Lost in Seoul and Other Discoveries on the Korean Peninsula

by Michael Stephens

Relates the author's experiences while staying with his wife's family in South Korea, focusing on the power of this vital social unit

Genres: Travel, Asia, Nonfiction

238 pages, Hardcover

First published February 17, 1990

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing, with a few serious turns. Captures Seoul from a Westerner's perspective at an interesting historical juncture: after economic success started to take hold, but when air raid drills were still something of a daily occurrence. The character of Grandma Oh is a treasure - smoking, cussing and drinking - passages about her are some of the best in the book.

[Thomas Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially published in 1990 much has changed in Korea during the last thirty five years. Nonetheless, this was exactly what I was looking for. I want to know more than simply tourist sites to visit - I want the stories. Michael Stephens gives us that - first the story of his Korean wife's family and what it is like to visit them from America. But, more than that he gives us stories about Confucianists, Buddhists, Christians, animists, shamans.

There was a practical side to this as well. I actually learned about places that I wanted to visit. Tailors who will make a tailored suit for you at the price you'd pay to get one off the rack in America. Bookstores that sell Korean classics in English. I learned something about the Korean Alphabet, and the remarkable democratic spirit behind the King Sejong's vision to bring literacy via a phonetic alphabet to all the people.

I feel like Korea is often overlooked, and perhaps even put upon by her Asian siblings; Japan and China. They have invaded the peninsula from time to time - Japan still edits her history books to leave out some of the damaging despicable actions on the peninsula.

This is exactly the book I needed to read before my trip the Hermit Kingdom.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this at the Uptown library while looking for guide books to South Korea (and after early voting - one stop shop!). Strangely put together and a bit odd literarily (and the author himself kind of creeps me out), but notable in its introduction of South Korea to me.. a turning point, I think, for me as my curiosity turns eastward and back to the country where i was born and where my ancestry is rooted, and of which i ashamedly know almost nothing about yet. The traditions of dol and hwan-gap, the mansin's kut, the hints at the incredible interweaving of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, animism, Chinese influence, Japanese influence, etc. into the Koreans' current culture, the turbulent history, the origins of its alphabet, the role of women -- I'm impatient to know more.