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Kang Han "We Do Not Part" (Penguin)







This is a tragic tale of South Korean history. It is revealed through the friendship of two women, Inseon and Kyungha. Inseon has had a horrifying accident while engaging in carpentry and is in the hospital suffering terrible torment as her injury is being treated. She asks her friend to come to the hospital immediately and then begs her to travel to her home to care for her beloved bird. Kyungha agrees when she realizes that Ami has no other means of survival and will surely die if she does not go. However, she must leave immediately and the journey is harrowing as she is forced to travel there in the midst of a dangerous snowstorm. Once she arrives, she is haunted by memories, dreams and visions. Through these revelations the reader learns of a gruesome period of time that has been covered up and hidden.
Inseon had been researching a tragedy that had directly affected her own family, a mass murder that had resulted in thousands upon thousands of deaths throughout the country, but she concentrated her research on Jeju Island where she lived. The slaughter had been justified by the imperative to stamp out Communism. Suspected citizens and their families, the elderly and the infants, who were thought to be connected in any way to Communism, were arrested, murdered and tortured. The methods used were absolutely barbaric. One of the most difficult reveals for me was the insinuation that the United States was complicit in this horror.
The visual images of bloodstained snow juxtaposed over its feathery beauty is painful. The details of the suffering are truly distressing, and I found it to be a difficult book read. The message is dark, but it is important because it reveals a little-known part of history as it shines a light on a massacre that took place on Jeju Island, in the mid-20th century. It took place in the time of the Korean War and is a story that should see the light of day.

This novel was also about friendship and the nature of the love between a husband and wife and a parent and child. How has the horror of that massacre traveled from generation to generation? How have the survivors been able to cope with and handle the tragedy? What was it that drove Inseon to research the massacre so intensely?

There were paranormal, mystical scenes that were totally otherworldly. The movement of the story was also sometimes confusing, but the lyrical quality of the narrative made it compelling, just the same. I listened to the audio along with the print read of the book, and the narrator made it spellbinding. However, I think most readers will have to research the real back story of the Bodo League massacre, in Korea, to understand why it occurred and why there were long-term effects on society and the world.