[One Thousand Chestnut Trees] [By: Stout, Mira] [March, 2010]

by Mira Stout

Paperback

About the author

Mira Stout was born in New York City and raised in Vermont. She attended Brown University and has contributed to a number of publications, including The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, Vanity Fair, The Spectator, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, Vogue, GQ, Elle, Tatler, and The Financial Times. She lives in London, England.

Reviews

[Christel Keijzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale by a young woman of mixed race, having grown up in Vermont, USA, with a strict Korean mother and an American father, had never paid much attention to her Korean lineage until an uncle came to visit and stay for while. Years later after listening to her mother's stories of her family's sad and war-torn past, she spontaneously decided to visit Korea and meet the remaining family members, despite not speaking the language. A glimpse into cruel history and into modern day South Korea from the viewpoint of an outsider, who sort of belongs through family connection but not completely.