This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“The one stage in the process that
you couldn’t quite get your head around was the singing of the national anthem,
which took place at a brief, informal memorial service for the bereaved
families, after their dead had been formally placed in the coffins. It was also strange to see the Taegukgi, the
national flag, being spread over each coffin and tied tightly in place. Why would you sing the national anthem for
people who’d been killed by soldiers?
Why cover the coffin with the Taegukgi?
As though it wasn’t the nation itself that had murdered them.” – Han
Kang, Chapter 1: The Boy, 1980, Page 23
“I found out later that the army had been provided with
eight hundred thousand rounds that day.
This was at a time when the population of the city stood at four hundred
thousand. In other words, they had been
given the means to drive a bullet into the body of every person in the city
twice over. I genuinely believe that, if
something had come up, the commanding officers would have issued the order for
the troops on the ground to do just that.” – Han Kang, Chapter 4: The Prisoner,
1990, Page 100
“Before, they’d tortured us in order to extract the
particulars of actual crimes. Now, all
they wanted was a false confession, so that our names could be slotted neatly
into the script they had already devised.” – Han Kang, Chapter 4: The Prisoner,
1990, Page 101
Is This An Overview?
Before 1980, South Korea had an authoritarian government. South Korea was industrializing quickly, but
the people suffered repressive conditions.
During 1980, the leader was replaced, by another authoritarian leader. The people were under attack by their own
government. This is a story of those who
were repressed. Those who had to take
care of the dead. Those who are tortured
for a narrative. Those who are censored.
Those who have to live with the memories
of what has been done. The human acts
responsible for the violence. The human
acts involved in maintaining courage in spite of the violence.
Caveats?
This is a gruesome tale, of a collective trauma. The book can be difficult to read due to the
despair of the human acts, and the writing style. This story provides glimpses into the
atrocities, not a detailed history and explanation for the events.
