Book Review: Honey in the Wound by Jiyoung Han

I've seen several reviews for this book during my time reading this and after I'd finished the book. I needed to see what others have said, to feel like others have witnessed what I did by reading this book. I've seen the word stunning used to describe this and while I agree with the sentiment, there are other words I would use to describe this book. Haunting comes to mind, heartbreaking as well. I have always known that history is written in a way to keep certain things from coming to light and that has never been more apparent than it is with the subject matter of this book. 

I had never heard the term "comfort women" before but I promise that now that I have, I will NEVER forget it. If anything comes of this book, I hope it opens more eyes to the things that have been hidden in history to preserve the images of the countries involved. I am in no way an authority on this subject, I have no right to speak about the atrocities that these people suffered. I'm a reader that managed to learn something by reading this book and as a result, I will continue to look into this and learn as much as I can as a sign of respect, so that these women are never forgotten.

Honey in the Wound is a story about several generations of a family in Korea and how their lives are forever changed when Japan begins to move in during the early 1900s. The book begins with Geum-Jin, a young man whose family is first affected by the Japanese when his sister flees into the mountains to avoid a horrible fate and his parents struggle to keep their family together with the changing circumstances of their nearby village. Geum-Jin's story leads into the story of his daughter, Song Young-Ja, which is where the majority of the story has its focus. The book focuses on Young-Ja's childhood and follows her into her adulthood. The final part of the story brings Young-Ja's granddaughter, Matsumoto Rinako, into the book, when she discovers the existence of her grandmother and learns about a past that has been kept hidden for too long.

A large part of this book focuses on magical realism. Geum-Jin's sister turns into a tiger to be able to escape into the mountains with other tigers and live a better life. Young-Ja's mother had an ability to make people tell her the truth just by speaking to them. Young-Ja had the ability to infuse the food she makes with the emotions she felt at the time of making her creations, which in turn forces the people that eat her food to be overwhelmed with those feelings. Rinako can see truth and secrets in her dreams about the people around her, from her family to classmates and even to people she bumps into on her commute to and from school and stores. The book follows several timelines, gradually moving forward with each character, with the largest amount of the book being focused on Young-Ja and the places she traveled and the trials she faced.

Han has a wonderful use of words. There is a lyrical quality to the sentences, where they are able to evoke emotions and draw the reader into a world that feels real from the mountains that were part of Geum-Jin's childhood to the various locations in Japan that Young-Ja travels to over the course of her life. The words are able to draw up images of small town life with vendors and people trying to remain anonymous with soldiers following their every move before moving on to a small city in the Empire of Japan and a life working in a tea house. Through it all, Han is able to insert the ways people tried to fight back and the ways they were forced to keep themselves small. All together, it's powerful and beautiful despite the horrors hidden in the spaces around the leads of the book.

The use of magical realism is a key part of helping the story, allowing for the horrors shown in the story to be expanded on in ways that make the story more than a simple account of events from the past. It gives power to the characters where power would have been a way to change their fates, where history shows that things were not only filled with pain and shame and loss but were also hidden away and lost to time until those involved slowly began to come forward and speak their truths. It built the characters into forces that were able to withstand their fates, to face their evils head on and to find the strength they needed to finally fight back when they could and make the decisions to continue to fight back and make a difference.

This is a powerful debut. It sheds a light on a subject matter that continues to be brushed aside. It also shows the beginnings of the survivors coming forward to reclaim their past and shed light on what they were forced to endure. These women should not be ignored. They should never be forgotten. It is my hope that this book reaches an audience that can appreciate the light it shines on history and use this as an opportunity to continue to research the subject matter. That way in can continue to exist in the present instead of being lost and forgotten in the past. In a way, it seems like those in charge of this thought they'd get away with it because not only did they not keep records of what they were doing but they thought their victims, either because of a lack of education or just because the way were raised, meant they'd stay quiet rather than speak of this. Now, many of them have come forward and continue to speak out about what they witnessed and suffered which just proves the authorities made a mistake underestimating these people. It proves that when given the chance, the victims became what they always were, a force to be reckoned with and respected. They will not fade into the past no matter how many times they are ignored and that is everything in the end.

Rating on my scale: 10 STARS! I don't know what else I can say to convey what I think about this book. I love the writing and I respect the subject matter. I mourn for the characters and I have hope for their future. Read this and I hope you learn something about the resilience of people. I'll continue to follow Jiyoung Han's writing for as long as she is willing to write.