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Couleur de peau: miel #2
Couleur de peau : miel, Tome 2
À 14 ans, Jung aborde la difficile période de l’adolescence, l’âge où certains rejettent leur famille pour mieux trouver leur personnalité. Comme Jung est du genre radical, son rejet sera intense ! Ce sera toutefois pour mieux découvrir les autres : les amis, dont certains sont des coréens adoptés aussi. Et puis les filles : Jung a un certain succès auprès d’elles et lui leur porte un intérêt prononcé.
Enfin, se libère en lui une véritable passion pour le dessin... Mais en même temps que l’enfant devient jeune homme grandit une sorte de désespoir. Ce désespoir, tous les enfants adoptés de son entourage semblent l’expérimenter, et pour certains, il sera même fatal. Au combat pour trouver une place dans un environnement familial succède celui de s’accepter tel qu’il est. Il le mènera au seuil de sa vie d’homme.
Enfin, se libère en lui une véritable passion pour le dessin... Mais en même temps que l’enfant devient jeune homme grandit une sorte de désespoir. Ce désespoir, tous les enfants adoptés de son entourage semblent l’expérimenter, et pour certains, il sera même fatal. Au combat pour trouver une place dans un environnement familial succède celui de s’accepter tel qu’il est. Il le mènera au seuil de sa vie d’homme.
144 pages, Broché
First published June 25, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 20, 2022
3.5*
CW: Suicide, nudity/objectification of women
This volume is primarily about Jung's adolescence, which makes it awkward in a good way!
He focuses on the pain of "casual" racism: Jung's rejection of other Koreans, Westerners thinking that everyone is from China...but one event left me puzzled, and I suspect it was for the same for Jung - the teacher who caught him hiding the sandwiches under the bushes and made Jung eat them because there are children starving "in your country". What motivates an adult to be so cruel to a child??? What untold stories of adoptees led to the suicides of so many!? I wonder if this shame at being an adoptee is something that's still true. Jung is a Xoomer (born in first year of Gen X), so perhaps things have improved since his youth. Butpeople gonna be people and if it's "fashionable" to adopt (then it was the rich, now it's tiktokers), then it stands to reason that it will later become unfashionable and, like Jung describes, cast aside for the next, cuter plaything.
Jung doesn't solely place the blame on the adoptive parents for difficult integration. Memory also plays a role even if international adoptees cannot consciously remember their mother/other relatives, the native culture, language, or food. These memories live in the body and some go consciously or subconsciously seeking them, sometimes to the point of destruction (Jung's hospital trip or the suicides mentioned above) - and yet Jung has been able to use these "forgotten" memories as a creative impulse. (How cool is it that he drew salmunori drummers without knowing?!) Yet, when you are not feeling at ease with yourself, positive things can become perverted into yet more escape - Jung's fascination with Japan is a good example of this. Of course, when he finally gets there, he realizes that this "connection" to Japan was just a fantasy built on rejection.
I think these volumes could serve as a form of bibliotheraphy for people who feel lost, lacking in a sense of identity or place, or anyone in a liminal state (especially this volume as, generally speaking, adolescence is a walking transition). Jung's roots metaphor at the beginning of this volume is, while perhaps a little facile, cliché, emotional and moving just the same. Jung's admiration of deeply rooted trees and their relationship to the earth made me think about my own struggles with identity as an "expatigrant", still not feeling anchored to the ground, even after 14 years. Am I, like Jung, afraid of myself? Not unhappy, yet still not happy with who I am?
'Roots in poor quality soil remain close to the surface' and are more susceptible feeling the tumult of the storms of life - I would add it's not necessarily that a "soil" (country, place) is poor, but it just doesn't have the ideal NPK balance of nutrients to nurture certain types of people. It doesn't mean that you are broken if you don't flourish there. It's like planting a cactus in a humid, temperate climate. A lot of work needs to be done to make a home for that cactus! It's not a bad cactus and you are not a bad person just because you need special supports (medicine, food, etc) to help you adapt to the conditions you are in. And like Jung, those who have been transplanted, cut off from our roots, become more resistant, but the feeling of being "uprooted" remains.
Speaking of a form of bibliotheraphy, the fact that Jung sees themes in his adolescent drawings that he's carried with him into adulthood makes me want to go back to my journals and find patterns.
One thing that bothered me is how some events are mentioned without depth or analysis. And yet, that's part of the reality of being a child and young adult. A lot of stuff happens around you and you never get an explanation - or the explanation comes so late that the damage is already done (example from volume 1, we see Jung's mother reject him, but in this volume she is 100% there for him when he falls gravely ill and we learn that she lost a child before Jung arrived.) Perhaps Jung's childish acts of cruelty to women (and objectification) is a result of feeling abandoned by his mother and being objectified/othered himself. But it doesn't make it any less...icky. I straddle the line between truly admiring his honesty and...ugh, really?!?
CW: Suicide, nudity/objectification of women
This volume is primarily about Jung's adolescence, which makes it awkward in a good way!
He focuses on the pain of "casual" racism: Jung's rejection of other Koreans, Westerners thinking that everyone is from China...but one event left me puzzled, and I suspect it was for the same for Jung - the teacher who caught him hiding the sandwiches under the bushes and made Jung eat them because there are children starving "in your country". What motivates an adult to be so cruel to a child??? What untold stories of adoptees led to the suicides of so many!? I wonder if this shame at being an adoptee is something that's still true. Jung is a Xoomer (born in first year of Gen X), so perhaps things have improved since his youth. Butpeople gonna be people and if it's "fashionable" to adopt (then it was the rich, now it's tiktokers), then it stands to reason that it will later become unfashionable and, like Jung describes, cast aside for the next, cuter plaything.
Jung doesn't solely place the blame on the adoptive parents for difficult integration. Memory also plays a role even if international adoptees cannot consciously remember their mother/other relatives, the native culture, language, or food. These memories live in the body and some go consciously or subconsciously seeking them, sometimes to the point of destruction (Jung's hospital trip or the suicides mentioned above) - and yet Jung has been able to use these "forgotten" memories as a creative impulse. (How cool is it that he drew salmunori drummers without knowing?!) Yet, when you are not feeling at ease with yourself, positive things can become perverted into yet more escape - Jung's fascination with Japan is a good example of this. Of course, when he finally gets there, he realizes that this "connection" to Japan was just a fantasy built on rejection.
I think these volumes could serve as a form of bibliotheraphy for people who feel lost, lacking in a sense of identity or place, or anyone in a liminal state (especially this volume as, generally speaking, adolescence is a walking transition). Jung's roots metaphor at the beginning of this volume is, while perhaps a little facile, cliché, emotional and moving just the same. Jung's admiration of deeply rooted trees and their relationship to the earth made me think about my own struggles with identity as an "expatigrant", still not feeling anchored to the ground, even after 14 years. Am I, like Jung, afraid of myself? Not unhappy, yet still not happy with who I am?
'Roots in poor quality soil remain close to the surface' and are more susceptible feeling the tumult of the storms of life - I would add it's not necessarily that a "soil" (country, place) is poor, but it just doesn't have the ideal NPK balance of nutrients to nurture certain types of people. It doesn't mean that you are broken if you don't flourish there. It's like planting a cactus in a humid, temperate climate. A lot of work needs to be done to make a home for that cactus! It's not a bad cactus and you are not a bad person just because you need special supports (medicine, food, etc) to help you adapt to the conditions you are in. And like Jung, those who have been transplanted, cut off from our roots, become more resistant, but the feeling of being "uprooted" remains.
Speaking of a form of bibliotheraphy, the fact that Jung sees themes in his adolescent drawings that he's carried with him into adulthood makes me want to go back to my journals and find patterns.
One thing that bothered me is how some events are mentioned without depth or analysis. And yet, that's part of the reality of being a child and young adult. A lot of stuff happens around you and you never get an explanation - or the explanation comes so late that the damage is already done (example from volume 1, we see Jung's mother reject him, but in this volume she is 100% there for him when he falls gravely ill and we learn that she lost a child before Jung arrived.) Perhaps Jung's childish acts of cruelty to women (and objectification) is a result of feeling abandoned by his mother and being objectified/othered himself. But it doesn't make it any less...icky. I straddle the line between truly admiring his honesty and...ugh, really?!?
July 16, 2020
The second volume continues with Jung's adventure's as a teenager. He starts to discover his Korean heritage and develop a likeness for other Korean's living in Belgium and Brussels. The grow of an understanding that he has two, very different, mothers is heartrending. The poignancy of standing in Hiroshima, in his idolised Japan, looking over at South Korea is some of the finest visual storytelling there is.
Lovely story. Now to get the third volume.....
Enjoy!
Lovely story. Now to get the third volume.....
Enjoy!
August 11, 2022
Excellent encore une fois. Je crois que je l’aurais mieux apprécié si je ne l’avais pas lu tout de suite après le tome 1. C’est un peu la même histoire, mais version adolescent cette fois-ci. On y retrouve la même quête d’identité et d’amour, la même tendresse, les mêmes questions… C’est délicieux, mais je recommande de le déguster avec du temps entre les deux tomes.
August 15, 2020
Après un premier volume consacré à son enfance, l'auteur relate son adolescence dans le deuxième volume et poursuit sa quête des origines.
November 23, 2023
c'est difficile de voir qu'il a grandi
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July 27, 2011un superbe récit sur l'adoption...et de superbes illustrations...
September 14, 2013
Superbe et touchant. La trilogie sera bientôt bouclée, vivement la parution du dernier tome !
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews