Hana, the older sister begins her telling in 1943, when at sixteen she has learned her mother’s skill as a “haenyeo”, a diver, a fisher woman. Their separate narratives are told decades apart, but they each are very much a part of one another’s thoughts and dreams and memories. These horrific events of barbaric treatment, this story of what happened to these women is depicted through the lives of two sisters. It’s also a tribute and a remembrance as the author points out in her note, to all women around the world subjected to rape during wartime. It’s a beautifully written tribute to Korean women who were taken from their homes during the Japanese occupation and forced to be “comfort women”, an inconceivably gentle phrase for the sex slaves they were made to be. This was not an easy book to read, yet I’m glad that I did. Suspenseful, hopeful, and ultimately redemptive, White Chrysanthemum tells a story of two sisters whose love for each other is strong enough to triumph over the grim evils of war. Seeing the healing of her children and her country, can Emi move beyond the legacy of war to find forgiveness? Emi has spent more than sixty years trying to forget the sacrifice her sister made, but she must confront the past to discover peace. But haenyeo are women of power and strength. There she is forced to become a “comfort woman” in a Japanese military brothel. Until the day Hana saves her younger sister from a Japanese soldier and is herself captured and transported to Manchuria. As a haenyeo, a female diver of the sea, she enjoys an independence that few other Koreans can still claim. Hana has lived her entire life under Japanese occupation. Suspenseful, hopeful, and ultimately redemptive, White Chrysanthemum tells a story of two sisters whose love for each other is strong enough to triumph over the grim evils of war.In the spirit of Lilac Girls, the heartbreaking history of Korea is brought to life in this deeply moving and redemptive debut that follows two sisters separated by World War II.
For fans of Lisa Wingate’s Before We Were Yours and Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, a deeply moving novel that follows two Korean sisters separated by World War II.
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