The Picture Bride - Lee Geum-yi - ★★.¾

AUTHOR: Lee Geum-yi

TRANSLATOR: An Seonjae

GENRE: Korean Historical Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: October 5, 2022

RATING: 2.8 stars.

In a Nutshell: A historical fiction about a young girl from Korea who is sent to Hawaii as a “picture bride” and learns to navigate life in a new land. A good plot but somewhat disconnected writing. Not sure if the emotions were lost in translation. Still, a fairly informative read for those who enjoy this genre.

Plot Preview:

1917. When young Willow is approached by the local matchmaker to become a ‘picture bride’ for a young Korean in Hawaii, she never imagined that the promises would not be entirely truthful. Though sad at leaving her mother and siblings behind, the eighteen-year-old sails for Hawaii with starry dreams in her eyes, along with a few other Korean girls who have also obtained grooms through posted photos. Life in the Hawaiian Korean community isn’t exactly as they envisaged, but with no chance of returning home, Willow has to make the best of her circumstances. The situation isn’t helped by the turbulent political situation in faraway Korea, which makes ripples even across the ocean.

The story is written in three distinct but linear sections, with two of those coming from Willow’s third-person perspective and the third in another character’s first-person perspective.

Bookish Yays:

🏝️ I’ve never read a book with a Korea-Hawaii combo! This was a new part of history to me, and I always enjoy learning more about such hidden aspects of ordinary life in the past. This novel reveals an unseen side of Hawaii, and how Korean and Japanese labourers came to reside there.

🏝️ Another new fact to me was the concept of picture brides, whereby young Korean and Japanese girls were sent off to be married based only on photos sent by prospective grooms all the way across the ocean. How dire must their family situation have been for them to accept such an uncertain fate in an unfamiliar place!

🏝️ The glimpses of Korean culture, customs and beliefs. As authentic as an OwnVoices work can be without going into stereotypes.

🏝️ The details about the socio-political situation in Korea at that time, including the details of life under Japanese rule. The author’s research and knowledge are quite evident. The Hawaiian setting also seems to be captured well.

🏝️ The “found family” type of connection among three of the picture brides. Their friendship and bond through ups and downs keeps the book interesting. Among other characters, I liked the portrayal of Willow’s husband and her father-in-law. Both turned out to be not like what I would have expected.

🏝️ The author’s note and the translator’s note reveal several key insights that helped me appreciate the historical aspects better.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🍍 Willow as a character is brilliant. She is witness to so many complex situations that through her, it is almost like we are learning about many events from the past. However, Willow as a protagonist is quite bland. It is tough to connect to her, even though she is a brave and courageous character worthy of this book. Basically, this problem is not of character development but of protagonist development – we needed more intensity in the main narrator’s depiction.

🍍 I am not sure if the translation failed the book or if the book itself is somewhat dry, but many scenes that should have been hardhitting ended up almost lacklustre.

🍍 The story is divided in three distinct sections. The first is easily my favourite as it provides a proper background to Willow’s situation and her life in Korea and Hawaii. The second section continues the Hawaii segment but it is very different from the first in tone and content, ending up too political for my liking. I don’t mind political content, but it seems to be written in textbook-style at times in this novel. As such, some of the scenes felt somewhat dry and boring. This might not bother those who love learning about international politics. The third section is in the Nays column.

Bookish Nays:

🥥 The third-person narrative keeps Willow very distant. A major chunk of her arc is about reporting events. The challenges are present of course, but on the whole, the tougher life developments happen to those around her than to her. Even when Willow is directly affected by some event, her emotions are written in an aloof manner.

🥥 Willow’s two picture-bride friends have more troublesome marriages so it would have been great to have this novel as a narrative from all three of their perspectives. Compared to what they go through, Willow’s life seems like an ordinary tale than a dramatic one.

🥥 The writing is too convenient and easy-going at times. Characters turn up at Willow’s doorstep exactly and only when they are needed for the plot. Tough scenes that might have potential conflict or intense emotional display are glossed over quickly so as to continue the journalistic reporting. For such a plot, such a writing style didn’t make sense.

🥥 Time clues aren't provided often, which is a big issue in a novel that spans such a large timespan, going all the way from one World War to another. This might not bother those who go with the flow without really bothering about the nitty-gritty of the passage of fictional time.

🥥 The final section, taking place a huge time jump later, suddenly switches to a new character and to a first-person POV. Considering how we see the story from Willow’s perspective until that point, this sudden shift in narrative feels jarring, all the more as the tone doesn’t match the character in age. This entire section seems to be mainly an infodump about what happened in the interim eighteen-year-period, with a couple of surprises thrown in just for the sake of it. The writing style is again more like reporting than like a personal narration. Overall, this section just didn’t gel with the rest of the book in tone, theme, or flow.

All in all, I liked the book enough but I wasn't as captivated by it as I usually am by historical fiction. I expected to be far more affected by this powerful story than I actually was, but the story itself kept emotions away so I too couldn’t feel much. The downward slide over the three sections also didn’t help me much. Regardless, the book still deserves appreciation for shedding light on an unusual part of world history.

Recommended to those who aren’t too particular about writing styles and would enjoy a somewhat understated historical story with strong political overtones in the second half. The first section was the best for me, earning 4 stars. The second and the third weren’t that appealing to me, earning 2.5 stars and 2 stars respectively.

2.8 stars, averaged from the sectional ratings.

My thanks to Scribe UK for providing the DRC of “The Picture Bride” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.