A Single Square Picture: A Korean Adoptee's Search for Her Roots

by Katy Robinson

A young Korean woman describes her adoption by an American family from Salt Lake City, Utah, her return twenty years later to Seoul to search for her birth mother, and her discovery that she had become an American outsider in her native land. Original.

Genres: Adoption, Memoir, Nonfiction, Asian Literature, Biography Memoir, Biography, Family

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very candid and emotional account of a woman's return to South Korea 20 years after being adopted at age 7. Katy Robinson makes a brief visit and then returns to live in Seoul for a year, searching for her birth family and recalling her Korean culture and family. I found this memoir to be very revealing and not just a little heartbreaking.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 stars? Awesome read...part memoir, part mystery! Poignant story of a Korean woman adopted at Age 7 and raised in America searching for her roots and family back in South Korea. Captivating and enthralling, I couldn't put it down (good thing, as I was stuck on a ten hour flight to South Korea when I read it!).

Beautifully written and touchingly honest, the writer keeps her readers engrossed by the unknown of what her time in South Korea leads her to discover about her family, her heritage, and herself as an woman balancing her identity between being an American and a Korean. Absolutely loved every bit of this one!

[Tegan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an eye opening read. I learned so much about Korean culture and the experiences of adoptees from this book. It was informative yet entertaining and moving. Another reviewer described it as “Part memoir, part mystery” which I think hits the nail on the head, I had to keep reading to find out if Katy managed to locate her family. It straddles the complicated reality of loving one’s adoptive family but knowing that you were deprived of so much growing up and I think the author puts this very eloquently. Really interesting read dealing with questions of culture, identity and family.

[Carissa Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very personal book for me. Both me and my brother are Korean adoptees to a Caucasian-American family. I identified with Robinson more than I have any other writing, even though I have not sought out my heritage family like she did. It's a powerful description of what it's like to look at another culture, another family, to try to see yourself, only to see something completely unfamiliar.

[Noah Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Searching for where you came from is never simple, especially when your identity feels out of reach. This is a book that I can deeply resonate with since, like the main character, I am also a Korean American. If you enjoy personal stories about self-discovery and identity, this book is definitely for you. I thought that the memoir, A Single Square Picture: A Korean Adoptee’s Search For Her Roots by Katy Robinson is a very insightful book that may attract those who are interested in reading heartwarming stories about the life of an adoptee. I believe that this book is a pretty good book, considering that I am able to connect with the main character since we both are missing parts of our identity in the same way that I do not have the complete culture and language of a Korean who grew up and lives in Korea. Katy reveals that there is a missing part of her true self since she can’t even communicate with her biological family without a translator. Additionally, Katy has grown up for the past 20 years in America, and that kept her away from the culture and heritage in Korea. I think that the biggest takeaway as a reader from this book is that understanding who you are often requires facing the parts of your past that feel missing. This book touches on both the past and present, and that connection is what allows the main character to finally understand the full picture of who she is. Overall, Katy’s journey reminds readers that facing the unknown parts of ourselves can lead to a stronger and more complete understanding of who we truly are, making this memoir a meaningful read that I would recommend to anyone interested in identity, culture, or personal growth.

[Gloria Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katy was born in Korea and lived there with her mother and grandmother. When she was seven she was taken to the airport and sent to be adopted in the USA. Was it a great opportunity? or a way for her mother to move on since single parents were not accepted in Korea? She grow to adulthood in Idaho and marries there too. But she wants to go back to Korea and find her mother.

This is a non-typical story of an adoptee finding her roots. It is not typical as usually a child is adopted as an infant or toddler. Katy was old enough to remember her life in Korea though she forgot hot to speak her native tongue. I enjoyed the story and recommend it.

[丰春苹༄]

"I am not an adoptee, but I was inspired by an adoptee, the late Ji-yun. In June 1993, Ji-yun killed herself in the Rhine River at the age of 23. Her last words were only a single line, "I am leaving to meet my biological mom." Ji-yun's death changed my life. When she was alive she edited and published a book on adoption that contained many moving stories. Although I never met Ji-yun while she was alive, I met her through [this] book... Adoption, like amputation, is a separation."

- From Rev. Kim Do-hyun (Director 0f KoRoot) speaking at the Moving from Adoption to Family Preservation Conference, May 11th, 2011

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, as with the last book about an adoption, I did not read every word. I was eager to find the answer to the mystery--who were Robinson's biological parents? So I read with that in mind.

And again, I am moved by the desire to find one's roots. And also by the idea that growing up in an adoptive family can have serious repurcussions but so could staying with the biological parent--usually a single parent.

No more reading about adoption for now. Three books (two recommended as follow up by Good-reads) is enough for now.

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A woman who was adopted from Korea as a child goes back to Korea to try to find her birth parents. Interesting look at life in Korea.

[Danielle McClellan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have just been invited to join an adoptive parents book group and this is the first book that I have read with them. I am looking forward to the discussion on it next week. Although I did not feel that the author explored the larger ramifications of her own experience quite fully enough, I do think that this book is a fairly good introduction (particularly for adoptive parents) to the very complicated life experience of the adopted child.

The author came to the United States from Korea at the age of seven and her memories of this period convey well the chilling transition that internationally adopted children have to make when entering even the most loving of families. Katy's first months in America are confusing and frightening (and I think that in her kindness to her adoptive mother, she vastly underplays the trauma of that period). The book captures the complex cultural clashes that she runs into as a child adjusting to life in Utah and then again experiences as an adult when she attempts to reconnect with her Korean family of origin. She is straightforward and honest about the difficulties of growing up Asian in a completely white community, but also pragmatic about the life she would have led had she stayed in Korea, the daughter of a young unmarried woman.

Robinson ends up learning very little about her birth mother and is told a number of conflicting stories, all seemingly designed to keep her in the dark. This is probably the most insidious problem with adoption and with adoption agencies throughout the world. There is a shared attitude among many otherwise well-meaning people that an adoptive child's narrative is supposed to be neat and tidy and sometimes lies are told to supposedly save a child (and sometimes the adoptive parents as well) from what is seen as unnecessary grief. In fact, any adoption is messy and usually rooted in pain and avoiding or ignoring that fact seems to lead to more grief rather than less down the line. This book presents a look at one young woman's attempt to unravel her own story.

[Marie desJardins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked parts of this -- I have family members and friends who are Korean, Korean-American, and adopted Korean. The view into Korean culture at the time of Katy's adoption, and at the time she returned to Korea to search for her parents, is really interesting. And her own personal story is a bit startling. You always think of foreign adoptions as being of orphans who have no family, but Katy did have a family, as we see in the cover picture. How and why that family came to give her up really was quite interesting.

I'm having a bit of a hard time putting my finger on what I didn't like about the book. To me, the author just feels kind of self-indulgent and immature. It's entirely possible that I can't relate because I'm a lot older than she is, and because I'm not adopted (and certainly not interracially adopted). And she is obviously conflicted and ambivalent about a lot of things (she loves her adoptive mother, yet is angry at her) -- I get that, in principle. It just came across, to me, as a bit self-pitying -- why should somebody who seems to have a perfectly wonderful family, a perfectly wonderful husband, and a perfectly wonderful life be so overwrought about how she got there?

Hmm, that all came across as pretty negative and critical. I don't exactly mean to be -- there were a lot of things I liked about the book, and I understand the drive to understand our roots. I think we all have some of that, even if we're not adopted -- why are we the way we are? Why were our parents the way we were? Where did we come from, and where are we headed? Those are great questions to ask, and Robinson finds some interesting answers and tells a good story. I think maybe I was just surprised a bit that somebody who says she loves to travel and has lived all over the world seemed so very surprised (and often bothered) by the cultural differences between her and her birth family.

Sorry for the rambling review. My thoughts on the book are a bit rambling.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir from an adult adoptee from Korea. Detailed, gripping, heart-breaking at times, strong. Centered around author's search for birth family in Korea. Speaking of her adoptive mother: "I knew, before she even tried to offer it, that she could not understand. It was difficult for me to explain the differences between and the necessity of each family -- the one who gave me birth and the one who raised me. Each represented a part of me, although I could not say with much clarity where one influence ended and the other began." Left me with a lingering sadness that a blameless young girl was wrenched from what she knew and taken so far away - no matter how well in some respects it turned out.

[Quynh Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Randomly grabbed this book from my teacher's book shelf because I was bored after testing. I have no regret doing so at all. In fact, I even went out and bought my own copy. Many people said there's nothing unique or spectacular about her story as an adoptee. That is true. It's a simple and informative story. She doesn't constantly remind the reader of her tragic past; she goes straight to the point. I like it.

[Dana Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first auto-biographical account of a Korean adoptee's journey I have ever read. Interesting journalistic document, though I wish it had penetrated the personal toll of adoption more deeply. Katy's inner life seemed a sidenote. Very revealing information about the nature of Korena people, though. I was intrigued, fascinated, and at times repulsed, as Katy herself experiences.

[Sarah Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great and compelling story. As an adoptive-in-waiting parent, this book was like a window into my soon to be daughter's soul. The story of this woman's journey to find her biological family in Korea was not only fascinating because of our similary circumstances, but also an intriguing look at Korean/Eastern culture.
I would reccommend, even if you aren't adopting.

[Kellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

a Korean adoptee’s search for her roots - adopted at 7 by a Catholic family in Salt Lake City - returns to Korea 20 years later, first for work, then for a year on scholarship - she is regularly frustrated in her search for her mother - she finds her father and half siblings she never knew about it - I could definitely relate

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a million stories to tell and I want to take the time to know them. No suger-coating here, this is raw and truthfully a reality of one person's experience. I admit to shedding a few tears during this read.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was passed on to me by a Korean-American friend. I didn't know if I'd like it, but I loved it in the end. It was a great introduction to Korean culture, and what it feels like to be adopted.

[Stephy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story that opened my eyes to the life of an adoptee.
It was a pretty good book. Not one I can imagine reading again but it was nice to read about a woman who was adopted from Korea and went back to find her family. Some happy and some sad moments.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to keep my "reviews" brief, not wanting to tell too much of the story. I loved the Korean cultural experience both when Katy was adopted and later when she returned to Korea to search for her parents.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book. The author had a difficult life. I learned about the Korean culture, and how it juxtaposes against the American culture in many ways. The author's journey to discover her routes as an adoptee was illuminating.

[ehnonymus · Rating 3 out of 5]

a solid narrative about the search for one's roots, complicated by the difficulty of trying to navigate a completely foreign culture.

[Art H · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read that opened my eyes to the life of an adoptee.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book from an adoptees point of view.

[Edith · Rating 3 out of 5]

True story... a Korean adoptee's search for her birth parents in Korea.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. It gives insites into adoption and also the Koren culture.

[Valarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was well-organized and well written, but I just didn't feel like the story was unique or interesting enough to support a book. A blog post maybe.

[Jihae Ju · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening read on searching/finding/relating to birth parents from an adoptee's perspective. Thoughtfully written with an open heart.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful book from the adoptee POV.

[Kathryn]

I could really relate to this one about adoption