STILL LIFE WITH RICE [Paperback]

Helie Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 1997

In this radiant memoir of her grandmother's life, Helie Lee probes a history and a culture that are both seductively exotic and strangely familiar. And with wit and verve she claims her own Korean identity, illuminating the intricate experiences of Asian-American women. Born in 1912 - "the year of the rat" - to aristocratic parents, Hongyong Baek came of age in a unified but socially repressive Korea, where she learned the roles that had been prescribed for her: obedient daughter, demure wife, efficient household manager. Ripped from her home first during the Japanese occupation and again during the bloody civil war that divided her country, Hongyong fought to save her family by drawing from her own talents and values. Over the years she provided for her husband and children by running a successful restaurant, building a profitable opium business, and eventually becoming adept at the healing art of Chiryo. When she was pressured to leave her country, she moved with her family to California, where she reestablished her Chiryo practice. Writing in her grandmother's voice, Helie Lee depicts the concerns and conflicts that shaped one family's search for home. Evocative and keenly felt, Still Life with Rice interprets issues that touch all of us: the complex nature of family relations, the impact of social upheaval on an individual, and the rapidly changing lives of women in this century.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lee traveled from California to Korea to recapture the life of her grandmother. Hongyong Baek (b. 1912) grew up in northern Korea, the daughter of wealthy parents, and at 22 entered into an arranged marriage and began a life of servitude to her husband. Drawing on interviews with her grandmother and writing in her voice, Lee dramatically describes the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Korea, which forced Baek, her husband (with whom she ultimately fell in love) and their children to flee to China in 1939, where they supported themselves by selling opium. After they returned to Korea, the 1950s' civil war caused them extreme hardship. Baek lost her husband to diphtheria and was separated from her son. She supported her other children by practicing the healing art of Chedo. Baek emigrated to the U.S. in 1972. A captivating memoir of a courageous survivor.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

As a way to explore and affirm her Korean heritage, Lee reconstructs the life of her maternal grandmother. Born in 1912 into a well-to-do merchant family, Hongyong Baek had a traditional upbringing, culminating in her wedding day, when she met her husband for the first time. Marriage to her charming and somewhat feckless husband turned out to be happy, and Baek was content with her severely circumscribed role. But life was disrupted by political events. To escape Japanese oppression, Baek and her family joined other Korean refugees in China, where her resourcefulness helped her prosper as a dealer first in sesame oil and later in opium. When 36 years of Japanese occupation ended, she and her family returned home. But peace and prosperity came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of civil war. After incredible hardships, family members were reunited, and Baek used her skills as a healer to restore some measure of financial security. Written with great narrative power and attention to detail, a testament to the will to survive. Mary Ellen Quinn --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Touchstone Edition edition (April 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684827115
• ISBN-13: 978-0684827117
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Typically Straight Talk About Koreans by A Korean Woman, June 21, 2001

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: STILL LIFE WITH RICE (Paperback)

STILL LIFE WITH RICE is a breath of fresh air blasting into a staid room. Not only is the language straightforward and frank, but it is respectful, in a way only Koreans would understand. Not only does the narrative begin in North Korea before the 1950 invasion, but it discusses Korean emigrees in China, living in Occupation-era Korea, surviving during war, and emigrating to a foreign country.

But this book is also about women, written by a woman rediscovering her history and her voice. It is not only a political discussion, but also a discussion of how women existed in Korean society. Although, as a man, talking about menstruation and other aspects of a woman's daily experience, was a bit unnerving, it established the book's focus, the tale of a woman maturing and becoming quite unique by any standard.

The author is a first generation Korean-American (gyopo-saram) listening to her grandmother's tales of the old world. But neither are victims, and the fierce determination of the grandmother is revealed in the brashness of the granddaughter's prose. The granddaughter legitimates her grandmother's right to speak, a right not granted in her upbringing. The act of writing is liberation from the constraints of a misogynistic, Confucian social structure, and reveals the power of women in Korean culture.

What I liked about the narrator was her humility. She may have withstood some of the bitterest experiences any women would face, but she takes no credit and is not condescending. She grows older and wiser, but her own personality does not change. Both women, storyteller and story-writer, are quite unique. By adopting her grandmother's voice, the granddaughter creates a heroine that speaks to both the old and future worlds.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Page Turner and Eye Opener!, September 23, 2005

By 

A. Bridges (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: STILL LIFE WITH RICE (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. I live in Korea as the wife of a US military officer. I have lived here for over a year and have daily contact with many Koreans. This book gave me valuable insight into the Koreans around me. Obviously not everyone is the same. However, this book taught me a lot about Korean culture and traditions, some aspects of which have sometimes confused and frustrated me. The morning after I stayed up half the night finishing this book (I couldn't put it down), as I drove around, I looked at these natives of my host country through entirely new eyes.

I have been telling everyone I come into contact with about this book. So far, everyone who has read it at my recommendation has been in full agreement with me.

The story is incredible. After I finished it, I spoke with a Korean woman I know well who was about 8 during the Korean War. Her stories were strikingly similar to what I read in the book.

This book is a must read, whether you have a relationship with Korea or not.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great introduction to Koreans and Korean-Americans, November 10, 1998

By 

Kevin "kevininoakland" (Oakland, US, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: STILL LIFE WITH RICE (Paperback)

I really loved this book. First, much of it is simply incredibly moving as a story about people, regardless of where and when, surviving some of the most challenging things life can throw one's way. And doing so with love and dignity. Secondly, Ms. Lee's account, though speaking of one family, covers so much of the experience that makes our Korean citizens and residents who they are: those parts of their remote past, their immediate past in Korea, and their sometimes difficult experiences here in the US. I loved the characters and learned human lessons from them, but I also learned a lot about members of a growing and important part of my own community here in Oakland, CA. Brava and "kamsa hamnida!", Ms. Lee.