Shop top categories that ship internationally
To share your reaction on this item, open the Amazon app from the App Store or Google Play on your phone.
Buy new:
-30% $16.88
Delivery Monday, February 3
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$16.88 with 30 percent savings
List Price: $23.95
FREE International Returns
No Import Fees Deposit & $10.12 Shipping to Netherlands Details

Shipping & Fee Details

Price $16.88
AmazonGlobal Shipping $10.12
Estimated Import Fees Deposit $0.00
Total $27.00

Delivery Monday, February 3
Or fastest delivery Wednesday, January 29. Order within 6 hrs 18 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$16.88 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.88
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$9.98
FREE International Returns
Shipped fast and reliably through the Amazon Prime program! Book may contain some writing, highlighting, and or cover damage. Shipped fast and reliably through the Amazon Prime program! Book may contain some writing, highlighting, and or cover damage. See less
Delivery Thursday, February 6
Or fastest delivery Wednesday, January 29. Order within 5 hrs 3 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$16.88 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$16.88
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Other sellers on Amazon
New & Used (27) from   $9.98
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Jane Jeong Trenka
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Language of Blood: A Memoir Hardcover – September 8, 2003

by Jane Jeong Trenka (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 47 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$16.88","priceAmount":16.88,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"16","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"88","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"9SUvBO0ElmTQjzSKD331cyO42xE5u9VO%2BwhoKctFJNup8NLOlOoPdj5S2nkxMAzC2K0kz%2BKLczOOsQP3MlzwKDXm1p7nhHgPD6tspBIQKLic%2BVG%2BHbPW7PL0m6JyERo8ad0JndtRdaY%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$9.98","priceAmount":9.98,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"9","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"98","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"9SUvBO0ElmTQjzSKD331cyO42xE5u9VOMOch69IQbo4KZUOnhrdwY1SCl%2BJ2vK9RkKkyiIE28akI%2FgAhijc5OABonulO52cFSOjUOT7zkAKD%2BrxbdR4poW%2BFUeO%2BHjzzQ2jgszQ9rNoyYt0F8MUfQcvTMch3xZ%2BnHRoQXc3VLmfap%2FQkCXuKoi3IpGRarkiu","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

An adoptee's search for identity takes her on a journey from Minnesota to Korea and back as she seeks to resolve the dualities that have long defined her life: Korean-born, American-raised, never fully belonging to either.

For years, Korean adoptee Jane Jeong Trenka tried to be the ideal daughter. She was always polite, earned perfect grades, and excelled as a concert pianist. She went to church with her American family in small-town Minnesota and learned not to ask about the mother who had given her away. Then, while she was far from home on a music scholarship, living in a big city for the first time, one of her fellow university students began to follow her, his obsession ultimately escalating into a plot for her murder.

In radiant prose that ranges seamlessly from pure lyricism to harrowing realism, Trenka recounts repeated close encounters with her stalker and the years of repressed questions that her ordeal awakened. Determined not to be defined by her stalker's twisted assessment of her worth, she struck out in search of her own identity - free of western stereotypes of geishas and good girls. Doing so, however, meant confronting her American family and fighting the bureaucracy at the agency that had arranged for her adoption.

Jane Jeong Trenka dares to ask fundamental questions about the nature of family and identity. Are we who we decide to be, or who other people would make us? What is this bond more powerful than words, this unspoken language of blood? To find out, Trenka must reacquaint herself with her mother and sisters in Seoul and devise a way to blend two distinct cultures into one she seared into the memory by indelible images and unforgettable prose. This is a poetic tour-de-force by an essential new voice in Asian American literature.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Borealis Books
  4. Publication date
    September 8, 2003
  5. Dimensions
    5.75 x 0.9 x 8.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0873514661
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0873514668
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Trenka remembers with gross delight headless chickens dancing around until collapse at her adoptive family's farm. She writes, "I wanted my head to be removed, a metaphor so strong that only later did I realize that it was not a death wish at all.... What I longed for was wholeness, for my body to be as white and Northern Minnesotan as my mind." Original and beautifully written reflections like these fill Trenka's memoir, a brave exploration of her identity as a Korean adoptee and pensive young woman trying to negotiate between two mothers and two lives. She traces her life from young, eager-to-please child to questioning adolescent. Once at college, she is stalked by an acquaintance with a sick fascination with her Asian heritage, forcing her to ask important questions about exoticization and violence. Finally, she brings readers with her to Korea, where she is reunited with her birth mother and homeland. Unlike some first-time writers, Trenka is unafraid with her prose and rarely falls into cliches, which is especially admirable given the subject matter. She brazenly dabbles with playwriting, screenwriting, crossword puzzles, myths and dream sequences throughout her account. Her journey, from the conservative Christian roots of rural Minnesota to her cramped and corrupt homeland of Korea, is winding, but it ends at an important place for both reader and writer: transformation. She writes, "I have made it my task to reconstruct the text of a family with context clues, and my intent is... to trust in the mysterious; to juxtapose the known with the unknown; to collect the overlooked."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Adoption memoirs are not rare, but this one stands out because of the quality of the writing and because of the aspect of adoption it portrays. Jane at six months and sister Carol, at four and a half, Korean by birth, were adopted by a Minnesota couple with strong German Lutheran roots. The girls were from a home beset by poverty and the drunken abuse of their birth father. Being sent away was an act of love by their Korean mother. Their adoptive parents loved the girls and raised them as their own. And here lies the problem for Jane. Their Korean identity was never addressed, leaving her with a strong sense of not belonging in either culture. Eventual contact with her birth family leads to a rift with her American parents. The author interweaves the account of her life, already tangled in time and place, with legends and plays, creating an incredibly introspective and moving piece. Perhaps not a comfort to transcultural adoptive parents, but thought-provoking reading on an important issue. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Borealis Books; 1st edition (September 8, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0873514661
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0873514668
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.9 x 8.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 47 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jane Jeong Trenka

Jane Jeong Trenka

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
47 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the story engaging and well-written. They appreciate the author's candor and strong writing style. The book receives positive reviews for its quality and fast shipping.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
Story qualityStrength
3 customers mention "Story quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story and writing. They find the storytelling engaging and the candor refreshing.

"...There is a refreshing candor about Jane Jeong Trenka's writing...." Read more

"...I read this book in 2 nights. Her storytelling and writings are very in depth..she takes you on this sad journey with her." Read more

"good story easy reading reads fast" Read more

3 customers mention "Strength"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's clarity and directness. They also value the fast shipping and good quality.

"...way she describes Minnesota and her family is so clear, so loving, so strong and very direct." Read more

"...34;obsession dark desires" I had to learn more about this amazing resilient woman. I read this book in 2 nights...." Read more

"Fast shipping and good quality as described." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Yoonmi
    5.0 out of 5 stars A great book
    Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    There were two negative reviews for this book (the third is a repeat and is unfair). Frankly neither of them show any kind of knowledge about the psychology of an adoptee. First of all being an adoptee and a Korean national are different. Second being a parent and an adoptee is different. I've clashed with many more adoptive parents than I have with adoptees (in views of adoption).

    I didn't find that this was atypical of a Korean adoptee. I was isolated from Korean culture as well and this was in the 80's. I was only able to research and find anything on Korea until recently. This book proves that point--that it's hard to find something to root you to your birth culture.

    The book traces a view of adoption. It does not make judgments. It merely tells what happened and in what fashion. It tells the truth as she saw it. It tells about her struggle with identity, her triumphs, her sadnesses, the humor she saw. It also tells about her regret and efforts to try to get her adoptive parents to understand.

    As a Korean adoptee I found parts that I could and couldn't relate to, but I don't think this any less valid than my story of adoption. Adoption is individual as the search for identity is. I believe that this book showed that without telling anyone what to think. That's to be admired.
    18 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Ada Ardor
    4.0 out of 5 stars Very beautiful story, beautiful writing as well
    Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This book is a surprise to me. I had very low expectations despite the good reviews, and though I disliked the opening letter from mom to daughter, and the play set ups, the writing is spectacular. There is a refreshing candor about Jane Jeong Trenka's writing. She has a story; she didn't need to embellish, and nothing felt forced, unnatural, or purposefully shocking. Being American is the only way she knew how to be, and I liked her confusion about the way she viewed other Asians. Her birth mother made contact with her while she was in high school, and they communicated through letters. Jane did go back to Korea, met her mom, who was apologetic, begging forgiveness. Jane has some difficulty with her adoptive parents, and she struggles - unable to see things from their point of view - that they are her only family. I didn't like some of the sentimentality at the end, but I understand her well wishes. I highly recommend this book - if just for the beauty of the language, the way she describes Minnesota and her family is so clear, so loving, so strong and very direct.
    5 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Rosemary Black
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
    Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    After seeing the Author on "obsession dark desires" I had to learn more about this amazing resilient woman. I read this book in 2 nights. Her storytelling and writings are very in depth..she takes you on this sad journey with her.
    12 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Jack of all reads
    3.0 out of 5 stars There is nothing as wasteful as self-pity
    Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2004
    While some parts of the book were affecting, the underlying tension in the book is whether the narrator can rise above her self-pity to find empathy and an emboldened view of tragedy. The answer is no. The *book* is tightly controlled, not messy, but because of the obvious mis-steps in the author's search for identity (as another reviewer says, she uses Chinese characters, as if orientalism is orientalism is orientalism - a steroetypic device that Trenka oddly uses in place of a real sense of self) and a lack of any real work in developing a healthier psychology, the *story* feels unfinished, messy, a work in progress. I have the feeling she is a difficult person to exist with, damned if you do, damned if you don't.

    Political action based on self-pity is no action at all. But what has sadly come out of the book's relative popularity is Trenka rewriting of history. I came across a blog post where Trenka asserts that her book was written to exorcise political ghosts (not her words), reveal Colonization and White Hegemony. All to the good. But not true. A memoir is a book written to soothe a damaged psyche. It was and still is and this book is no exception.

    Because the writing is pretty good, aside from a couple of wince moments where metaphors are just too expected, I give it 3 stars.
    21 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Yami Rotten
    5.0 out of 5 stars I bought a copy of this years ago and lent ...
    Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I bought a copy of this years ago and lent it to a friend who has since moved on to other ventures so this is my second time buying this book. When I first read it, I had felt so isolated and alone in my experience. To finally find out that I'm not alone changed my life.
    11 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Joseph
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Fast shipping and good quality as described.
    Helpful
     Report
  • music lady
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    good story easy reading reads fast
    Helpful
     Report
  • kim seungyong
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    it`s good!!
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • S. F.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome!
    Reviewed in Germany on November 30, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    A touching memoir. I especially liked how ambitious it was on the level of style -- the book contains several collage-like elements like a crossword, a play and a musical.
    Report