The Picture Bride: A Novel by Lee Geum-yi
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Stirring
The Picture Bride is an inspiring and stirring tale about three Korean women who came to the United states in the early 1900s and times were very difficult. Willow, and Songwha, and Hongju are difficult names for me to pronounce (or even sort through in my head) because I'm not familiar with the Korean language, but it made them feel all the more real. I didn't know much about the Korean immigrants who had to start their lives over in Hawaii, but found this aspect of the story very interesting. My grandmother's family had a sugar plantation so the aspect of the families working on a sugar plantation was also very interesting to me personally. I can't imagine going to a matchmaker to find a spouse like these women did, especially when the men were oftentimes much older... but then again, I live in a different time where things are easier and more accessible.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Historical Fiction
I gave this book 3.5/5 stars, rounding down to three stars. I rounded down as I felt this book "showed" rather than "told" the story it was trying to tell. This is a historical women's fiction that tells the story of three women who are Korean "Picture Brides" come to Hawaii during the early part of 20th Century. They come to Hawaii to become the wives of Korean men who have arrived the decade prior for work. The main character (Willow) was told lots of lies by the agency that she used to come to America, including that she would be able to go to school. She instead is married to a man nine years older than her who is a landlord. I felt this could have been a truly wonderful story to tell, had it been shown but I felt like I was reading a non-fiction book. I received an advance review copy for free from Bookish First, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Couldn't Put It Down
It has been a long time since I read a book I couldn't put down. I was captivated from the first chapter. When I read the first pre-view, I knew I wanted to read the story. This book is going on my "Keeper Shelf". Author, Lee Geum-yi, does an excellent job of weaving the story of three Korean 'picture brides'. The story has just about every thing: love, heartache, friendship, jealousy and adventure. The bond that these women developed, helped navigate the scary new world they found themselves in - Hawai'i. Cultural and language barriers faced them everyday. We'll just say that all three had different experiences, even being in the "same" situation - kinda. The story does jump 18 years in the end, to tell a small part of one of the kid's story, Pearl's. I wish there was more there. Perhaps a sequel is in the mix. As I've said before, I do wish there was a page of how to pronounce names and places (a type of glossary) to give them their do respect.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Fantastic historical fiction
It’s 1918 and 18-year-old Willow leaves her home in Korea for the foreign land of Hawaii to become a Picture Bride. Upon arrival, she soon realizes that the matchmaker’s promises were actually lies. THE PICTURE BRIDE follows Willow’s life as well as several other picture brides as they navigate their new lives and work to overcome struggles. THE PICTURE BRIDE was a fantastic historical fiction read. I found Willow’s story to be captivating and loved that her connections to her friends were also included so that we were able to see how other picture brides found their way as well. I can’t imagine being in Willow’s situation, uprooting my life and traveling so far away to marry someone I’d only seen a photo of. As if the disappointment in finding out the matchmaker lied to her about being able to attend school and that her husband was a land owner wasn’t enough, Willow faced challenge after challenge yet somehow still persevered. Her strength was phenomenal and kept me turning pages to see how she would navigate whatever was thrown at her next. The pacing was well done. There was a twist toward the end of the book that took me by surprise. I liked that the author noted how this book came to fruition and the translator gave notes on the methods of translation. Given that I do not speak or read in the original language, it’s difficult to comment on the quality of translation. I can say that I appreciate the careful thought and detail taken by the translator as described and I found the notes to be an interesting insight into the process. This is the first of Lee Geum-Yi’s books to be translated to English. I would certainly read others should they be translated in the future. I enjoyed THE PICTURE BRIDE very much and would definitely recommend to fans of historical fiction.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Historical Fiction
This book is a quick read about an interesting time in history. Starting in 1918 this is the story of Korean women immigrating to Hawaii as picture brides, a phenomenon I knew nothing about before this book. I love when an author can bring some life to some piece of history that hasn’t been used in hundreds of books. I will say the story read fairly flat to me, and I thought it could have grabbed the reader ore with some more depth to the characters. They were very interesting, and I found the ending told from Pearl’s perspective to be the best. Willow and her best friend Hongju have been told about how amazing life in Hawaii is and they both have agreed to be picture wives. As they start their journey they also befriend the other girls going across on their ship forming bonds that will last a lifetime. Which is good because the things they heard about Hawaii - that food and clothing grew on trees and you could sweep up money and even an 18 year old girl could go to school (Willow’s dream) were lies. This is a powerful story and the historical events seemed realistic.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Read this
Wow… it is an entertaining and moving book. I loved it.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Insightful Narrative
The picture bride was a insightful narrative based off a historical period and culture that I honestly not familiar with at all. In fact, I don't believe I had even heard of a picture bride prior to reading this book. After reading, I have to say that the concept of a picture bride was intriguing to read about, but also frightening--learning that so many women travel so far just to be misled and/or mistreated. I will preface this by saying that I am not a big historical fiction reader, so this story wasn't primarily written for a reader like me. With that said, I didn't feel as strong of a connection to our main character, Willow, as I had hoped going in. Perhaps it was the style of writing, or maybe it was just me not being as used to reading in this genre. Having said that, I enjoyed following Willow's overall journey from Korea to Hawaii. It was a very thoughtful tale.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Korean Immigration to Hawaii
My Recommendation The Picture Bride tells us about a very interesting part of the history of Hawaii. Many men went to Hawaii to earn a living working in the sugar cane industry. Once the men were able to save up enough money, they sent it back home in order to get a bride. These men would often times send a picture of themselves in order to convince a young woman to choose them. The pictures were not always accurate and many young women were affected by this. This is part of our history, whether we live in Hawaii or not. The research was done very well. I loved the history and the story, but there were too many names and words in general that made the reading a little harder. I am very glad I read this, next time I would write the unfamiliar names and words down.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com