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A review by bentohbox
The Magical Language of Others by E.J. Koh
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
in books centered around women, especially Korean women, I always return to Min Jin Lee's opening to Pachinko: "A woman's lot is to suffer."
that concept weighed heavy as I made my way through this book, cradling a vast range of heavy and challenging topics that felt so boundless and so insurmountable. Koh's writing found a way to remain unflinching despite the mixture of loss and trauma, and I appreciate her vulnerabilities as well as the bittersweet interludes of her mother's letters (both translated and directly printed). as a literary device, they broke through tensions while deepening my sense of the relationships that bind the stories Koh tells.
there lives in this memoir undeniable evidence that a woman's lot is to suffer (as, in many ways, is the lot for us all); and yet, Koh reminds us that while suffering is a tragic fact, it doesn't have to be the end. healing, love, family, sacrifice, and legacies exist in us to not only shape a better future, but also repair the pasts that live through us.
how sad, burdening, enduring, and beautiful
that concept weighed heavy as I made my way through this book, cradling a vast range of heavy and challenging topics that felt so boundless and so insurmountable. Koh's writing found a way to remain unflinching despite the mixture of loss and trauma, and I appreciate her vulnerabilities as well as the bittersweet interludes of her mother's letters (both translated and directly printed). as a literary device, they broke through tensions while deepening my sense of the relationships that bind the stories Koh tells.
there lives in this memoir undeniable evidence that a woman's lot is to suffer (as, in many ways, is the lot for us all); and yet, Koh reminds us that while suffering is a tragic fact, it doesn't have to be the end. healing, love, family, sacrifice, and legacies exist in us to not only shape a better future, but also repair the pasts that live through us.
how sad, burdening, enduring, and beautiful