Book Review: When My Name Was Keoko

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Park, Linda Sue. 2002. WHEN MY NAME WAS KEOKO. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0618133356

2. PLOT SUMMARY

This is the story of a Korean family during the last years of the Japanese occupation of Korea. The narrative voice switches between younger sister, Sun-hee, and older brother, Tae-yul. At the beginning of the story, the Japanese government requires that all Koreans take Japanese names and Sun-hee and Tae-Yul take Keoko and Nobuo respectively. Because the children have spent their entire lives in occupied Korea, they have only learned about Japanese language and culture in school. Having to take Japanese names is only one more way that their Korean heritage is attempted to be taken away from them. The children find out that their uncle is working on the behalf of the resistance effort, printing newspapers. Sun-hee misreads an encrypted warning from a friend and believes that the authorities are coming to get her uncle, causing her uncle to disappear to safety, when he may very well have stayed home undetected. Later, the police attempt to force Tae-yul to help them find his uncle so they may stop his efforts. In order to avoid this, Tae-yul joins the Japanese Imperial Army were he is made a Kamikaze. The day of Tae-yul’s suicide mission, the weather causes his group to turn back, but his death note has already been sent to his family. The war ends and Tae-yul returns home much to his family’s surprise and delight.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Linda Sue Park uses simple language to convey a very complex story. From the beginning, the reader gets a sense that this book exudes cultural authenticity. When the author thanks her parents, she uses both their Korean names, as well as their Japanese ones, which just happen to be Keoko and Nobuo. This little detail lends the reader to believe that Park may have gotten some inspiration from her parent’s life experiences in Korea during the occupation. Also, Park takes the time to define many of the Korean words that she uses, giving also their proper definitions. Park also includes her bibliography, showing that she did extensive research into her time period and setting.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS

PAPER TIGERS: “a beautifully crafted story that engages and delights as it informs”

starred review-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “points up the differences between male and female roles in Korean society and telling details provide a clear picture of the siblings and their world.”

5. CONNECTIONS

*A reading class could choose Japanese names for a few days to experience some of what the characters in this book must have felt.

*Students could construct a timeline of historical events that occurred in Korea during the time of this book and line them up with the events as they occurred in the book.

*More historical fiction about Korean history:

-A SINGLE SHARD by Linda Sue Park **Newbery Winner**