Customer Reviews

Echoes of the White Giraffe

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is a touching novel like the ones before and after it. You have to read A Gathering of Pearls to complete the set. The title of the book matches very well with its story. The set of books let you relieve a war and its affect on one family and kid. I recommend it for a reading project or anything for history.

This book is the BEST I've ever read! Well this and the book before it, The Year of Impossible Goodbyes. When you read it, it's like your actually there.. feeling the same thing the main character (Sookan) is. You'll read about everything she wishes and her thoughts and the horrible things she goes through. You might find it hard to believe at how she finds the most simple things, and enjoy it. She does all she can to enjoy life. This is a book I have really really really really enjoyed..

And recommend it to everyone!

Echoes of the White Giraffe, by Sook Nyul Choi is a sequel to Year of Impossible Goodbyes. The theme of this book is about refugees and what their lives are like in a different place. This book focuses on the main character Sookan who is again separated from her father and brothers. The book mainly explains about Sookan's refugee life in Pusan and how she adapts and meets new people in a strange and foreign place. I personally liked the other book, Year of Impossible Goodbyes better because it was more adventurous and exciting but this book was pretty fun also. It talked a lot about her first romance and how she lived as a refugee for two years.

The setting is in the Pusan area of South Korea two years after the start of the Korean War. Sookan and her family were residents of Seoul, but some of them fled southward amidst the falling bombs and destruction when the war started. Her brothers and father did not come with them, so Sookan believes that they are in the South Korean army.
Sookan and a few of her family members have now established themselves at a refugee camp and Sookan is working with her classmates and teachers to build a school so that they can continue to learn. Scrounging what they can, they are able to restart the school and Sookan is eager to begin learning again.
The times are of course hard, but they manage to make a life for themselves. Sookan also meets a boy her age named Junho and they develop a relationship considered scandalous in the rigid Korean society. Eventually, the truce is signed and Sookan and her family go back to Seoul and begin rebuilding their lives. They reunite with her brothers and learn that her father is dead.
Sookan is relentless in her studies and is able to pass an examination that allows her to go to the United States for more advanced education. Junho begins attending a University in Seoul and they meet once again. He is bound for the seminary, so although there are still deep feelings between them, they understand that the two of them are destined to go separate ways.
This is an excellent story about perseverance and the value of education for young people. It would have been easy for Sookan to have lost all faith in herself and her future during their flight from Seoul. Yet, the spark burned strongly in her and she was able to pursue her dream of an advanced education in the United States. I strongly recommend this book for group reading and evaluation.

This was a wonderful book. Ms. Choi capatures the essence of Korean culture with the reality which all can say, "I know what you mean." I would recomend this book to everyone.