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There are currently 20 member reviews
for The Kinship of Secrets
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Susan B. (Sarasota, FL)
Two sisters, two worlds many secrets
In 1948 a Korean family decides to move to the United States to find better opportunities than there are in Korea. Najin and Calvin Cho take their adopted daughter, Miran, leaving their biological daughter Inja with Najin's brother and the rest of the family. The Korean war then occurs and the Korean family is displaced for several years. Bring Inja to the United States becomes impossible. Miran grows up as an American, feeling slightly out of place because she is Korean. Inja grows up Korean, with all the traditions of being Korean.
Eventually, when Inja is a teenager the family reconnects in America. It is then all the family secrets start to be revealed. Inja has a very hard time assimilating to American life, and as she and Miran discover one secret after another all the relationships change. Are the secrets to protect the family or the individuals?
The book is enjoying and factual, I found the read to be slow but interesting. It is based on a true story and shows the power of love and hope and family. There are many twist to unravel throughout the book.
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Paula B. (Albuquerque, NM)
Refreshing story of family and culture
This is an enjoyable read that added to my growing knowledge of how cultures are influenced by the country in which they exist. As an American living in the Southwest, I have had little connection to Confucian based cultures. Reading about the contrast that develops in a Confucian culture with a Christian overlay was enjoyable. The storyline relies on distinctions that arise within the same family, one part in Korea, the other in America. Economic status is definitely a major factor in the differences, but Confucian ideas, that stay strong in Korea, but much less so in America, illustrate changing attitudes toward women, specifically and family, in general. Mostly secrets were intended to be a kindness to those left in the dark. As the author says the secrets were "a charity of secrets". Ultimately personality, shaped and influenced by culture, is the critical factor in who these characters were and the secrets they kept or discovered.
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Robert M. (Smyrna, GA)
Sentimental Journey
Leaving your home is always complicated and emotional, even when that home has become a dangerous or hostile place to live. That is the crux of The Kinship of Secrets, the new novel by Eugenia Kim. When it is time for a Korean daughter to rejoin her family in America in the 1960s, the reunion is not as seamless as everyone would like. Add the daughter that was brought to the U.S. in 1948 to the mix, and you have a recipe for dramatic tension. Kim does a great job of fleshing out all of the characters and giving us a great insight into their adaptation to America, their culture, and the emotions that guide them. This book is just as good as her previous novel, The Calligrapher's Daughter, and is well worth a read.
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Amber
Glad I stuck with this book
This book started out a bit slow for me. I found it difficult to remember the details from chapter to chapter and I was slow to keep picking this book up again.
About half way, I became much more interested and the book picked up quite a bit. I'm glad I stuck with it thru the slow beginning, as this story unfolded beautifully.
I also learned information about the Korean War.
I really enjoyed this book once I got into it.
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Veronica E. (Chesterton, IN)
Secrets
I read The Calligrapher's Daughter first. I'm glad I did as the story The Kinship of Secrets has a lot of secrets that are shared in advance in The Calligrapher's Daughter. Now that I've said that...I liked The Kinship of Secrets. The story of two sisters that are separated at very early ages, leaving one in Korea with relatives and taking one to the US with parents. This tells a hard story about separation from your child, the guilt you carry and why a parent does what they feel they have to do. When the sisters and parents are united it is not always a happy new beginning. Anger, grief, love, war, the unfamiliar make it hard to put lives back together. I will recommend this to my library.
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Wanda K. (Iron Mountain, MI)
The kinship of secrets
This book is well written with an engaging story about two sisters who grow up separately because of the Korean War It's a great opportunity to learn a piece of history through the eyes of people who,lived at that time. I was swept up,in the family and their attempts to cope with the situations that years of political on rest put them in. I enjoyed the writing style of short chapters to help me understand the history.
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