[Horizons] White Chrysanthemum - Mary Lynn Bracht - 4 stars

[Nikki]

I’m a bit ambivalent about this book.

On the one hand, it’s beautifully written, and I liked the way it’s structured as the story of two sisters who were impacted by a turbulent period in Korean history in different ways. The book tells a powerful story about a horrifying historical episode that deserves to be acknowledged. I’d heard a little about the Japanese army's abuse of ‘comfort women’ in WWII, but this added significantly to my understanding. I was also impressed by the inclusion of the Jeju uprising and massacre, which I had not previously heard of, and the even-handedness of Emi’s statement that wartime atrocities are not confined to one side, and “all those who survive have been wronged”. I also enjoyed the glimpse into the culture of the haenyeo, the proudly independent ‘women of the sea’ who dive off the shore of Jeju Island.

On the other hand, towards the end of the book the plot appeared to bend in awkward directions, perhaps driven by a desire to produce a more satisfying or ‘redemptive’ narrative. The ending didn’t seem to logically follow from the situations described in all their horror earlier in the book, or be representative of the experiences of the real-life women whose stories inspired the author. (view spoiler)[In a note at the end of the book, she explains that “though the chances of the real-life Hanas’ reaching freedom are slim, my ending is what I wish could have happened to Hana and others like her”. I can relate to her motivations, and I believe that her intentions were entirely sincere, but I felt that a more realistic ending might have been somehow more respectful. There are some well-described scenes towards the end of the book that hint at the difficulty of learning to trust again after a major trauma, but nothing on the scale of the “inability to reenter society” that the note attributes to even those women who did survive. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I’d personally have preferred a less tidy ending, but I can see that this compromise did work to produce an enjoyable reading experience which also fulfilled the author’s aim of bringing these stories into the light and paying tribute to “all the women of the world who suffered in war and who suffer still”.

I wavered between 3 & 4 stars but in the end I felt that this book was clearly written in a generous spirit and so I rated it in one too...

[Joi]

I 100% agree with your spoiler. I felt like the author was "deciding history" or rewriting for her own convenience.