Reviewed by Mee Mee Lahman

When a biography reads more like an extraordinary fictional tale, an elaborate history lesson, and a provocative discourse on racism combined, the reader can only be left fulfilled. This is exactly what Ms. Kang's novel delivers in Home was the Land of Morning Calm.

The story begins four generations ago, in a Korea far different from the country we know today. Before the demilitarized zone was created and even before Japanese imperialism, the Kang clan lived as an aristocratic Korean family would. They harvested orchards, employed servants and enjoyed privileged lives. As readers, we follow through the events that shaped the infrastructure of modern day Korea, while experiencing the heartache families like the Kang's endured.

The book concludes with Ms. Kang's own life experience as on of the few Korean foreign students in America during the 1950s, and then the only Korean female newspaper reporter to truly break the color and gender lines of the 1960s/

From the first page to the very last, I fell completely in love with this story. As a Korea-American striving to learn more about my roots, this book was the best thing to fall into my hands. I not only learned abut the historical events that affected Korea, I was also able to see it from Ms. Kang's personal perspective. To write a story with such vivid and emotive words, one had to live through it all. I am sorry that anyone experienced such hardship, but if hardships must exist, let writers like Ms. Kang portray them to the people. I believe, then, that our conscience would grow collectively so as to deter future injustices from happening again.