Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A poetic finish with no surprises..., April 8, 2010
This review is from: The Color of Heaven (Color Trilogy) (Paperback)
Having read the first the first two books of this trilogy in fairly quick succession, I eagerly awaited the arrival of the third. Like Osamu Tezuka, Kim Dong Hwa creates in grayscale a beautiful scenic backdrop in which his sparsely (by comparison) drawn characters play. His commitment to the realism of rural Korea is a testament of his devotion to them (some of them are, after all, his family). There is a strong pastoral but poetic voice that echoes throughout which has the tendency to become rather redundant and thick, making the reading tedious at times.
The Color of Heaven is Kim's strongest work in the trilogy artistically speaking. He contrasts the general brightness of the first two books with some beautiful, effective shading in the third.
The story itself is weak and though there was little action in The Color of Earth and The Color of Water, readers will find themselves wading through pages about a main character whose primary objective is waiting.
Make no mistake, this book is worth the completion of the trilogy, but if you're expecting the deft plot twists and moral ambiguity of Osamu Tezuka's work, you will be disappointed. It's a light and airy love song, written by a Korean, about Koreans, to Koreans. And while the author/illustrator's love for his female forebears is commendable, the ending is much too easy to be the kind of realism he painted at the beginning.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unforgettable, November 2, 2009
This review is from: The Color of Heaven (Color Trilogy) (Paperback)
After discovering that his boss was trying to buy Ewha's hand in marriage and then retaliating against the old man on his dearly beloved's behalf, the farmer's assistant Duksam is going to have to flee town. He shows up late at night in the inn, angry men hot on his tail, and tells Ewha that he plans to travel to Mokpo and make his fortune as a sailor. When he has enough money to support Ewha as his wife, he will return for her.
But in the meantime, she will have to become like her mother--and wait at home for the one she loves, constantly looking toward the entrance to town in the hopes that her man will be walking through the gate toward her. Much of The Color of Heaven, the third and final volume of Kim Dong Hwa's path-breaking Colors Trilogy, documents this bittersweet waiting game. Mother and daughter spend many a break during the busy day and respite during the quiet night ruminating and expounding upon their desires and the nature of the male portion of the species.
It can get a bit tiresome in places; take this manhwa literally and you might assume that the only thing women talk about amongst each other is men. While this is a perspective of the world that flatters the male ego, it has no relationship to reality. However, inasmuch as the setting, pre-industrialized, agrarian Korea, was intensely patriarchal, the nostalgic, pseudo-poetic way in which mother and daughter discuss human relationships does indirectly explicate the ways in which social selfhood are conferred only upon women who are attached to a man, either as daughter or wife.
Furthermore, those with interest in Korean culture will appreciate the final portions of The Color of Heaven. Duksam does, needless to say, return to Ewha, and their marriage ceremony--not to mention their first conjugal night together--is depicted in languid, loving detail. Though quite frank in its sexuality, it is not pornographic, and the suggestive visual metaphors, such as a mortar and pestle, for example, used by Kim at the end of the book is reminiscent of a less permissive era of Japanese manga.
One of the keenest pleasures of this book, as with the previous two volumes, is its exquisitely beautiful artwork. Pitch-perfect traditional style and content merge seamlessly with the modern conventions of sequential art storytelling. It's like a Korean costume drama in two-dimensions...save that costume dramas on television typically depict the lives of the privileged, while the protagonist of the Colors Trilogy is a girl of very modest means and ambitions. Nevertheless, the wedding ceremony with its traditional dress is glorious, and much improved image reproduction in this First Second edition means that it can be enjoyed without distraction.
The Color of Heaven is without peer in the English language graphic novel market. Nowhere else is there such a sustained view of Korean tradition and agrarian life. For its uniqueness alone, it is a must read, and for the magnitude of its achievement, it is unforgettable. Highly recommended.
-- Casey Brienza
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Color of Heaven", October 29, 2010
In this concluding volume to the Color of Earth trilogy, Kim Dong Hwa takes the relationship between Ehwa and her mother to a new level, for the little girl is now seventeen and a blossoming woman. The women find they have more in common than they thought, as they wait and yearn for their lovers who are far away, wondering when they will return. Nevertheless, Ehwa still has some crucial lessons to learn from her parent. But Hwa must bring the series to a close, and he does so with Ehwa's betrothal to Duksam, and their beautiful wedding. Her mother says goodbye to the daughter she's had in her home for so long, and while her lover now returns to her for good, she finds herself once again looking out from her home, waiting, this time for the return of her daughter who she now misses greatly. Kim Dong Hwa's artwork and scenery continue to astound, while The Color of Heaven does an incredible job of revealing facets of Korean culture rendered in such a beautiful way.
Originally written on August 8th, 2009 ©Alex C. Telander.
Originally published in the Sacramento Book Review.
For over 500 book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to [...]
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
