To Swim Across the World

We all seem to question our place on this earth from time to time. It's during those moments of self-reflection that I like to draw inspiration from others. Ironically, the latest insights into my own purely American life came from a novel based on a completely different time and culture.A friend recently turned me on to "To Swim Across the World." My tastes generally lend themselves to historical or political non-fiction. Knowing this, she suggested that I read To Swim as it would meet those criteria and offer "even more." She described it as the most thought-provoking read yet among her book club friends.I bought the book prior to an extended business trip thinking I'd appease my friend and have a novel I could turn to from time to time over the next couple of days. I accomplished only the former as I started the book on my flight and ended it that evening in my hotel room. I couldn't put it down.She was right. It was the "even more" that I found most fascinating. Superbly written, the book chronicles the lives in Korea of a young man (Sei-Young) and a young woman (Heisook) during and preceding the Korean War. But it was the characters' efforts to better their surroundings in the face of tremendous adversity that really struck me. Certainly, my hurdles in life don't compare to a young woman crossing the 38th Parallel to flee the dangers of a Communist North Korea or of a young man supporting his family as a youth to eventually become an advisor to the first president-elect of the Republic of Korea. But the basis of their stories should be familiar to everyone on some level. We all face obstacles in life and we all have roots in other cultures. Authors Frances Park and Ginger Park share theirs in a way that successfully brings the reader back to 1940's and 1950's Korea and genuinely makes you care for Sei-Young, Heisook and their families. This was a time I knew little about. The book's characters walk you through what I'm sure you'll agree is a very compelling history lesson. "To Swim Across the World" is the classic American dream tale updated to reflect a new generation of Americans-a generation in which we all have roots in other cultures.

Long ignored in the history of our collective consciousness as a society and specific culture are the important contributions made by the richness and diversity of those who courageously left other places, for whatever reason...to embark on a journey to our shores. We have done an abysmal job of welcoming them in the truest sense of the spirit of welcome. We have asked them to forget their rich backgrounds to the degree, as the Parks so movingly report, that they deny it themselves. We require them to commit almost a form of spiritual genocide merely to be a part of what is this culture. This moving story should be required reading and we should be unable to successfully complete a high school education in the absence of a clear sense of honor and deep respect for the experiences that people such as the Parks bring to us. I am grateful for their courage, dignity...and extend my sincerest welcome.

It's a well known phenomenon that so many authors' first novels are semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tales. After all, you write what you know and we wouldn't expect young writers to know much. Still, despite their lack of experience as writers and their rather limited experience of life, these debut efforts are often the best books that the authors will ever produce, sometimes--as in the case of Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird--the only book they'll ever write. Then again, there are some cases where the author just needs to get the story out of his system before he can get on with the rest of his career. But this is the only case I can think of offhand where an author returned to autobiographical material for a second novel and managed to improve quite so drastically on the first.Cleopatra Moon tells the story of two Korean-American sisters growing up in the suburbs of Washington, DC in the 1970s and of their current lives and the strained relationship between them. Marcy, who now runs a second hand store on an Indian reservation in Nevada, was a bookish,, dutiful daughter. Her sister, Cleopatra, who owns a business making gourmet food sauces, was strikingly beautiful, self-possessed, and daring when they were young. Cleopatra was the kind of girl we all went to high school with, who could use her good looks to get just about anything she wanted, and was surrounded by fawning acolytes who did her bidding. We all hated such women, but Marcy lived in utter awe of her sister, of her looks, and of her ability to manipulate people. This creates a real problem in the book as we neither like Cleopatra, who is the mystery at the book's core, nor can we respect Marcy who is so much in her thrall.Added to this structural problem are the Oprahesque touches in the book. There is the obligatory sexual assault, and Marcy's advocacy for the White Sky tribe and her belief in spiritual forces add a treacly New Age/politically correct edge. Some of the stuff about teen girls dealing with anti-Asian racism is mildly interesting, particularly because there's so little other fiction dealing with the topic, but the focus of the novel is elsewhere, mainly on the not very compelling tensions between the sisters. Ultimately, we just don't like the sisters enough to get particularly involved in their story.Meanwhile, in To Swim Across the World, Frances Park and her real life sister, Ginger--the two own a boutique together in Washington--have written a marvelous novel based on the lives and love of their Korean immigrant parents. The novel is set against a backdrop of first the Japanese occupation and then the Communist takeover of the North and the ensuing War. Sei-Young Shin is a young man from South Korea, his father a woodcarver and a drunkard, beaten down by life under the Japanese. The great influence in Sei-Young's life is his Grandfather, a churchless minister who surreptitiously paints the message "Freedom i

In 1941, Japan invades the Korean Peninsula. In the north, Heisook Pang barely feels the impact of the foreigners and most of that through tales of horror far to the south. Heisook, her brother, their parents, and occasionally a visiting cousin still split their time between Sinuiju and Heavenly Mountain. At the same time in the south, the Japanese are everywhere and even those living in rural sections such as Sei-Young Shin daily feel the domination of the conquered. When World War II ends, the Cold War immediately moves into the Peninsular. A man-made barrier of hatred suddenly splits families and relatives are no longer able to visit one another across the line. Heisook finds the Communist North quite oppressive especially after her father is taken away. In 1947, she flees to the south knowing she has little to live for anymore in North Korea. At the same time, Sei-Young Shin finds Seoul a thriving place to flourish, soon becoming an accomplished orator for freedom. By 1950, the Communists cross the 38th Parallel and Sei-Young and Heisook have met, fallen in love, and married. TO SWIM ACROSS THE WORLD is an intriguing tale that uses a historical fictionalized account of the parents of the authors as a backdrop to a turbulent decade in Korea. The story line is fantastic as the alternating paragraphs describe what is happening to Sei-Young and Heisook while outside events shape their lives. Genre fans have a winner worth reading and hopefully the Park siblings will continue the family saga with what happened during the following decades.Harriet Klausner

I picked up an "Advanced Reading Copy" of this book at The Goodwill for 69 cents with the intention of tossing it if it wasn't any good. I was glued to it from beginning to end. I have never been a big fan of anything Asian so I was surprised to find that I was so engrossed with the characters in this book. It was written in a clear and concise voice and provided me with a new perspective on the Korean and Japanese cultures. I would love to know what happens after the book ends. Is there a sequel in the works? I hope so! This book is a love story, a historical novel and a tragedy all rolled into one. Buy this book, you'll love it.