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    The Kinship of Secrets
    The Kinship of Secrets
    The Kinship of Secrets
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Kinship of Secrets

    Written by Eugenia Kim

    Narrated by Janet Song

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    In 1948 Najin and Calvin Cho, with their young daughter Miran, travel from South Korea to the United States in search of new opportunities. Wary of the challenges they know will face them, Najin and Calvin make the difficult decision to leave their other daughter, Inja, behind with their extended family; soon, they hope, they will return to her.

    But then war breaks out in Korea, and there is no end in sight to the separation. Miran grows up in prosperous American suburbia, under the shadow of the daughter left behind, as Inja grapples in her war-torn land with ties to a family she doesn't remember. Najin and Calvin desperately seek a reunion with Inja, but are the bonds of love strong enough to reconnect their family over distance, time, and war? And as deep family secrets are revealed, will everything they long for be upended?

    Told through the alternating perspectives of the distanced sisters, and inspired by a true story, The Kinship of Secrets explores the cruelty of war, the power of hope, and what it means to be a sister.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateNov 6, 2018
    ISBN9781684414550
    Author

    Eugenia Kim

    Eugenia Kim is the daughter of Korean parents who immigrated to America shortly after the Pacific War. She has published short stories and essays in journals and anthologies, including Echoes Upon Echoes: New Korean American Writings, and is an MFA graduate of Bennington College. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and son. The Calligrapher's Daughter is her first novel.

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    Reviews for The Kinship of Secrets

    4/5

    37 ratings6 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Book club for Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Lots to talk about, and the intertwined stories of two Korean sisters growing up in separate countries, separated for years by the outbreak of war and strict immigration laws — illuminated much of the history of the US and Korea in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
    • 4/5
      In 1950, four year old Inja is living with her grandparents and uncle in Seoul, while her slightly-older sister Miran is in America with their parents. The family’s intended return to Korea has already been delayed; the outbreak of war forces them to change their plans and delays their reunion with Inja even further.This is a fascinating portrayal of two sisters growing up in different countries, and an incredibly poignant story about a family separated (inspired by the experience of one of the author’s older sisters, who was left with relatives in Korea when their family went to the US!). It’s compelling, and beautifully written, and despite moments of intense grief, hopeful. I liked how, in the end, Inja and Miran didn’t have all the answers -- some things are still a work in progress.But I wonder if I would have found the ending more satisfying if I had a deeper understanding of who they both were as adults. Maybe if the book hadn’t glossed as much over their experiences at university. While that period of their lives was less relevant in terms of the themes of this novel, it’s a critical time in a person’s development.(I have just discovered that Kim’s first novel, The Calligrapher’s Daughter, is about Inja and Miran’s mother. Hmm. I wonder if reading that would change one’s perspective on this novel?)Her sister’s effortlessness with her appearance and body both awed her and made her envy her perfection, as well as her growing ease with language, boys, grownups Korean or American, and her easy acceptance of being different from everyone else in school, in the entire neighbourhood, and probably the entire city of Washington, DC. Maybe it was because she was so different, that she never knew she needed to fit in. For Miran, that yearning was nearly unbearable, unattainable as it was. There were too many hurdles: not only was she Oriental and her hair wouldn’t curl; she was skinny with oily skin that she battled with Sea Breeze, and she made her own clothes -- the final nail on the coffin of forever unpopular. She roamed the worn linoleum of Blair High School’s hallways, hugged her textbooks to her cleavage-less chest, and kept her eyes down -- a loser in every sense, and one who fit best into the books she read.
    • 3/5
      This novel tells a story that is loosely based on the author's, her parents', and her siblings' lives--very loosely, because she changed the time period, the number of children, etc. But that is fine, this is fiction, and that is where she got the idea. The story is about family, immigration, and the many layers of secrets within one family.Najin and Calvin leave Korean for America in 1948. They choose to take one daughter (Miran) but leave the other (Inja) with Najin's brother in Korea. They hope to either be back or send for her in a few years. But then the Korean War starts--there is no going back or sending for Inja, there is only hoping. Then after the war ticket prices are unaffordable and Calvin's job makes him question the safety of him returning at all.The real story here, is the several reasons why Miran was taken and Inja left. Inja knows some, Miran knows a lie, and Najin doesn't know Inja knows. Najin has no idea about the secrets her brother has shared with Inja--and they are safe with her, as her uncle is, truly, her first father.This book was fine, the narration fine (I have no idea how accurate the accents may be, but they did help me easily tell the characters apart). I don't know if I will remember this book in a year, however.
    • 5/5
      Wow! Being able to write like Eugenia Kim does is a real talent. Being able to tell the story of Korean War through a child and at the same time comparing it to the life of a sibling in America was riveting. The surprising interconnectedness between the two sisters deepened the story.
    • 5/5
      In 1948, a Korean family is split up. Najin and Calvin Cho want to go to the USA with their two daughters, but money is short and there is the issue of convincing the government that they intend to return. Leaving one daughter will solve both those problems, so they take baby Miran with them and leave Inja with Najin’s family. New born Inja doesn’t miss or remember them; to her, her uncle and aunt are parents. Her grandparents also share the house with them, so she has no lack of family. When the Korean War breaks out, it makes the possibility of getting Inja out dimmer. Inja and her family find themselves running south from the North Korean troops, and spend time in a refugee camp with nothing to their names. It takes years for them to rebuild their lives again. Meanwhile, Najin sends packages to them every week with money, clothing, and other goods. She doesn’t know that Aunt and Uncle have to sell most of the goods to get enough money for food and necessities. The Chos work endless hours to afford a home in the suburbs as well, and Miran grows up as an American girl, albeit one who knows she is different.It’s not until Inja is in high school that the Chos find a way to get her out. By then, Inja doesn’t want to go; she has friends, is doing very well in school, and she loves her Uncle and Aunt. She has no desire to see these people she doesn’t know; she speaks little English and her sister speaks no Korean. Miran is shaken by Inja’s arrival; suddenly she has to share everything including her room. Can two sisters so different find their way to love each other? I loved this book. I felt great sympathy to all of them; they were all doing the best they could in bad situations. I held my breath to see how the sisters would do together; would they get along? Would they come to understand how the other had grown up? Would Inja grow to love her blood parents? The characters are easy to care about. The prose is wonderful. Five stars.
    • 5/5
      This beautifully written book is the story of two sisters, only ten months apart in age, separated as toddlers. In 1948 daughter Inja is left in South Korea with her Uncle and Aunt and her grandparents, as her parents Calvin and Najin Cho, along with daughter Miran, move to the United States in search of better opportunities for their family. Their plan to return for Inja is crushed by the outbreak of the Korean War. Thus, Miran grows up under the shadow of a sister she barely remembers, while Inja receives “care packages” from a family she knows little about.Told through alternating perspectives of the sisters, the story takes the family from 1950 to 1973, thus allowing the reader to observe the growth of Miran and Inja, the impact of the separation on the sisters, and the hardships experienced by the family in South Korea. We also read of the efforts of the Korean community in the United States to ease the burdens of their loved ones in South Korea. While most of the story focuses on the sisters, Ms. Kim also writes of the mother’s efforts to acclimate to her new home and the guilt she feels over leaving a daughter behind. In the Author’s Note I learned that this story was inspired by the author’s life.The contrast between Inya’s and Miran’s lives was heart-breaking. One sister had so much, the other struggled. One knew immense love, the other lacked emotional support. Subtle differences between belonging and not belonging – having a mother but not having a mother, having a daughter but not having a daughter, being Korean yet not being Korean. My favorite “take-away” from Ms. Kim’s book is the phrase “the charity of secrets”. What a beautiful phrase! I felt the pace was appropriate for a story that covers this range of years taking the sisters from their toddler years to their mid-20’s. It was interesting observing the development of their personalities, each reflecting a blend of their culture and their environment. Also as the sisters mature, family secrets are revealed. I loved reading about the beauty of the Korean culture and its emphasis on family. I also learned a bit about the Korean War and now understand why it is called “The Forgotten War”. I enjoyed Ms. Kim’s writing so much I just ordered her previous book “The Calligrapher's Daughter”. She wrote of the difficulty of everyday life during the time of war, family ties, humor in the darkest of times, and the love between sisters.Thank you to BookBrowse and the publisher for the advance review copy. All opinions are my own.