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jess_segraves's review against another edition
4.0
This harrowing middle grade historical fiction had me on the edge of my seat, and knowing that this book is a fictionalized journey based off her mother's own experience getting to South Korea adds a tremendous amount of perspective.
thepaperreels's review against another edition
4.0
“I know your type,” she continued. “You’re a good girl. You always do as you’re told. There’s nothing wrong with that…just know your worth, too.” No one had ever said that to me before."
Reading Brother's Keeper was such a heart breaking and yet beautiful journey. After the last chapter of the book, I also teared up by reading the authors note and looking at the photos she added with it. I really know that this book is, in some way, personal. I feel honored, privileged and lucky that Julie Lee weaved this story and that we get to read it!! I will admit that even being asian myself, I am not fully educated by the Korean War way back in the 1950's. After and while reading this book, I was intensively reading tons of articles and research about the Korean War.
Brothers Keeper takes us back in the 1950's to show what living in North Korea was like back then. While escaping with their family, 12 year old Sora and his brother were separated from their parents and had to survive on their own. I just want to say that this is one of the best book covers I've ever seen as it really represents the whole atmosphere of the book. I visualized young Sora as the girl from the cover and it's just right. I really have no any qualms when it comes to the characters of this book. I'm in awe by how much I related to a 12 year old girl in the middle of a war who is just trying to survive while trying to save his brother, but I did. The way Julie Lee wrote Sora and her thoughts is incredible! I felt her sorrow, her sadness, and the little joy she experienced along the way. I did not read how she needed to grew up to survive with her brother, Julie Lee really made me, her readers, involved. I really praise the author for writing the secondary characters as well. All of them from Sora's parents to her younger sibling, they're all fleshed out and you will really get the feeling that you know so well from Sora's eyes.
The way that the war is written is so vivid and detailed. I admit that I had a hard time finishing this book because there are some chapters that I found to be a bit slow but other that that little concern, Brother's Keeper is very readable. Julie Lee's writing is simple but its engrossing. You won't have a problem following Sora's story. It also helped that there's an indicating month and year at the start of every chapter.
I can finish this review and just say that read this book because its about an important part of history and thats true, but Brother's Keeper is also more than that. It's about bravery, its about family and ultimately its thought provoking. I understand this book is marketed for YA/MG readers but I would really urge every Adult as well to take the time and read this book. Soras story can be dark and emotional, but it also brings hope. Overall, Brother's Keeper is a necessary and powerful book!
Reading Brother's Keeper was such a heart breaking and yet beautiful journey. After the last chapter of the book, I also teared up by reading the authors note and looking at the photos she added with it. I really know that this book is, in some way, personal. I feel honored, privileged and lucky that Julie Lee weaved this story and that we get to read it!! I will admit that even being asian myself, I am not fully educated by the Korean War way back in the 1950's. After and while reading this book, I was intensively reading tons of articles and research about the Korean War.
Brothers Keeper takes us back in the 1950's to show what living in North Korea was like back then. While escaping with their family, 12 year old Sora and his brother were separated from their parents and had to survive on their own. I just want to say that this is one of the best book covers I've ever seen as it really represents the whole atmosphere of the book. I visualized young Sora as the girl from the cover and it's just right. I really have no any qualms when it comes to the characters of this book. I'm in awe by how much I related to a 12 year old girl in the middle of a war who is just trying to survive while trying to save his brother, but I did. The way Julie Lee wrote Sora and her thoughts is incredible! I felt her sorrow, her sadness, and the little joy she experienced along the way. I did not read how she needed to grew up to survive with her brother, Julie Lee really made me, her readers, involved. I really praise the author for writing the secondary characters as well. All of them from Sora's parents to her younger sibling, they're all fleshed out and you will really get the feeling that you know so well from Sora's eyes.
The way that the war is written is so vivid and detailed. I admit that I had a hard time finishing this book because there are some chapters that I found to be a bit slow but other that that little concern, Brother's Keeper is very readable. Julie Lee's writing is simple but its engrossing. You won't have a problem following Sora's story. It also helped that there's an indicating month and year at the start of every chapter.
I can finish this review and just say that read this book because its about an important part of history and thats true, but Brother's Keeper is also more than that. It's about bravery, its about family and ultimately its thought provoking. I understand this book is marketed for YA/MG readers but I would really urge every Adult as well to take the time and read this book. Soras story can be dark and emotional, but it also brings hope. Overall, Brother's Keeper is a necessary and powerful book!
kaitlyn_choe's review against another edition
4.0
Brother's Keeper is a middle-grade novel about a family in 1950s North Korea, confronted with the question that defined the decade: stay in the communist Fatherland, or escape to the South? The Pak family chooses to escape, but in a surprise bombing, Sora (12) and her brother Youngsoo (8) are split from the rest of their family. In the dead of winter with nothing but the clothes on their backs, Sora is faced with the ultimate task: lead her and Youngsoo to Busan over three hundred miles of war, strange encounters, and the struggle to survive.
I expected this to be a story about survival, hardship, and the bond between siblings, all of which it was. However, these things (survival, hardship, familial love) don't make the characters immune to the troubles that plague daily life (sibling rivalry, gender norms, parent-child power dynamics, etc.). What was so striking to me was how Sora, Youngsoo, and everyone else still bear the burdens of regular life in the midst of a war and a harrowing journey of escape. Sora is literally carrying her eight-year-old brother on her back, lice in their clothes, skin sticking to their ribs, and she is still told she is worthless as a daughter. This refusal to make society pretty and soft as a contrast to the harshness of war was really admirable, and Julie Lee's ability to craft simple but effective dialogue really reinforced this message.
The story also defies the box of its own narrative by pushing past the Final Destination moment. When Sora and Youngsoo arrived in Busan, I almost couldn't believe it. It felt like we didn't have that celebration and joy that I thought we were leading up to, and at first, this was disappointing. But then I realized-- that's the point. Life doesn't magically conclude with the reunion. In fact, the reunion itself isn't perfect, and the time afterward sure as hell isn't. Sora must continue to live after her return, continue facing challenges, and watching her do this is the most rewarding part of the book for me.
I expected this to be a story about survival, hardship, and the bond between siblings, all of which it was. However, these things (survival, hardship, familial love) don't make the characters immune to the troubles that plague daily life (sibling rivalry, gender norms, parent-child power dynamics, etc.). What was so striking to me was how Sora, Youngsoo, and everyone else still bear the burdens of regular life in the midst of a war and a harrowing journey of escape. Sora is literally carrying her eight-year-old brother on her back, lice in their clothes, skin sticking to their ribs, and she is still told she is worthless as a daughter. This refusal to make society pretty and soft as a contrast to the harshness of war was really admirable, and Julie Lee's ability to craft simple but effective dialogue really reinforced this message.
The story also defies the box of its own narrative by pushing past the Final Destination moment. When Sora and Youngsoo arrived in Busan, I almost couldn't believe it. It felt like we didn't have that celebration and joy that I thought we were leading up to, and at first, this was disappointing. But then I realized-- that's the point. Life doesn't magically conclude with the reunion. In fact, the reunion itself isn't perfect, and the time afterward sure as hell isn't. Sora must continue to live after her return, continue facing challenges, and watching her do this is the most rewarding part of the book for me.
afi_whatafireads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This book has no business on making me cry so much. Literally having a huge headache cause I was literally sobbing reading the last 30 pages it bloody hurts.
"“Although I had known it was coming, nothing could’ve prepared me for this moment, this feeling of utter loss and loneliness.”
Honestly, I knew that somewhere somewhat, this book will break me, but lord, I didn't expect it to hurt this much. This book deserved every award that it has won and nominated. Its the story of refugees and hope, of the war that is still ongoing even until now, of families that are separated, and of love and a sister's love towards her siblings.
Since I don't think my emotional capacity allows me to write this thoughts out rationally (cause I'm writing this right after finishing the book), these will be raw accounts of what I felt the whole time reading the book.
1. The Realities of War
The North Korea and South Korea dispute is amongst one of the "Forgotten Wars" that is still talked about as the war has never really ended until now. Its always hard to read about the war, especially coming from North Korean refugees, who sacrificed their life to escape from their country. I've always watched documentaries related to North Korean refugess, and honestly, I can never imagine to be at their place, in our modern world now, escaping a country and leaving your home. The fact that this book is roughly based on the experience of the mother's author makes it more heartwrenching. We go through the story of Sora and her family escaping North Korea during the Korean War and how along the way, she got separated with her family with her brother. The fact that she was only 12, made it heartbreaking to read; as, eventho this book is fiction, its based on real events, and somewhat may be the stories of real people. Famine, hunger, sickness and just the act of survival is one that I can never imagine to put myself into and my heart goes all out for the people that are still going through wars in their home country.
"War is no cause for celebration.
2. Sibling Rivalry and Patriarchy in Households Especially in Asian Households
Its no secret sons are considered more worthy than daughters, especially during the 1950's. The sibling rivalry in this story, is something that, honestly you can't blame anyone but only the beliefs of the people at the time that made them to think to have the feelings of rivalry in the first place. Honestly, as much as I want to hate the mother, I can't blame her either and I don't blame Sora or Youngsoo or even Jisoo. These are people that are caught up in the beliefs that women are supposed to only serve whilst men or sons is pampered and needs to be taken care off. Asian Households specially made this real clear and its something that even our society struggle until today. The author had made a good job on showing the inner feelings of each characters, even if the POV is from the voice of Sora.
3. The Child Who Became A Caretaker
I sobbed. So bloody hard to a point it hurts. I guess being caretakers of my younger siblings made me really understand how Sora had felt, and how she had to take the blame for almost everything as she is the eldest daughter and has two younger brothers. I feel that, even if each children has their own roles in the family, the child who became the caretaker holds much more burden in her heart and more resentment sometimes, especially to her mother. I'm frustrated with Sora's mother, but I also understand where she's coming from. Its hard when as a woman especially, we understand the hardships that our mother goes through and it made us emphatic but also, we still felt helpless. In some ways, I liked that the author showed this and its hard reading the feelings of only a child having go through these mindset.
4. The Realities of Refugees
In war, there will always be refugees, and the lives of them are ones that we often forgot or we became oblivious to their hardships. In the case of Sora's family, they were lucky enough to have a family in the South, but what of those who have none to survive? It pains me to read the situations and in war, there is no happiness that comes with it. Only hardships and pain.
Overall, besides some writing technicality aspects, this story stole my heart in more ways than one. I might rewrite this review later cause my head is in shambles, but overall, this is definitely a read that I will remember for a very very long time. Biggest thank you to Times Reads for this copy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War
kara4's review against another edition
I LOVED this story. So many emotions as it was a read aloud to my 12 and 13 yo boys. The hardest thing about these is when I’m reading and get emotional, and have to stop because I’m crying.
A great work of historical fiction during the Korean War about a family heading from North to South to escape communism. Such a journey along the way-so heartfelt. A great read for late elementary/middle school age (and as an adult, I loved this one myself!) Keep the tissues handy!
A great work of historical fiction during the Korean War about a family heading from North to South to escape communism. Such a journey along the way-so heartfelt. A great read for late elementary/middle school age (and as an adult, I loved this one myself!) Keep the tissues handy!
abigailbat's review against another edition
This is a riveting survival story that will appeal to young readers who enjoy books like Refugee by Alan Gratz and The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani. I am a huge historical fiction fan and I loved learning about Sora's struggles as a girl in a culture that venerates sons. As smart and strong as Sora is, her family still balks at sending her to school and letting her follow her own dreams. Sora is expected to set her own wishes aside to care for others (her brothers and eventually her husband and her own family). Sora's not perfect - she's impatient and careless sometimes - but she's definitely a heroine you can root for. And readers who love discovering history through story will really enjoy this tale.
bookish_teacher23's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5