Customer Reviews

Ten Thousand Sorrows : The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

Elizabeth Kim's wrenching and poetic story about the death of her Korean mother and her adoption into a fundamentalist American family is an important part of the whole picture of inter-cultural Asian-American adoption currently emerging in several books. Another book on the topic, which fills in a different part of the picture, is Karin Evans' Lost Daughters of China, which is also beautifully written. I think anyone interested in Ms. Kim's book would be interested in this book as well.

Elizabeth Kim's book is really a tribute to motherhood. The memory of her mother and her mother's love for her are what sustain her through her childhood and early adulthood. Her own motherhood is what sustains her, rescues her, and saves her life over and over again as she creates her own adulthood. I loved this book. Every word is perfectly chosen. Every scene is deeply etched into my memory. I read it two weeks ago, and still think about this extraordinary woman every day. And I think about her mother, too. And mine. I thank Elizabeth Kim for writing such a beautiful tribute to the unique and magnificent power of motherhood.

I started this book at 10:30pm thinking I would read a chapter before going to bed, and ended up finishing it at 3:30am. A testiment to the cruelty and inhumanity in the world, but also to the human will to survive, overcome and carve out love in one's life.

... I also found very strange that there are no dates or places in this book. I understand there is law reason not to give real people names. But why can't Elizabeth Kim tell us what year she was adopted? What state in USA she grew up in? Also, I am a Korean woman who grew up in quite a poor family in a suburb of Seoul, and the country that Elizabeth Kim describes seems so strange to me. For example she says she ate rice every day, even though she was very very poor. We were not as poor as many Koreans but we only had rice on special days. Many days we had nothing at all. That was in the late sixties. Korea was even poorer in the early sixties, so how could she eat rice every day? Finally, I cannot understand the house she lived in. She says it had earth floor but was heated by ondol! Ondol is a Korean system to heat a stone floor. How can you heat an earth floor? There are every page so many strange things like this in the book. ... [T]his is not a real memoir, more like a novel. Last thing: I never heard of honor killings in Korea. This does not mean they never happened. But how can she say that honor killing is long accepted in Korea? We dont even have a word in Korean for this! This is unfair to Korea and makes me more angry. I think Elizabeth Kim is using American ignorance of Korea. I hope American people will learn about my country's good things and bad things from a better book.

This is a beautiful book! Elizabeth Kim is an exceptional person. She suffers through so many trials in her life and still seems to be a well adjusted person at the end. The last page of this book is stunning in its simplicity and power. I highly recommend this book for adoptive parents. It affords the rare opportunity to get inside the mind of an adopted child and understand how the changes they must endure affect them. I just wanted to find Elizabeth the child, give her a hug and tell her that there are good people in the world and people who could love and appreciate her. In the end she knows that. Just a great book.

I spent the better part of yesterday evening reading the book cover to cover. This story is such a moving drama..all of it true. Kim writes with such eloquence...she is both tender and objective, which is remarkable for a person who has faced so much struggle in her short lifetime. I gave it 4 stars as I felt that the story was a bit disjointed (especially toward the end). Otherwise, I highly recommend it but be prepared with a hankie as the tears will surely flow!

Elizabeth Kim is an absolutely superb writer who can bring her own memories to life for the rest of the world. I was moved beyond words through the reading of Ten Thousand Sorrows - her writing made me feel her pain, anguish and shame through life. Her words came alive and I felt every disappointment and blow as if I was that little girl. Her story becomes quite inspiring after all the things she has risen above to succeed in this world. This book was also quite cathartic for me as it made me recall wonderful memories of my own mother, who I still miss painfully with every breathing moment of my life. No matter how one loses a mother, Kim's novel reminds you of things past that you probably would not have otherwise. Not only is this a womderfully sad and poignent story, it also helps one analyze their own relationships. I began the book with tears streaming down my face and I finished with the same results. I have never read a book that has touched me so deeply and I invite everyone to enjoy this wonderful experience. I cannot even begin to describe this fabulous gift that she has given me with her words. Many, many thanks to Elizabeth Kim for sharing her story with the rest of the world.

It was obviously a very painful life that Elizabeth Kim endured until
most recently, but it was also very painful for me to read this book;
so painful that I had to skim most of it because it was so
unrelenting. I, too, found that not ONE fact was given: what state
she lived in, what newspapers she wrote (writes?) for; and on and on.
I am wondering if her imagination has gotten the best of her? It
wouldn't be surprising, given the awful things she had to endure after
her mother was killed. But I can't pass judgment on her, and I
certainly do not mean to belittle any pain she has suffered. However,
I did just read... CHANGE ME INTO ZEUS'S DAUGHTER, and what a
different experience that was! As with ANGELA'S ASHES, CHANGE ME
. . . was filled with humor and loving moments within horrible
childhoods. Was there NEVER any laughter in Elizabeth's life? Was NO
ONE ever kind to her who she may want to credit with broadening her
life and her views? I hope the book was therapeutically helpful for
her, and I also hope we will get a journalist to interview her and ask
some of these questions . . . . Good journalism, after all, includes
"who, what, when, where, and why". As a journalist herself,
Ms. Kim knows this.

This is a wonderful, beautifully written book. After hearing an interview with her on National Public Radio, I knew I had to read it. I was appalled that one reviewer suggested that Kim "made some of it up to make her life seem more tragic." To naively or cruelly mock someone's suffering is unthinkable. Kim's Omma would be proud of her. After all that she endured, she was able to triumph in the end, and I believe that this is a clear indication that she is her mother's daughter. This is an encouraging story for all of those who have experienced pain, and are in the process of healing. I highly recommend this book for all parents, especially those considering foreign adoption. In fact, I recommend it to all my friends, and I'm not the type to generally read an "Oprah pick" type book; I prefer sci fi. Anyway, Elizabeth Kim deserves a hand. I wish her and her daughter the very best.

I read Elizabeth Kim's account of her horrible life with fascination, but some familiarity. As someone who grew up in a Christian fundamentalist community, I recognized the sick and abusive nature of her adoptive parents and grandmother. How sad that so many years of her life were wasted in total misery. I haven't read a memoir as touching since Angela's Ashes. It is truly a masterpiece. It is fortunate for Ms. Kim that she appears to have overcome the emotional and physical abuse to which she was subjected. This is an astonishing story. I hope there will be a movie.