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    White Chrysanthemum
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    White Chrysanthemum
    Unavailable
    White Chrysanthemum
    Audiobook10 hours

    White Chrysanthemum

    Written by Mary Lynn Bracht

    Narrated by Greta Jung

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    For fans of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko and Lilac Girls, the heartbreaking history of Korea is brought to life in this deeply moving and redemptive debut that follows two sisters separated by World War II.

    Korea, 1943. Hana has lived her entire life under Japanese occupation. As a haenyeo, a female diver of the sea, she enjoys an independence that few other Koreans can still claim. Until the day Hana saves her younger sister from a Japanese soldier and is herself captured and transported to Manchuria. There she is forced to become a "comfort woman" in a Japanese military brothel. But haenyeo are women of power and strength. She will find her way home.

    South Korea, 2011. Emi has spent more than sixty years trying to forget the sacrifice her sister made, but she must confront the past to discover peace. Seeing the healing of her children and her country, can Emi move beyond the legacy of war to find forgiveness?

    Suspenseful, hopeful, and ultimately redemptive, White Chrysanthemum tells a story of two sisters whose love for each other is strong enough to triumph over the grim evils of war.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 30, 2018
    ISBN9780525497660
    Unavailable
    White Chrysanthemum

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    Reviews for White Chrysanthemum

    4.5/5

    63 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      4.5 StarsWow! This was definitely an eye opening read. Not only was it very interesting, poignant and moving, it was based on a real tragedy. I had absolutely no idea that "comfort women" had existed. Estimates of over 200,000 women were kidnapped from their homes & families and brought to brothels where they were brutalized, humiliated and made to service soldiers. Sometimes, 15 to 20 men a day. Estimates are many of these women were never seen again.My heart ached for Hana and Emiko. The atrocities they suffered were severe and totally animal like.The author did a great job in portraying these women. I enjoyed my time with them, meanwhile, my heart going out to them.A beautifully written story about a horrible, horrible atrocity.Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
    • 4/5
      *I received a copy of this book from the publisher.*Like the best historical fiction, this book combines little-known aspects of history and culture with world-changing events. The novel tells the story of a young Korean haenyeo woman (she's from a tradition of women who dive in the sea for fish to make a living) who is captured by a Japanese soldier and becomes a "comfort woman" in Japanese-controlled Manchuria. I knew abstractly of the "comfort women" who served in a forced prostitution to the Japanese army during the WWII-era, but this book brought home the reality of what this actually meant. This book also grappled with the long-term consequences and what should be done to remember and make retribution for what happened to these women.
    • 5/5
      Dear Ms. Bracht, thank you for this story.My heart is totally broken. This book covers a lesser-known piece of history that I never knew existed but that I am so glad I have been made aware of. The story of innocent girls who were stolen from their homes without warning to "service" Japanese soldiers during their country's occupation of Korea before/during/after World War II is so so so important. You know exactly what I mean by "service." What you may not know is the brutality and utter inhumanity that came along with this servicing. Girls like Hana and Keiko and what may possibly be hundreds of thousands of other Korean (among other ethnic and regional groups) girls and women were treated as sub-humans. Their feelings and their wants, their mental, physical and emotional states all meant absolutely nothing to anyone once they were forcibly removed from their homes and their families. They were treated as less than nothing, all for the sake of Japanese soldiers who wanted one last "comfort" before going to the front lines to fight in the war.You will get chills reading this and not the good kind. You will be horrified by the crimes committed by these monsters upon these young girls, some not even teenagers. I won't forget Hana or Emi any time soon. I won't forget their pain and their sacrifices, simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their spirits will stay with me and will remind me of their struggles. They will be recognized and remembered, even if the Japanese and Korean governments refuse to speak their names and their truths. Thank you to the publishers for an opportunity to read this book in advance. Thank you Mary Lynn Bracht for writing this incredibly important book.
    • 4/5
      Korea is under Japanese Occupation and young women are in danger of capture. If captured they are transported to Manchuria and end up servicing the Japanese Army as 'Comfort' women. From a young age, Hana's mother would state to her, " Look for your sister after each dive. Never forget, if you see her, you are safe."The whole situation of Hana watching the soldier along the bank, from the water, was riveting. Hana distracts the soldier and saves her sister. But, she is transported to Manchuria and forced to be sex slave. This harrowing story offers Hana's life beginning in WWII and Emi 2011.This book was well written and yet horrific. I have many reservations about it. I seldom walk away from a read but I had to multiple times during this. I do believe 'White Chrysanthemum' will be a topic of many book club discussions.
    • 5/5
      Hana, a Korean female diver, sacrifices everything to save her little sister from a Japanese soldier. Taking her place, Hana is captured and sent to a brothel to live as a comfort woman. 70 years later, Emi, Hana's little sister, takes part in a demonstration, demanding that the Japanese government acknowledge the atrocities that happened in Korea under Japanese occupation. When Emi see's a newly revealed statue of a comfort woman, she instantly knows that it is her sister.This was a fascinating, and heartbreaking story. The writing style itself was beautifully written, conveying the devastation that both sisters felt. This is definitely one of the best books that I've read in 2017 and I look forward to reading more from this author.
    • 4/5
      The author lets us get up close and personal with two sisters, Hana and Emi, and when the story begins they live a good life in South Korea. Their mother and Hana are female divers in the local sea, and earn a living capturing the fresh seafood.All this ideal life comes to a tragic end when Hana is taken by the Japanese, and life as she knew it ceases to exist. The author then takes us into the realities of war and human sex slaves, the part of war that tends to be swept under rug.We later learn how Emi has been affected her whole life from growing up from the innocent four-year-old, to an elderly woman. Through it all she continues to search for her missing sister.We soon learn the meaning of the title of the book, and why they areA story that needs to be told, and with the people we will remember, and dark time in history, and we hope not to be repeated.I received this book through Net Galley and Penguin Group Putman Publishing, and was not required to give a positive review.
    • 4/5
      This is a book with very hard to read subject matter. It is a beautiful book and an ugly book,and a book based on historical truisms. It is also about historical events of which I had no knowledge.Hana comes from a long line of strong women who are called haenyo, they dive for a living, capturing the bottom feeders of sea creatures, which will be sold at the market. Emi, her younger sister, still not a strong enough swimmer, stays on shore to guard the catch. The Japanese are the occupiers of South Korea, and the women have been warned about these men, never to be found alone. When she sees her younger sister about to become a victim, Hana does the only thing possible, drawing their eyes from her sister and on to herself. A beautiful act of unselfish love.Forced to endure sex as a comfort women, to the Japanese, though in her case it is a particular enemy, Morimoto, who will become her keeper and enslaver. The book alternates between the fate of Hana and other women, and Emi, now in her seventies. She still dives, freer in the water than on land with her aged body, and the life she now leads. A story that is both poignant and horrifying, but told very well.The authors note explains the history behind the story. Between 50,000 and 200,000 of South Korean women were kidnapped and forced to become comfort women to the Japanese army. Most times their parents did not know what happened to them, their fate unknown. I loved both these women, Hana, her strength of character and Emi, who seeks closure. As I said some scenes are hard to read, they are graphic, but they happened. Are in fact still happening to women of many nations. Why is it that men wage war, and women left behind pay the price? What the men went through is acknowledged, we now understand PTSD and other effects of war, though I admit I find even their treatment subpar. What women have gone through is little talked about, if they are lucky enough to return home their family is often too embarrassed to talk and often hide what happened. A guilty shame. So books like this are important. They force us to see and feel for those lost in the shadows.ARC from Edelweiss.
    • 5/5
      This is a harrowing story of two Korean sisters under the Japanese occupation. Hana is a haenyeo, one of the female divers like her mother on their beautiful island of Jeju. The divers enjoy an independence that other Koreans do not. They catch their own food and are allowed to sell the surplus in the market. Hana has a younger sister, Emi who waits on the shore keeping the birds from eating their catch. Their mother entrusts Hana with the safety of her little sister at all times. They live a happy and productive life in spite of the occupation until one day as Hana comes up from under the sea, she sees a Japanese soldier heading towards the beach where Emi sits. To save her little sister, Hana swims quickly ashore and attracts the attention of the soldier while telling her sister to stay quiet and hidden. Hana is captured and transported to Manchuria and forced to become a "comfort woman" to the Japanese soldiers...at age 16. As we read about this, we are also reading in the present time about Emi. She has spent more than sixty years living with the guilt over her sister's sacrifice. The lives of both sisters are both heroic, tragic and completely spellbinding. I read this book in one sitting last night. The author's notes are not to be missed. She explains the history behind the story telling us that between 50,000 and 200,000 of South Korean women were kidnapped and forced to become comfort women to the Japanese army. Most of the time their parents did not know what happened to them. The history of these "comfort women" was unknown until 1991 when one brave woman, Kim Hak-sun told her story and filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government. A book not to be missed.
    • 4/5
      Loved this book. I haven't read anything about Korea during the Japanese occupation. I had heard of comfort women but had not read anything in depth about them. This book was so sad; the World war and then the ensuing Korean war disrupted the lives of two young Korean sisters and their family. I must read more about this subject
    • 4/5
      A first novel by a writer with a good future. Deals with an awful topic - sexual slavery by the Japanese military in WW2, but manages to deliver a highly readable tale in spite of the content. I knew much a the broad issue of the so-called "comfort women", but the book provided additional information - for example the 2015 agreement between Japan and South Korea includes a provision to never speak of the issue again. Amazing. Appalling.
    • 5/5
      I do not know where to start…this book is amazing!Hana is a female diver of the sea. One day when she is coming up from a dive, she notices Japanese soldiers heading for her little sister who is on the beach. Hana does everything in her power to save her sister, Emi. And she does, but at the cost of her freedom. Hana is captured and forced to become a “comfort girl” for the Japanese army.First off, let’s touch base with what is a “comfort girl”. As a blogger we are told not to quote a book unless we compare to the final copy. I have not compared this but I am quoting this anyway. This is a comfort girl “Ten hours a day, six days a week, she services soldiers. She is raped by 20 men a day”. Hana was only 16!This is a tragic, heart wrenching story. It really takes you through an emotional roller coaster from the very first chapter. I was captivated all the way till the end. The novel is told by Hana during the occupation in the 1940s and also by Emi during present day. This is a tale of love and tragedy shared by two sisters. This is NOT TO BE MISSED! Read this TODAY!I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.
    • 5/5
      In 1943, sixteen year old Hana is happy with her life as a newly fledged haenyeo woman, free diving for abalone, urchins, oysters, and more in the waters of Jeju, a small island off by what is now South Korea. All her life, Korea has been under Japanese occupation. Her people are required to speak Japanese and obey the Japanese soldiers. It’s a hard life, but her family is happy. Then one day as she is swimming in to the shore, she sees a Japanese soldier making his way down the beach, where her little sister sits, watching their catch, hidden by some large rocks. It’s only a matter of minutes before he discovers Emi, and young girls are frequently taken by the soldiers, taken to be ‘comfort women’ in military run brothels. Hana runs to the beach, allowing herself to be taken instead. Thus begins her life in hell; life as a sex slave, raped over and over again by Japanese soldiers in a tiny room from which she’s rarely allowed out of. The story alternates point of views between Hana as she strives to find a way to escape, and Emi, in 2011, who has never forgotten her sister and has never stopped looking for her. Her life, too, has been miserable; Korea’s constant state of occupation and war has not made life easy for anyone. Now she comes to Seoul, to see her grown children and to attend a Wednesday Demonstration- the weekly protest aimed at getting justice from Japan for the sex slave business they were in. She comes, hoping against hope to see her sister. Her children have no idea that their aunt was a sex slave; it shocks them when Emi finally tells them. The story is, frankly, horrific. But while this volume is fiction, these things really happened to the people of Korea- and the other countries that were under Japanese occupation during this period. The book is really hard to read, because of the subject matter and the verisimilitude of the scenes of sexual violence, but it’s so well written that I just couldn’t put it down. My heart ached for Hana, and for Emi, too. Excellent book, five stars, but could be very triggering for victims of sexual violence.