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Heartbreaking graphic nonfic about a woman's experience being a comfort woman to Japanese soldiers during WW2. Hard to read at times but definitely an important history to learn.

#adventrecommends

Combining yesterday and today recommends. Two graphic novels by a new to me author that focused on aspects of the Korean War and WW2 that I was unfamiliar with. I certainly learned a lot and both books are well worth a read.

An important graphic novel the sheds light on a very dark part of history. I couldn‘t put it down once I picked it up. The illustrations were somber to reflect the heaviness of the story.

Starting this one rn. I haven‘t read a graphic novel before, so I‘m really looking forward to it although the subject matter in pretty grim.

It‘s the story of Korean comfort women during the Japanese occupation of Korea. From everything I‘ve gathered, it‘s a must-read.

Why read a story like this one? To never forget. Not just the horrors faced by those who fought during the war but also those who were not soldiers yet fought their own wars. How terrifying it must have been to be taken at such a young age, to be abused in this way. These are stories that need to be told and read and remembered. Your heart will break over and over when you read this powerful and necessary graphic memoir.

Why read a story like this one? To never forget. Not just the horrors faced by those who fought during the war but also those who were not soldiers yet fought their own wars. How terrifying it must have been to be taken at such a young age, to be abused in this way. These are stories that need to be told and read and remembered. Your heart will break over and over when you read this powerful and necessary graphic memoir.

Artist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim gently interviews Lee Ok-sun about her experiences as a ‘comfort woman,‘ a sexual slave for the Japanese army while they occupied Korea. With smudges & thick strokes of black ink, she documents Ok-sun‘s life from childhood into old age, in addition to the artist‘s own visits to the rest home for former comfort women, where Ok-sun now lives. Translation by Janet Hong. Outstanding, heartbreaking, heroic graphic nonfiction.

Lovely depictions of plant life in between the chapters help to soothe my feelings of sorrow and indignation as I read about the horrors some Korean women experienced when they were forced to be sexual slaves, then left to fend for themselves after the Japanese forces left.

The landlord kicked them out. Her parents took the youngest and sold themselves into bond service. Mija Eonni [age 4] was sent to her father‘s older brother. She tried to earn her keep by doing chores and looking after her nephew. She lived there for 2 years, and when she turned 6, she was married off as a child bride to a 19-year-old man in a neighbouring village.

A LOT of reading was done in December! #NeverNotReading

Plenty of other books still in the rotation. January with the start of challenges, is going to shake things up a bit. More on that in a bit.

#BookReport
@Cinfhen

This is an extremely powerful graphic novel about the Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II.

This book is a pick for me despite how triggering or horrifying it might be. Grass is a graphic novel of the real-life story of Ok-sun Lee who was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese troops occupying China during the second World War. I knew nothing about this history until encountering a similar story (fiction) in A Gesture Life earlier this year. No official apology or reparations were issued by Tokyo until 2015.

Harrow account of the atrocities committed by the Japanese in in occupied Korea.

What these poor women went through was utterly unfathomable. Strong of character is the only way to describe them.

This GN tells the true story of Lee Ok-sun, pictured top left. In the early 1940‘s in Japan occupied Korea she along with 10‘s of thousands of girls were abducted and tricked by the Japanese into becoming ‘comfort women.‘ They were sexually assaulted for years by the Japanese forces until their liberation where they were then assaulted and killed by Soviet soldiers. There is a place in South Korea called The Sharing House which is a👇🏼

Today has been very full on.

The monochrome illustrations of this GN suit my computer-tired evening.

Powerful graphic novel about a part of recent history that I had no idea about (thanks Western-Centric public school education). This is the story of a Korean “comfort woman” kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery & service the Japanese Imperial Army during WWII. You won‘t forget this story - highly recommend it.