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Mourning Ten Thousand Sorrows
By Ji-Yeon Yuh
posted 6/3/01
This article was first printed in Korean Quarterly newspaper.
No use of this information is authorized without specific permission of Korean Quarterly by writing. Korean Quarterly is a non-profit, all-volunteer publication of the Korean American community of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area and the Upper Midwest. Subscriptions $15/year. Please send to: Korean Quarterly P.O. Box 6789, St. Paul, MN 55106
An undergraduate sends out an e-mail recommending Ten Thousand Sorrows by Elizabeth Kim. Thirsty for books by and about Korean American women, the student raves that the memoir is invaluable for its depiction of mixed-race Korean Americans and adoptees. Later I find that many Korean American students are devouring the memoir.
Although not a bestseller, Ten Thousand Sorrows has been widely read and discussed among Asian Americans and the Korean adoptee community. E-mail lists or news groups for adoptive parents of children from Korea have circulated discussions that hail the book as an insight into the lives and minds of adopted children and help parents to better understand the culture and society from which they come.
Its readers seem to find the book compelling. Click onto Amazon.com and find at least 42 reader reviews, an unusually high number. Many say they read the book in one sitting, unable to put it down. They praise Kim and her memoir for "unflinching honesty." Many of the reviews are by Korean Americans who are clearly thrilled to find a memoir by a fellow Korean American. Reviews laud the book for its "haunting beauty, stark truth, and the heart-opening experience that it creates long after the covers are closed." For another reader, the "most compelling features are Kim's honesty and disclosure" of her personal life. Invariably, the overwhelmingly favorable reviews emphasize the book's emotional impact and assert that Kim has written a lyrical story about the strength and beauty of the human spirit.
10,000 Sorrows 2 - Fashion and Myth
