What do readers think of The Stone Home by Crystal Hana Kim? Write your own review.

Even though their subjects have been difficult, I've enjoyed several books set in post-war Korea, but I must say The Stone Home was the most tedious to read.

On the positive, I learned about the underside of life in 1980s Korea--not that long ago. Of course, Korea is not all like the Stone Home, but the fact that this place of horror existed needs to be faced. To control child labor in orphanages, physical abuse trickled down from Teacher, to Warden, to Keeper, to the lowest levels of teenaged boys and girls. Interesting that the place was cleaned up to hide its cruel secrets when "big shots" showed up. This is not just old news -- think San Francisco, November 2023. But one cannot hide bruises and starvation and cruelty so easily.

The author's choice to introduce a multitude of characters in the first few pages (which seem like even more because of nicknames) makes the beginning even more difficult. Why use Korean alphabet-- unexplained although, thank goodness, infrequently? It would have been helpful to include a "Directory" of names, as well as a "Dictionary" of Korean terms, unless her primary audience is intended to be specifically Koreans, not the general Western reader.

Why Three stars? Five stars for subject, One for style.

I had several problems with this book. First of all there were a lot of Korean words that I could not understand and there was a lot of violence. The main theme is of these young people thrown into a Reform School that was more like a prison. The treatment by the staff and the horrific living conditions that these kids endured was overwhelming. I might have enjoyed this book a little more if explanations had been given for the dialect

This was an interesting novel. It was very easy to read, but for me, not easy to understand. There are many characters in the novel though I could possibly narrow it to three main characters. The subject is something that I was totally unaware of so the good thing about the novel was enlightenment. However, in the reading the author's notes and acknowledgements at the end, I didn't see the basis for such gory details as described in the book. The level and frequency of human torture was hard to stomach. I didn't realize that one of the main characters had even survived. I also felt there were way too many unanswered questions in the end which was very unsatisfying. I am giving the book three stars because clearly the manner in which it was written was enough to get an emotional reaction out of me. However, I can't recommend the book to anyone.

This was a very difficult book to read. Though the subject matter is based on true facts they are almost unbelievable. It was not pleasant to read the details of how the people in these reformatory centers were treated and often killed. Also the Korean names of food and people were confusing.
The author writes well as descriptions of people and places put the reader at the scene in a vivid manner.
Although historical fiction is the genre I prefer to read I really can't recommend this book to anyone other than a person who has a particular interest in South Korean history.