This Burns My Heart in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 21, 2012 Laura (booksnob) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: humanities-reading-list, 2012, literature

On the eve of her wedding day Soo-Ja receives a marriage proposal from a passionate man who stirs her heart. Soo-Ja denys Yul her hand and feels she must go through with her intended plans and marry Min, the man who she thinks will help her lead her life in the right direction. She discovers on her wedding night, that her husband has deceived her. Soo-Ja does not want to upset the traditional balance of her life thus far and feels she must remain dutiful to her husband and his family. Soo-Ja vir On the eve of her wedding day Soo-Ja receives a marriage proposal from a passionate man who stirs her heart. Soo-Ja denys Yul her hand and feels she must go through with her intended plans and marry Min, the man who she thinks will help her lead her life in the right direction. She discovers on her wedding night, that her husband has deceived her. Soo-Ja does not want to upset the traditional balance of her life thus far and feels she must remain dutiful to her husband and his family. Soo-Ja virtually becomes a slave to her in-laws. But she never forgets Yul, the man she didn't choose.

This Burns My Heart is set in postwar South Korea. During This Burns My Heart, Korea transforms itself into an industrial nation and becomes westernized. Soo-Ja also transforms and while she chooses to sacrifice her happiness for her daughter's sake, she questions the restraints of society and marriage. Yul enters her life again and Soo-Ja can't help but wonder what her life would be like if she would have made a different choice all those years ago.

This Burns My Heart is a beautiful story of love and transformation with a heroine who grabs your heart. Through the eyes and emotions of the main characters you will understand Korea intrinsically. Prepare to be drawn into this heart wrenching love story, bound by tradition and duty, as the characters journey through life and deny themselves passion. This Burns My Heart is a story that each of us can understand and relate to as it confronts so many of life's emotional dramas.

This Burns My Heart raises a lot of interesting questions. What would our lives be like if we had chosen differently? Am I living the life I am meant to live? Am I being honest with myself about what I want in life? Can we allow ourselves to be truly happy? Is is necessary to sacrifice our happiness for our children? Should we be confined within the constraints of society or step out of those constraints? This Burns My Heart made me take a long look at my life and try to answer some of these questions. I've found I do think about the choices I made 20 years ago and wonder What if? I wonder where my life's journey would have taken me and if I would have made completely different choices. Do you ever wonder?
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Aug 14, 2011 Beverly rated it liked it

This was a 3+ read for me.
• I really enjoyed how the author presented the cultural/social mores of the Korean society in the 1960s. This was time where women across cultures were asserting their rights and this shows how it progressed or were hindered in Korea
• This was an universal story of “what if” regarding who to marry and how does one know what their marriage – could be any culture but what made this story standout was the intimate detail of Korean family expectations
• Every time the story ...more

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