A review by qomareads
The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories by Caroline Kim
4.0
A collection of short stories with a hint of Korean culture and history, as well as the present story of the Korean immigrants living in America and all over the world.
A quote from each of my favourite stories from this collection.
Arirang - “This is all you want. To give birth one time. To have something to love and love you.”
Seoul - “What they wanted was so simple : to be able to eat and breathe freely, work their small li of land, have children and grandchildren, live and die facing the same sunset they have watched all their lives.”
Picasso’s Blue Period - “It’s curious, that one speaks of loss when someone dies. It isn’t loss at all. She turned to me, her face bright and shiny. It is a weight that must be held, must be carried. It lives while we live. And that is all right.”
Therapy Robot - “Look at my own parents. Both of them survived Korean War. As children! They witness atrocities they won’t talk about. My mother once mentioned seeing dead bodies in the streets. Otherwise, she said the war wasn’t that bad. Not that bad! The worst was hiding her father and brother under the house so they wouldn’t be conscripted by either the North or South Korean armies.”
The Prince of Mournful Thoughts - “I tell you this story, Sir, in order that you may know that nothing in life is to be taken for granted, not even the love between a father and the son.”
A quote from each of my favourite stories from this collection.
Arirang - “This is all you want. To give birth one time. To have something to love and love you.”
Seoul - “What they wanted was so simple : to be able to eat and breathe freely, work their small li of land, have children and grandchildren, live and die facing the same sunset they have watched all their lives.”
Picasso’s Blue Period - “It’s curious, that one speaks of loss when someone dies. It isn’t loss at all. She turned to me, her face bright and shiny. It is a weight that must be held, must be carried. It lives while we live. And that is all right.”
Therapy Robot - “Look at my own parents. Both of them survived Korean War. As children! They witness atrocities they won’t talk about. My mother once mentioned seeing dead bodies in the streets. Otherwise, she said the war wasn’t that bad. Not that bad! The worst was hiding her father and brother under the house so they wouldn’t be conscripted by either the North or South Korean armies.”
The Prince of Mournful Thoughts - “I tell you this story, Sir, in order that you may know that nothing in life is to be taken for granted, not even the love between a father and the son.”