The Big Bad Wolf books sales was last December. Which Malaysian would be stupid enough to not go and grab themselves a box of books? All the books were sold for an extremely cheaper price than usual, for example books that would cost you RM50 in Kinokuniya or Borders would only cost RM8 here in Big Bad Wolf. I hope they keep having this every year, so that every year I can restock my bookshelf and when I have a book overload I can finally realize my dream to own my very own in-house library one day.
The Calligrapher's Daughter is one of the books I bought from Big Bad Wolf. It was the first book I chose to read among the others, and one word I can give for it after finishing the book a few weeks ago was 'INSPIRATIONAL'.
The setting of the story was war-time Korea, from the early 1910s until late 1930s. Though this book is fictional, it was inspired by the story of the author's mother herself, Alice Hahn Hyegyoung Kim, who was a Korean immigrant residing in America. When I read the official website for this novel, I found out that actually a lot of Alice Kim's experience were portrayed in this novel through the main character, Han Najin. Knowing this, I find the book even more interesting. The plot would appear a bit slow for those who dislike slow-paced reading taking ages to finish, but I think that is where the beauty in the story lies. Everything is clearly pictured in detail explanation in the story, and the usage of some Korean terms make it even exquisite.
For a debut novel, this is a very high level par set by the author herself. All throughout reading this novel, I almost cried three times, and laughed and smiled many times to the nicely inserted jokes and pleasant scenes in the story. The way Eugenia Kim slightly changes her writing as the chapter advances to portray the growth of the main character, Han Najin, captivates me to the extent I could almost feel myself walking, talking, playing, crying and working as Han Najin.
If you are a fan of Korean dramas, you will notice when you read this book that the author used the Korean style of speech for the character's dialogues, even though she wrote this piece using the English language. The short and simple sentences, the 'yah!' exclamation and the 'aigoo's', will certainly make you feel like you're watching a Korean drama instead of reading an English-language novel.
I learned a lot from this novel besides the moral values scattered all over it. There's Korean history everywhere, there's the value of hardship, the beauty of custom and traditions, the importance of change and so many things. I never imagined I would be so attached to this novel this much!
Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars. If you haven't read it yet I suggest you to. I shall stop here for now. Until my next review, goodnight.
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