This is a very haunting, beautiful book.

This story is about Jin, who goes from being a favorite of the queen (later empress) of Korea to living in Paris to going back to Korea. Jin seems to be used in the book to show the environment she is in. Through her, the reader becomes familiar with Joseon era Korea. Then Belle Epoque Paris where she is treated like a curious object. Finally, when she comes home it is during the Japanese occupation of Korea which is when an end of an era is felt and there is death.

My biggest problem of the story is the French aristocrat's character. Considering that he's a major character, he felt very one-noted. The only thing I knew for certain was that he loved Jin. But I couldn't' tell if he loved her because he considered her exotic or because of who she was. Everyone felt more fleshed out than he was.

Late Nineteenth Century conflict between China and Japan over domination of the Korean Peninsula wreaked havoc upon Korea's Joseon Dynasty. The turbulent period was denoted by a decrease in Chinese influence while Japanese power flourished. Korea's Queen Min faced many insurrections and threats on her life. Who could she trust? Yi Jin, A five year old orphan brought to court, became mesmerized by the beautiful green robes of the Queen. Queen Min lovingly spoon fed Jin the meat and juice of a pear. The Queen was lonely just like Jin. Every day Jin was delivered to the Embroidery Chambers at court returning to her home in Banchon each night.

Two years passed. Korea started to embrace trade with foreigners. One foreigner who arrived, black robe down to his knees, was Father Blanc with the goal of missionary work and starting an orphanage once a trade agreement with France was signed. Since Jin was a quick learner, Father Blanc decided to teach her French. Korea was changing and an understanding of French could be a useful tool.

Korea had petitioned France for a legation. Victor Collin de Plancy became the first French legate. An evening banquet to welcome the new legate featured Jin, the finest court dancer in Korea. Jin performed a solo dance, The Dance of the Spring Oriole, accompanied by orphan boy Kang Yeon who played the bamboo flute. Victor Collin de Plancy was smitten.

The women in the palace belonged to his Majesty The King. A fortune teller informed the Queen that Jin, the beautiful, intelligent court dancer, might steal the King's heart. "A woman of the palace may not have a life outside of court without the permission of the king". With permission granted, Jin traveled to France with her devoted, loving legate, Victor. They planned to marry in France. He tells her, "As beautiful as you are in Korea, once we cross the sea and you are in my country, you will have the beauty of freedom."

"The Court Dancer" by Kyung-Sook Shin is a tome about Jin's self identity and the identity of Korea. What is life like for Jin in Bohemian Paris? Is it fulfilling? Why has Jin written letters to the Queen that remain unsent? How is the Queen faring in the struggle between China and Japan during the last years of the Korean Empire? Our court dancer and Korea itself are caught between cultures in this bittersweet, poignant work of historical fiction. Kudos to Kyung-Sook Shin.

Thank you W.W. Norton & Company, Pegasus Books and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Court Dancer".

Rich with descriptive prose, this lushly detailed historical novel will send readers on a journey filled with emotions and a longing to visit the past.

I was unable to finish this book. The book is beautifully described but it's done to a manner where everything was overly described and there was more description than action. Ths also hurts on an emotional standpoint: I am supposed to be moved by the beauty of her dance but there is nothing that makes it different from everything else.
Overly descriptive, I lost interest within Chapter 3 but it seems there is a really good story there.

Wow! Now this is a powerful historical fiction that takes readers back to 19th century Korea and Paris. Our story begins with a young Korean woman, Jin, a court dancer being taken to France by the French delegate, Victorthat quickly became enamored with her. Even going as far as begging the King and Queen for her hand. We are then given Jin's childhood years as a 5 year old orphan bewitching a Dowager Consort and meeting her mute friend Yeon, who will become a gifted musician. As Jin navigates the Western world and being a Korean woman in it, we see her long for her Korea caught up in a never ending tug of war between China and Japan.

This is an absolute gem of a novel that will take your breath a way and make you shed a tear. It sure had that effect on me!

In 1887, following the ratification of the France-Korea Treaty of 1886, Victor Collin de Plancy arrived in Seoul as the first French consul to Korea. An avid collector as well as a diplomat, Collin de Plancy never married, though Hippolyte Frandin (who succeeded Collin de Plancy as France’s representative in Korea) suggested, in his accounts of his own time in Korea, that Collin de Plancy had a liaison with a Korean woman – and it’s this anecdote that Shin Kyung-sook (Please Look After Mom) develops in her novel, The Court Dancer.

Upon arrival in Korea, Victor Collin de Plancy is called to the court of King Gojong to present his credentials. When he encounters two court ladies on his way to see the king, he politely greets them, in French, his own “bonjour” matched, to his great surprise, by a “bonjour” from one of the court ladies, Yi Jin, a favourite of Queen Min, and the Joseon court’s most famous dancer. If he was already intrigued at this Korean woman greeting him in French, Collin de Plancy becomes obsessed with Jin after seeing her perform before the court and invited foreign diplomats. But Jin has also caught the eye of the king, much to the queen’s concern, and when Collin de Plancy takes the unprecedented step of declaring his interest in Jin to the king, Queen Min sees this as an opportunity to distance Jin from the court. Joseon court ladies were rarely permitted to leave the court after entering service, except under exceptional circumstances, but the Queen convinces King Gojong to allow Jin to leave, and Jin eventually accompanies Collin de Plancy back to France.

Yi Jin finds herself at the heart of the diplomatic, aristocratic, and artistic circles of Paris in the Belle Époque, writing her detailed observations of Paris life in unsent letters to Queen Min, embroidering fans to be sold at the Bon Marché department store, and spending time in the company of writer Guy de Maupassant – playing chess, going for walks, and even visiting the Paris morgue (a popular 19th century tourist destination). She renews her acquaintance with Hong Jong-u, whom she had previously met in Korea through Collin de Plancy. Hong is in France working at the Musée Guimet (which to this day houses a Korean collection consisting of items donated by Victor Collin de Plancy) and trying to raise awareness of Korea – his plan, in part, is to translate Korean books into French, and he asks Yi Jin to assist with the translation.

In The Court Dancer, Shin Kyung-sook offers a rich and detailed look at 19th century France and Korea though the eyes of Yi Jin. Jin is a keen observer of everything around her (though she is oblivious to Hong’s interest in her beyond having her translate for him, an oversight that will have serious ramifications once she returns to Korea). Yi Jin finds Collin de Plancy’s collections troubling – and a trip the couple makes to the Louvre only deepens her concerns over the plundering of important books and artifacts from other countries that she sees on display. She is distressed by a visit to the Bois de Boulogne, where an African tribal village has been set up for the entertainment of Parisians – and she is well aware that although she is accepted into Paris social circles by virtue of her relationship with Collin de Plancy (she is considered his wife, though he never makes good on his promise of a proper wedding after their arrival in France), she nevertheless remains yet another exotic “oriental” object in the eyes of most Parisians.

Translator Anton Hur has spoken about the challenge of translating Shin Kyung-sook’s work, noting that Shin’s writing is highly evocative of mood or feeling, no matter what her subject matter, and The Court Dancer is no exception to that. Exquisite descriptive passages – for example, of Yi Jin’s dancing – allow the reader to experience those moments, and to feel their emotional impact. I found myself breathless at the tension when Collin de Plancy, so moved and overwhelmed by Jin’s performance that he fails to clap when other diplomats are doing so, creates a bit of an awkward moment that Queen Min uses to her advantage. And the book’s beautiful descriptive passages – there are incredible lists of plants and flowers, plunging us into the Korean landscape, as well as delicious descriptions of clothing (both western and Korean) – make for an engaging read.

But by far the most engaging thing about the novel is the Court Dancer herself, Yi Jin. Again, Anton Hur (who is my new favourite translation crush) has spoken about the “dualities” at play in the novel – characters caught between conflicting ideals (the queen, for example, loves Jin, but is also jealous of the fact that she’s caught the king’s eye), or the relationship between Korea and its neighbours as well as with western nations in one of the most turbulent periods in Korean history. Jin herself embodies many of these dualities, whether it’s her role as a court lady, with the strict limits that implies, contrasted with her life in Paris and the freedom that allows her. Jin’s increasing discomfort at her life in Paris, feeling that she’s just another pretty, exotic item on display, is accentuated after her miscarriage, where depression accompanies homesickness. And, yet, upon her return to Korea (Collin de Plancy takes her home, thinking it will help her emotionally, not aware that she has no intention to leave again), Jin finds herself at odds yet again, her experience in France having changed her so that she feels caught between cultures once again.

Shin’s novel has a power that stems from the idea that, in the whirlwind of grand, worldly events, sometimes, the smallest, most unpredictable things can change the course of a life. The book is a fascinating and brilliantly woven account of Jin’s and Korea’s simultaneous navigation through the final years of the Korean Empire.

I thought I would like this book, however, I had trouble getting into this book. I liked the premise but, I just couldn't get into this book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Unfortunately, I had a bit of trouble getting into this book. Not sure I would recommend it for that reason. I was not familiar with the author but thought it was worth an attempt. Sorry but thats the truth