Customer Reviews

Things Korean

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

 

 

From the moment I opened it, I was engrossed in the serious descriptions of cultural items and the significance they represent to its members. The book is also very funny, realizing that an analysis of one's own culture needs to be taken with a grain of salt. A fantastic gift!

Traditional artifacts that are used in daily life - everything from scissors to the hats worn by the yangban (upperclass) - are presented in a completely new light within this book. The pictures are absolutely beautiful; the explanations range from poignant to extraneous. I have to admit, there were points when I wanted to roll my eyes, wondering if the author was over-thinking things just a little. However, I also walked away from this book with a new-found appreciation for my Korean roots.

The national character of Koreans are often compared with Italians - Koreans, too, are passionate, down-to-earth, hot-blooded people. We do not have the appreciation for the delicate or subtle (which the Japanese are famous for). My mother once matter-of-factly explained to me when I was younger that this was because Italians and Koreans are both peninsula people (I never understood how this played such a large part in defining a people, but it seemed to make sense at the time).

Nevertheless, this book highlights - perhaps to a point of almost caracaturizing - that other side to Korean nature. For instance, the author points out in one page that rice must be filled past the brim to be considered "full" - an observation that rings true with the Korean nature of hospitality and generosity. It was an idea so ingrained into my head that I had always taken it for granted until it was pointed out to me!

This book is a great coffee table book, to be digested a few pages at a time. It presents Korean culture in a beautiful light - one that should be appreciated but also taken with a grain of salt. Imagine if someone 500 years from now writes a book about 20th century American artifacts and expounds upon the shape of a coffee cup and how the curvy handle suggests the unity of life - yeah, that would seem kind of silly too...

I have been living in Korea as an English teacher for 5 years and when my father came to visit this spring I sent him this book to read on the plane. He loved it. It was just the right stuff for to show him some beautiful sides to Korean Culture. The book was wonderfuly written and brilently laid out. As a long-term resident of Korea I found the book to be truethfull and complementry to Korean culture.

This is a pretty coffee table book with a wide variety of artifacts from Korean cultural history. It's intentionally simple, so there's not a lot of information in it. I wish there were a good book about Korean art history; this book doesn't serve that purpose. Unfortunately I don't know of any other coffee table books about Korean culture to recommend, but this one isn't bad unless you want to do a lot of reading.

As wonderfully illustrated with beautiful photographs of Korean objects and authentic illustrations, I felt the explanations are equally lacking. The translator (not author) felt the need to inform readers that many Koreans disagree with the author's interpretations. It seems to me, as a Korean, that the prose style and content were inauthentic in tone; inaccurately representing the mindset of the Korean people. Koreans are a pragmatic people not prone to attach elaborate ceremony or philosophical meaning to every day objects, and as such are diametrically opposite to the Japanese. The book is full of philosophical musings and personal memories without (for me) historical or sociological proof, description or context.

I was mesmerized by the pictures and bought it instantly.

When I sat down to read it, however, I was dissapointed. The writing/translation is not fluent. Although the passages are short, I had a hard time getting through them. Furthermore, the comparisons (on almost every page) between Korea and the West were superficial and alienating.

It was a pretty addition to my coffee table, though, so I didn't return it and can't give it a terrible score. The photos ARE very nice.