House of the Winds

House of the Winds, Mia Yun, Interlink Books, 1998

This connected group of stories chronicles the relationship between a mother and daughter in 1960s Korea, a land and time deeply influenced by the Japanese occupation and the Korean War.

The father is a sort of traveling salesman, always with some new job title, away for long periods of time. The house always felt cold and empty when coming home from school, because Mother worked long hours at a garment factory. But the house always warmed right up when she arrived. There were bus trips to visit relatives in far away villages, both alone and with mother. During her older sister's teen years, there was considerable family pressure to get married (to the right person). In reaction, Sister and a friend run away from home by bus and find themselves in the wrong section of the city of Pusan. Grandmother converted to Christianity years before, and always tried to convert the rest of the family. When Mother was dying of liver disease, Grandmother prayed over her constantly, believing that the illness was caused by Mother's lack of faith.

This book does a very good job of mixing dreams, myth and reality. The writing is lyrical, pure and evocative, and this one is well worth reading.