Status Updates From A Serpente Vermelha

I am sad to say I am near the end of this monumental book about Korea. Buck has a way of making the reader feel what her characters are feeling. The book encompasses Korean history from the Sejeon dynasty to 20th century occupation by Japan and how America did nothing to help free the people until we too were attacked by Japan!

As she did in The Good Earth with a Chinese farmer, Buck enters the mind of a Korean yangban (elite)during the period of Korean history when Japan defeated China during a brief peasant revolt and completely took over the rule of Koreans. This would last 40 years, ending only with ww2 defeat of Japan. She tells of the brutalities Koreans endured under this rule and their striving for independence.