House of the Winds (Emerging Voices. New International Fiction) (Hardcover)

by Mia Yun (Author) "Preserve your memories..." (more)
Key Phrases: twig gate, chestnut field, veranda floor, Pumpkin Wife, Big Mother, Young Wife (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
The story of a girl's childhood in Korea, Yun's first novel is a warm and vivid reminiscence of the relationship between a girl and her mother. The Korea of her memories was occupied by the Japanese, whose harsh rule was followed by the devastation of the Korean War. Young Wife, her mother, is a quietly courageous woman who keeps her three children together. Though abandoned by her husband, she manages to provide food, clothing, shelter, and schooling while she nourishes the children's souls with tales of a forgotten, peaceful time in Korea: a time when tigers smoked pipes and history, tradition, and magic blended together to create an exciting, viable culture. Eloquently written in language that is both metaphorical and poetic, this is an excellent addition to the series.AJanis Williams, Shaker Heights P.L., OH
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
This is a novel full of beautiful and vivid description: the shape of fruit, the play of light, the sensuous qualities of water, warmth, touch. The narrator is the youngest child of three in a family in Korea in the 1960s. Central to her story is her mother: strong, sweet, and upright against the forces of poverty and the usually absent father, one who dreams and promises but cannot deliver. Much is made of the life of dreams, of the gossip of neighbors like the cackling Pumpkin Wife, of the moves into ever less desirable housing. What we also participate in here, though, is the life of children longing for sweets, playing in the sun, wondering about the mysteries of their relatives. It is very close in its intensity and its themes to Linda Watanabe McFerrin's Namako (about a Japanese girl and her family) and Gail Tsukiyama's Night of Many Dreams (about a Chinese girl and her family in Hong Kong). GraceAnne A. DeCandido

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 219 pages
• Publisher: Interlink Publishing Group (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566563054
• ISBN-13: 978-1566563055
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #400,008 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb and dazzling book., July 7, 1999

By A Customer

I first saw that House of the Winds was chosen as one of the best books on Asia published in 1998 and then later I read that it was also a finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award in the multi-cultural fiction category. When I finally read the novel, I was simply stunned by the beauty of the language and the sharp and piercing observations. Not only is the novel beautifully written but it is also so uncommonly moving. House of the Winds transcends its Korean setting and I regard this book a work of great world literature.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A series of vignettes, October 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: House of the Winds (Penguin Readers Guide Inside) (Paperback)

This book is noteworthy because it is one of the few books "about" Korea that is not written in a "fortune-cookie fiction" mode; the passages are lyrical, fluid, and evocative. She writes more like James Joyce describing a Dublin childhood rather than a "this-is-how-we-do-it-in-Korean" cultural guidebook. No broken-English, Charlie Chan aphorisms here.

Yun describes life in Korea in the '50's and '60's in a series of vignettes; there isn't a single, linear plot that unfolds, but a series of "snapshots" taken from the author's memory (or so I presume). There is a definite sense of loss and mourning as well as nostalgia for the past now that the writer is in America; a sense that she wishes to recover the past by looking back across that chasm one takes once one crosses over to another land. In a sense, you never go back. "Preserve your memories," she says. The real kicker in the story is at the end, when the narrator, in America, recounts her mother's life in very sad, beautiful hues and tones.

For anyone who would like to take a retrospective look back at a time and place in Korea that is slowly fading from the memories of the still-living, this is a good place to start.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful story of a Korean childhood, September 26, 2000

By	Jennifer K. Moran (Los Angeles vicinity, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: House of the Winds (Penguin Readers Guide Inside) (Paperback)

I am a Korean-American woman and an avid fan of fiction books written about Asian history. After tirelessly waiting for Amy Tan to write a new book, I ventured on and picked up this one on a whim on my honeymoon in Maui. I really loved the picturesque writing. It makes me wonder what the scenery that my parents must have grew up in may have looked like. This novel is not only a wonderful story, but a great history lesson.