thinks of Mother is that she is more gentle and Yoko herself can know that she has her Mom there by her side and that she isn't completely alone. "'I have learned about good schools,' Mother said. 'I'll take you there tomorrow.' 'I have no clothes!' I protested. 'And look at my shoe, ripped open. I don't want to go to school!' I was going to school, she told me, to learn and to become and educated person. I did not need to decorate myslef." The second paragraph on page 92 in So Far From The Bamboo Grove. Again, this little conversation symbolized love. If Mother hadn't said those words and put it in a gentle form, then Yoko wouldn't have felt loved and she wouldn't have known that her Mother cares about her and her future. Mother would have had a clue about Yoko leading a normal life once more again and think that Yoko, and Ko, would be the future.

Yoko Kawashima sets a tone for herself throughtout the book. In the beginning of the book, she set herself as a person that did her work and was a good person, but once the Anti-Japenese Communists came through Japan, attitudes and emotions changed for Yoko, Ko, and Mother. Ko started to get more bossy; Yoko began to feel more saddness inside and lonliness, and basically she felt new to the new unknown world that the family was going through, but to me, and maybe Yoko, Mother seemed like she was use to the action of being an escapee. It felt like she knew how it was to be alone, and gentle when people are at their worst, and everything that falls in between.
Then there was Hideyo, the Honorable Brother of Yoko and I assume yonger brother of Ko. Hideyo was all by himself from ecaping from Japan to Korea, then from Korea back to Japan. He was more alone than ever. He didn't have a family to be with and no one to be able to talk to. Also to mention, he was traveling, towards the end of the book, in heavy snow and fell unconscious and ended to live with a temporary family. After explaining to the family that he had to go find his real family, he set out to locate any lving or word-by-word clue of finding his Mother (who was dead at the time) and his two sisters. All on his own, with the help of a letter stabbed onto a bulletin board that was written by his little sister, Yoko, he found his way back to them. Captivating and Ispiring to have a character like him able to live life on his own for over a year.

Do you remember when I mentioned the similar or duplicate character of Yoko Kawashima? If not, her name was Anne Frank. They both were very similar in character, and also in traditions. Although in Anne Frank's Diary, she doesn't mention much of her traditions as Yoko does in spots of chapters, but there is little to compare and contrast.
Compare: 1) On each of their New Year's Eve/Day, both cultures prepare a type of feast and/or colorful food to celebrate the new year to come.
2) Anne and Yoko's traditions are similar in the reasons of dance. At a get-together/performance/special occasion, festival, or even a wedding, there are traditional dances that are an act of a welcoming (mood) or any other act of a sign.
3) Both characters have or use calligraphy in their lives.

Contrast: 1) Both main characters have different religions. Anne Frank follows the Judaism religion when Yoko Kawashima most likely would follow the Buddhism or Shinto religion. So it would be obvious that beliefs and doings would be a difference.
2) For the men in a Jewish religion (Anne Frank), where the Kippah which is a type of head dressing that would be worn whenever is possible. For the women in Japan (Yoko Kawashima), they where kimonos for religious reasons or/and traditional reasons.

Overall, I liked this book, and I loved how all the siblings reunited at the end of the novel, but what really saddened me was that the Mother had passed away and the Father never returned (in the book) from Manchuria, and as well as the refugees that were minorly explained in the memoir, but mainly... outstanding writing and a work of art.

-Kajal Patel
(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Sep 29, 2011 Stephanie Ochoa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is about a family who has to leave their home in Nanam, Korea to go to Seoul, Korea, because of the World War ll that Japan had just entered in 1942. The family are the main characters: Yoko, Ko, Hideyo, and their mother. People who aren't family but main characters in this book are: the Corporal Matsumura, the school's janitor, Mr.Naido, and the Korean Communist soldiers. There are some characters in the book that aren't main characters like: hideyo's friend's, and the spoiled school...more

like 1 like · see review

Apr 10, 2013 Matthew rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. For most of its history, Korea was the subject of a continual power struggle between Japan, Russia and China. In 1905, Japan defeated Russia in a naval war over the right to control Korea’s port cities. Japanese businessmen began filtering into Korea because of the commercial value these port cities possessed. Yoko Kawashima was the eight year old daughter of such a businessman. She and her family lived in the middle of a bamboo grove near the city of Nanam, Korea, while her father worked and of...more For most of its history, Korea was the subject of a continual power struggle between Japan, Russia and China. In 1905, Japan defeated Russia in a naval war over the right to control Korea’s port cities. Japanese businessmen began filtering into Korea because of the commercial value these port cities possessed. Yoko Kawashima was the eight year old daughter of such a businessman. She and her family lived in the middle of a bamboo grove near the city of Nanam, Korea, while her father worked and often stayed overnight in the port city of Manchuria which was about a day’s journey away. This story begins near the end of WWII. It is the story of a family struggling to escape capture by the Korean Communist party, then eventually to start life over in Japan. Beginning in their home city of Nanam, Yoko, her sister Ko, and their mother journeyed for several weeks by foot to reach the city of Seoul where they hoped to find her older brother Hideyo. Eventually they were forced to move on to another city by the roughness of the men who began filtering into Seoul. After leaving notes by the railway station for Hideyo, they found a free ride on a Red Cross train headed for Pusan. From there they took a boat to Japan, again fearing the seedy (disreputable?) men who were overriding the city. Arriving in Fukuoka, Japan, Yoko’s mother decided to enroll her children in school despite their shortage of money. Yoko was against the idea, having always disliked school, but her mother enrolled her in a good school and paid for six months of tuition. Ko was accepted at a university nearby, and began attending there. Ko was then left in charge of Yoko while their mother went in search of relatives who might be able to provide them a home. Fitting in at school was a difficult task for the two girls; they were constantly teased for coming to school in rags, living at a railway stop, and scrounging for writing supplies in the trash. After several weeks of living on by themselves, their mother returned. She was extremely weak and ill from stress and lack of food, and died within hours of returning. In the whirlwind of burial arrangements, Yoko met a woman who took pity on the poor sisters and helped them find a cremation center. Additionally, this woman offered to let Yoko and Ko live with her. They gratefully accepted. From here on, life improved slowly but steadily. Ko started sewing and selling dresses from cloth she begged, Yoko found a friendly trash man who saved treasures that he found in the garbage to give her, and both sisters learned to work together in hardship. At last they found some good fortune when Yoko won first place in a writing competition and was awarded a sizeable sum of money. Subsequently, a friend who had known them when they had lived in Korea saw her name in the paper and came by to see what assistance he could offer them. This aid helped them make it through a cold, hungry winter and assured them that they were not alone. Finally came the happy end to a sad story: one night while preparing dinner, Yoko spotted a young man wondering slowly toward her house. She walked out to ask if he needed help, but found that he had indeed come to the right place. This was her brother, Hideyo, who had finally made a safe escape from Korea after so many months. Hideyo had been confronted with death multiple times on his journey, initially from hostile soldiers trying to track him, and then ultimately fighting a battle against winter which he barely survived. Years later these young adults were reunited with their father who had also escaped, but that was far ahead on the horizon. At this point Yoko, Ko, and Hideyo were content simply to be reunited with each other and at last be able to make themselves a new home, so far from the bamboo grove. (less)

like 1 like · see review

Mar 23, 2013 Tanja added it

Shelves: ya-historical-fiction

This is the first time ever that I don't want to rate a book I have read - and this has nothing to do with the author's writing which I thought was very compelling. When I picked it up, I had no idea how controversial the novel had become over the years. For me it was just another book that caught my interest as I browsed our shelves. While reading, it didn't take long before I was in tears the first time - and decided then and there that the brutalities referred to in the book made it unsuitabl...more

like 1 like · see review

Nov 03, 2011 Alex Baugh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: world-war-2

So Far From the Bamboo Grove tells the story of an 11 year old Japanese girl, Yoko Kawashima, who had lived in Nanam in North Korea all her life; in fact, she had never even seen her homeland Japan.

But now, towards the end of the war, Yoko, her mother and older sister Ko are warned by a friend, Corporal Matsumura, that things are not going well and they must try to return to Japan immediately. With Mr. Kawashima, a Japanese diplomat, away in Manchuria, China, and their 18 year old brother Hideyo...more So Far From the Bamboo Grove tells the story of an 11 year old Japanese girl, Yoko Kawashima, who had lived in Nanam in North Korea all her life; in fact, she had never even seen her homeland Japan.

But now, towards the end of the war, Yoko, her mother and older sister Ko are warned by a friend, Corporal Matsumura, that things are not going well and they must try to return to Japan immediately. With Mr. Kawashima, a Japanese diplomat, away in Manchuria, China, and their 18 year old brother Hideyo working elsewhere, Yoko, Ko and their mother leave their home in the middle of the night, taking only what they could carrying. The corporal had been able to secure them places on a hospital train bound for Seoul, where they hoped to find passage on a ship to Japan.

Hideyo had wanted to join the Japanese army when he learned that the war was no longer going well for them. But he is rejected by the army and placed in a factory in another part of Korea to make munitions for the Japanese army. When the war ends, he also finds it necessary to flee and the book is split between the difficulties he meets on his journey with that of the Kawashima women.

The women are able to board the train to Seoul using a letter from Corporal Matsumura, but when the train is bombed 45 miles away from that city, they are forced to walk the rest of the way. Not long after they start walking, the women are stopped by three armed Korean Communist Army soldiers. But when planes fly over and bomb the area they are in, the soldiers are killed. The women take their uniforms, and because they speak fluent Korean, pass themselves off as Koreans for much of their journey. However, the bombs left Yoko with a painfully injured chest.

Eventually, the women make it to Seoul, where Yoko was fortunate enough to have her chest taken care of at the makeshift Japanese hospital. Ko minds their place in a train station, and must constantly scrounge around for food, while Yoko and her mother remain at the hospital. When Yoko is able to travel, once again manage to get places on a train, this time to Pusan, where they must await passage on a ship to Japan. But when Yoko arrives in Japan, it is not the beautiful, comforting, welcoming place she had always dreamt it would be. Japan is now a defeated country, reeling from the two atomic bombs that had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is little food and great destruction, and no welcome for the new influx of refugees returning home. Once again, they find themselves living in a train station and scrounging in the garbage of others for food to survive.

So Far from the Bamboo Grove is a compelling, well-written story, detailing how the Kawashima women survive by their wits and much luck. It is a coming of age story, in which Yoko goes from a whining, complaining 11 year old to stronger, and more mature 12 year old girl.

Unfortunately, it is a story not without some controversy. While most people like the book, it has created quite a bit of resentment among Koreans and Korean Americans, who feel that the atrocities committed in Korea during the Japanese occupation was basically ignored and that some of the facts in the book are distorted. Koreans were portrayed as rather barbaric, and there is even the intimation of a Japanese woman being raped by a Korean man. Because of this, in 2006, the book was removed from the reading list for 6th graders at the Dover-Sherborn Middle School in Massachusetts, but was later out back on it. The school decided to find other books that would give the story of Japan occupation in Korea some balance. Which reminded me of When My Name was Keoko. Both books are based on the true experiences of young girls who lived through the war in Korea. Their stories are very different, but read in tandem, the two books do offer a more balanced historical context on this controversial time and that is how I would recommend reading them.

This book is recommended for readers age 12 and up.
This book was purchased for my personal library.

Ironically, Yoko Kawashima Watkins received The Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abby in Sherborn, Massachusetts, despite the controversy surrounding her story.
(less)

like · see review

Oct 07, 2011 Tykeonna rated it 3 of 5 stars

The theme for this book is taking place around the time of the vietnam war. When Japan is under attack by korien gorillas, Japanese families spring to action. 11 year old Yoko Kawshima is on the run for her birth Place, Japan. She is running with her mother and sister on voyage to safety. Yoko had long beutiful, black hair, as well as her mother and sister, before it became to dangerous to be traveling as women and girls. So they shaved it all off. Yoko is motivated to get to Japan and finally m...more

like · see review

Feb 09, 2010 Melonbarmonster rated it 1 of 5 stars

Yoko Watkins gives us a fictionalized account of her family's escape from North Korea at the end of World War II. However, she narrowly limits the historical setting and plot and avoids the moral issues surrounding her family's presence in Korea in the first place. Her family was in Korea as part of the Japanese imperial drive to conquer of Korea, China, the Pacific and even the western US. They were driven by a race based state religion that saw the Japanese Emperor as being a god and the Japan...more Yoko Watkins gives us a fictionalized account of her family's escape from North Korea at the end of World War II. However, she narrowly limits the historical setting and plot and avoids the moral issues surrounding her family's presence in Korea in the first place. Her family was in Korea as part of the Japanese imperial drive to conquer of Korea, China, the Pacific and even the western US. They were driven by a race based state religion that saw the Japanese Emperor as being a god and the Japanese as being a superior race destined to rule the world. We may never know the exact extent of Yoko's family's direct or indirect involvement in Japanese war atrocities but this context of history and morality must not be ignored.

Living in North Korea, Yoko's father worked to enforce Japanese imperialist plans of carrying out cultural genocide (http://www.cgs.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/worksh...) through attempted eradication of Korean language, history, and forced adoption ofJapanese names, etc.. According to R.J. Rummel's “Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1990”, 5.4 million Koreans were conscripted into forced labor and shipped all over Russia, China, Japan. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, died under murderous working conditions and untold millions were never repatriated. Their descendants still live in remote areas of Russia, China and constitute the largest minority population in Japan living through what the UN Human Rights Rapporteur described as "deep and profound racism" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacif...). The Japanese also conscripted an estimated 100,00 to 200,000 teenage girls and women into forced sexual slavery for its military (http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/06/new...).

Manchuria, where Yoko's father worked, was the location of Unit 731 where innocent Korean and Chinese civilians were used to conduct medical experiments. Vivasections were performed on pregnant women and men without anesthesia. Biological weapons were tested on human subjects. These weapons were even used on the US (http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/21/wor..., http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/18/opi...).

While Yoko herself may be a victim of history, a retelling of her story that sidesteps these historical and moral issues is a distortion of historical reality and morally irresponsible. We cannot be lulled into false naivety by being enamored by just the well-written narrative. This book is morally analogous to an escape story of a Nazi administrator's family living in Birkenow-Auschwitz trying to return to Germany while freed Jews and Poles exact cruel revenge on innocent Nazi families.

If a hypothetical book told this story from a Nazi family's perspective in a sympathetic and compelling way, should it be taught to middle school children? Such a proposal would only be imaginable if there were grave, serious deliberations about all relevant social, historical, moral issues surrounding the book and a clear driving educational purpose. The suggestion should be rejected outright if the historical and moral context of Nazi atrocities was simply ignored, poorly known or even whitewashed.

Similar considerations MUST be had with Yoko Watkins' book! Teaching such material to our children without proper awareness, let alone a deep and profound understanding, is a distortion of history and inexcusable moral irresponsibility. The fact that Yoko Watkins' book is being taught as a heroic escape narrative is born out of a lack of requisite understanding of East Asian history. Giving the author the honor of speaking to our children where this historical distortion and moral irresponsibility is perpetuated only furthers the travesty.

There are no bamboo groves in the region of Korea where Yoko Watkins lived. There were no communist soldiers in North Korea. Repatriation of Japanese families occurred under military protection (http://web.archive.org/web/2007021403...). If there's anything to be salvaged from the tragedies of wars is for humanity to learn its past mistakes. This book can only portray Yoko and her family in a protagonist light by side stepping the history and morality behind her story. These are very things that should not be ignored from history.

If the full truth and proper treatment of Yoko Watkins' real story cannot be properly conveyed to middle school children, teaching of her book should also be reconsidered. There are far richer and valuable books out there that can be taught in place of Yoko Watkins' book. There is no reason to tread on morally questionable grounds and create the possibility of hurting Korean-American families.(less)

like 2 likes · see review

Oct 28, 2010 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It provided a totally different take on WWII, told from a child's POV. I can't wait to read the sequel. You may read some negative comments about this book which reference historical inaccuracy, in particular about the bombing of a hospital train in Northern Korea by the Americans. Those bombings have been recently confirmed by Russian journalists, disputing these comments. The book is a story based on the personal recollections of the author. This is not a history book, but a...more

like · see review

Sep 29, 2011 Norma Franco rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: school-books

Have you ever had to escape angry Koreans? Well that pretty much what Yoko the main character of so So Far From The Bamboo Grove had to do. I really enjoyed the book because it ACCTUALY made me feel as if I was right there with them in it. It was very descriptive and full of detail witch I really liked. Through there hole journey that Yoko Ko nd Mother had to do I felt as if I was next to them. From the Russians all most killing them,the long trip to Soul,the Korean Communists finding them,to th...more

like · see review

Sep 29, 2011 Lauryn Waters rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is very discriptive. I can relate it to another book that i have read, called The Devil's Arithmetic, about the holocaust. These books are very much alike, because a similar train scene occured. They both explained the troubles of life, death, and running from society's rulings. I felt that the characters were given very distinct personalities that were often displayed through dialogue. "Mother" seemed to love her children with everything that she did, "Honorable Sister" seemed to show...more

like · see review

Sep 30, 2011 Daniela Osorio added it

So Far from the Bamboo Groove is a good book about a family on a journey Their father is fighting in a war right now,and their brother.He is actually running from soldiers to get to Japan and find his family. his family are in Korea looking like boys to protect from being hurt or killed.While in Japan the 2 girls(yoko and sister) live in a train station and go to school,and while at school the kids at school make fun of them because they go to school looking all ugly.while there at school their...more

like 1 like · see review

Sep 30, 2011 Taelor Threadgill rated it 5 of 5 stars

The theme for this book is taking place around the time of the vietnam war. When Japan is under attack by Korean gorillas, Japanese families spring to action. 8 year old Yoko Kawshima is on the run for her birth Place, Japan. She is running with her mother and sister on voyage to safety. Yoko had long beutiful, black hair, as well as her mother and sister, before it became to dangerous to be traveling as women and girls. So they shaved it all off. Yoko is motivated to get to Japan and finally me...more

like · see review

Oct 01, 2011 Ad-RyaN Williams rated it 4 of 5 stars

So Far from the Bamboo Groove is a great book about a family on a journey for their lost father and brother.Their father is fighting in a war right now, and for their brother they have no earthly idea where he is.He is actullay running from soldiers to get to Japan and find his family with scarce food,water,and other things he needs to live.While he is doing this his family,are in Korea acting as boys to protect from being malested.Until one day their mother can't wait another minute for her bel...more

like · see review

Jan 14, 2013 Danielle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Recommended to Danielle by: College Literacy Class

Shelves: fiction

Summary So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins (1994)

A fictionalized autobiography in which eleven-year-old Yoko escapes from Korea to Japan with her mother and sister at the end of World War II. Though Japanese, eleven-year-old Yoko has lived with her family in northern Korea near the border with China all her life. But when the Second World War comes to an end, Japanese on the Korean peninsula are suddenly in terrible danger; the Korean people want control of their homeland and...more

like · see review

Mar 09, 2012 Jonathan Young rated it 4 of 5 stars

So Far from the Bamboo Grove was an amazing story about an eleven year old girl and her family trying to escape Korea.The Japanese occupied Korea during World War 2, but towards the end of the war the Koreans started to rebel and drive the Japanese out of Korea. After having a recital for the injured soldiers of Japan, Yoko met an injured man named Corporal Matsumura. The Corporal told the Kawashima that they had to flee to Japan because the Koreans are after them.From then on they had to leave...more

like · see review

May 23, 2012 Michelle Kim rated it 1 of 5 stars

I would like to give zero stars if possible. This book is full of lies but Yoko Kawashima writes it like it's her autobiography. I can't believe that this was once recommended to American students. Japanese soldiers were the ones who abused Korean women, not the reverse. During the time period she stayed in North Korea, there were no communist soldiers yet. America had ordered Japanese soldiers to stay and keep the country in order (although they had already surrendered to them) until American s...more

like 2 likes · see review

Apr 02, 2009 angrykitty rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, bio-autobio, kids-teens

i was looking at possible books for teachers to teach, and i came across this title, so i did what i always do when i'm unfamiliar with a title, i went to amazon.com and looked at it's summary. much to my surprise, there were great reviews along with some really negative ones with real specific beefs. i'm finding that the beefs are pretty well founded....

this book wasn't bad, but if it's taught without a little history, the koreans look like total barbarians. it's unfortunate that at the end of...more

like 3 likes · see review

Sep 29, 2011 KayKay Gresham rated it 5 of 5 stars

So Far from the Bamboo Grove was an ASTOUNISHING book.(Even though I came in,in the middle of the story,I can tell you a little bit about what I read so far.)Basically,from what I've been reading is that this family that was torn apart lost the father and the brother.So it was left with the little&Big sister,and the mother.They've experienced some terrible things,really didn't have any shelter,barely nonthing to eat but leftovers out of a thrashcan,or ground.In this book,they saw some repuls...more

like · see review

Sep 30, 2011 Alexandria Crawford rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really did like the So Far From A Bamboo Grove.So Far From a Bamboo Grove had in effect on me in many ways.In this book the main characters are Hideyo,Yoko,Ko,and Honorable Mother.Half of the stuff this family went through and also seen is very terrifying.One of the moments I cant imagining myself doing is hiding my gender for I can be protecting from the disgusting soilders.By reading this book this book made me look at things more clearly like being grateful of what I have in life.I said th...more

like · see review

Nov 03, 2010 Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-reads

Based on the experiences of the author during
World War II, it is the story of two Japanese sisters and their mother escaping Korea and then trying to survive as paupers and eventually orphans in Japan.

What touched me most was when I gave it to my WW II veteran father to read. I thought he might find it interesting since he served in Japan as a Marine and later as a LDS missionary. I did not know/remember he had actually been in Kyoto. He remembers being told as a marine not to give any of the...more

like 1 like · see review

Jun 18, 2009 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think a friend left this book at my house sometime in middle school. I found it and read it, intrigued. I really liked it: though the transitions between significant events is a little choppy, it seems like the way memories can sometimes be disjointed, especially considering how stressful and traumatising some of these are. The author is good at conveying intensity and fear and even elation, even though the last is sparse in this book. It is largely a tragic story told from the biased and naïv...more

like · see review

Sep 27, 2011 Lizbeth Robles rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed So far from the bamboo grove. I thought it was really interesting and gave alot of details like if i was actually seeing what was happenig during world war II. The situation in the book was really harsh, because yoko(the main charachter of the book)only being 11 years old had to struggle with her honarble mother and honarble sister, to find food, shelter, and still had to be traveling to get to Seoul then to pusan when they were forsed to flee their contry. Then trying to find b...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 16, 2009 Aziza rated it 5 of 5 stars

When Yoko was small that time it was Korean War and in the Korean War Yoko and her whole family were trying to save their life. But it is not so easy to save life from the war. In the Korean War Yoko had lost her mother and her father. Actually both sister and brother don’t know anything about their father. It was very bad moment for Yoko and her sister because when her mom died that time both sisters didn’t know what to do. But finally they had found their brother. This first time I actually cr...more

like · see review

Feb 16, 2010 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, class, seattle

In So Far from the Bamboo Grove, the author, who was a Japanese child living in Korea, tells the story of her escape back to Japan with her mother and older sister during and after World War II. The best part about this book is the relationship between the three women of the story. Yuko, the author and protagonist, is just a young girl at the time, but she describes vividly the bond that she has with her mother and sister, and how they care for her throughout their remarkable journey. The ways t...more

like · see review

Sep 29, 2011 Madisen rated it 5 of 5 stars

So far from the bamboo grove touched me in many different ways. It was a great book about a family that was up-rooted from their home and were forced to move. they went through pain and torture ,but they still made it through. This book brought tears to my eyes and smiles to my face at times. A more mature audience would have to read this book though because there is a lot of cussing in it. It was an amazing book!!! As lauryn waters says this book reminds me of a madeover version of "The Devil's...more

like · see review

Nov 14, 2012 Alison added it

Shelves: award-winning, fiction, historical-fiction, memoir, middle-grade

If you are like me, a white gal from the suburban North East, the TV show M*A*S*H was the only place I regularly heard anything about "The Korean Conflict" when I was growing up. I recall it's referred to as a forgotten war here in the U.S. squeezed between WWII and the Vietnam debacle. It's was not until I worked at a New England boarding school with many South Korean students that I started to have a glimmer of context about 2Oth century Korean History. This middle grade novel, published in 19...more

like · see review

Jan 26, 2011 Mitchell added it

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in Korea if you are Japanese and it is wartime, then read So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins. When they find out that Russians are trying to find them and kill them they realize that they can't stay where they live any longer. While this is happening, the girls' brother is working in a factory that makes guns for the army, and ships them. So the mother and her two daughters leave a note for their brother telling him that he...more

like · see review

Mar 31, 2009 Carissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen

this was suggested to be a Favoreads title, but after reading it, I think it's a little too intense for that age group. It is the true story of a Japanese woman who grew up in Korea and then had to flee back to Japan when political unrest threatened her life. It's a good example of how drastically and quickly a person's life can change from a life of ease to a life of desperate survival. She lives homeless for many years, her mother dies, she witnesses many brutalities... it's definitely a compe...more

like · see review

Mar 03, 2011 Corrine13 rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think this book was okay but it wasn't my favorite because some times I got confused on if they were talking about the past or present. One thing that I like about this book is that it was interesting from front cover to back cover. I think the author could have told what happened to the father but that’s also a good thing because it makes you keep thinking about the book. I think a lot of people can relate to this book, especially teenagers with an older sibling or siblings because it show ho...more

like · see review

Feb 23, 2013 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a good book, of course, but what makes it truly amazing is that it is a true story. The author, Yoko Kawashima Watkins ( at the time of the story, just Yoko Kawashima) really went through this. My school has the amazing privilege of meeting Yoko in 7th grade, and she is absolutely the nicest person I have ever met. My friend keeps still keeps in touch with her sometimes, and recently sent her 1000 paper cranes (not the book, she literally made 1000 paper cranes and sent them to Yoko.) I...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 64 65 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
New perspective	4	13	Feb 03, 2012 03:40pm

combine
Other Editions (8)

More editions...

Genres

Historical Fiction

33 users

Young Adult

22 users

Cultural > Japan

6 users

War

6 users

Childrens

6 users

Academic > School

6 users

Literature > Asian Literature

4 users

Cultural > Asia

4 users

Cultural

4 users

History > World War II

4 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Yoko Kawashima Watkins

Yoko Kawashima Watkins was born in Japan in 1933. Her family lived in Manchuria, a region in northern china where her father was stationed as a Japanese government official. This region of China had been under Japanese control since 1931. The family later moved to Nanam in northern Korea, where her father was overseeing Japanese political interests. Japan had taken control of Korea in 1910. Althou...more

More about Yoko Kawashima Watkins...

Books by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

So Far from the Bamboo Grove Lesson plans

So Far From The Bamboo Grove: And Related Readings

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About So Far from the B...

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

title link	preview: So Far from the Bamboo Grove
avg rating	preview: So Far from the Bamboo Grove Goodreads rating: 3.95 (1389 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/120728.So_Far_from_the_Bamboo_Grove?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347486505l/120728.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/120728.So_Far_from_the_Bamboo_Grove?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins[/url]

So Far from the Bamboo Grove

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website