I received an ARC of this title during an ALAN workshop and have since purchased a physical copy of the text and added it to my classroom library.

Thank you to Net Galley and Soho Teen for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. I was interested in this book as it had made a splash in Japan. This story centers around Ginny Park, a teenager of Korean heritage who was born in Japan (Zainichi), who has been kicked out of high school at least two times. After being expelled at a high school in Hawaii, she is taken in by an author in Oregon. She is not willing to talk about what prompted her to leave her native Japan. We learn of her past through snippets where is faces prejudice, issues of belonging, and abuse and harassment. The story didn't come together for me and there must be something cultural that is lost in the translation.

"The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart", written by Chesil and translated from Japanese by Takami Nieda, is a semi-biographical coming of age story, partly based on Chesil's own experience growing up in Japan as a Zainichi Korean. Originally published in Japan in 2016, it was shortlisted for the prestigious Akutagawa prize, and was awarded two other Japanese literary awards.

The book follows Jinhee (Ginny) Pak, an Ethnic Korean school girl growing up in Tokyo during the late 1990s. In her daily life she faces a lot of discrimination and harassment from peers and adults around her. In addition, Jinhee is constantly dealing with a sense of not belonging. As a Korean who speaks Japanese rather than Korean, Jinhee never feels Korean enough. As a Japanese of Korean ethnicity, she is not considered and does not feel Japanese. The narrative is quite disjointed, and the tone of the narrative feels aloof. While that seems to be an issue with a lot of readers, I felt it was appropriate in this context, and it enhanced reading Jinhee's story.

Even though the primary audience for the novel is teens and young adults, there's a lot here for the older audience also. Personally, apart from the beautiful writing and strong characters that I enjoyed, I felt like I learned a lot about Japan and the Korean minority there. The book promped me to do a bit more research about the Chosun schools and the North Korean community in Japan, both of which were very interesting topics to learn about.

Thank you to NetGalley and Soho Teen, an imprint of Soho Press, for the e-arc. All opinions are my own. "The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart" has been available to English readers since April 2022.

I unfortunately didn't get a chance to finish this one in time, but a beautiful, interesting read that I hope I can get back to later.

Thank you for the print copy! This wasn't as compelling as I hoped it would be--a little too vague and lost the plot a little too often.

I think this is probably a good book, but I have had a hard time getting into it for long enough to enjoy it. I haven't finished it, and I likely won't come back to it, but I love the premise of the story.

"our history isn't some textbook that no one wants to open. our history can be found in our music. the tears we shed can be found in our songs. shrouded as our ancestors were in darkness, despite knowing their lives would likely end without notice, they never forgot to sing and dance and laugh. their spirit is with us across time. as long as we, the inheritors of that spirit, give our lives to living, the music will never die. our songs will continue to grow. though a change may come, the day of our history's end will not. do not fear. the world is filled with more art than textbooks."

3.5, rounded up

i've struggled a bit with how to properly review this book for a few weeks now. i'm not quite sure how to properly put the emotions i was left with into words. insightful doesn't feel like it covers "the color of the sky" well enough, but the book certainly reveals a lot about the historical experiences of zainichi koreans.

jinhee is a zainichi whose family originated from north korea, yet she doesn't feel like she fully belongs in either culture. she cannot find a place in japan where she's perceived as a foreigner nor can she fit in with her classmates in the korean school as she doesn't speak the language. however, we first meet her in the us – about the be expelled from yet another school, unable to confess what led to her leaving the country that she tried to fit into despite it rejecting her at every step.

this book is heavier than it might first appear, dealing quite explicitly with issues of discrimination, xenophobia, and, in one instance, child sexual assault. it's told in a non-linear way which some readers found made it more difficult to get into. for me personally, the format worked fine. however, by the end of it, there was a feeling that the story was somewhat incomplete and probably could've carried on a few chapters longer.

the translation is somewhat complicated to talk about. on the one hand, there were brilliant instances of prose, like the one i've quoted above. on the other hand, sometimes the language felt a bit too simplistic. i can't compare the original to the translation, so it's possible that the choice of register was intentional, though, so it's not something i can critique too much.

This novel tells the story of a teen girl who is trying to find a place where she belongs. She experiences many prejudices. This was a very moving and though-provoking novel that resonated with many readers. Ginny is a very relatable protagonist. Therefore, this novel is recommended of The Hate U Give!

Ginny is half Korean and half Japanese and thus never really properly fits in anywhere. We follow her through different countries and slowly peel the onion that is her.
The book was very beautifully written/translated.
I think people will love this who feel they don't always "belong".

After I read it for the first time, I thought the book was quite naive, and perhaps too chaotic for my liking. Few weeks have passed, and yet I kept thinking about it. About the portraits thrown out of the balcony, about the violence that thousands of Zainichi Koreans face and yet very few know about it (even inside Japan). About the protagonist, a girl who doesn't belong, no matter where she goes: not in Japan, not in Hawaii, not in the US.

I loved the part of the book where we get to know Ginny's story of facing prejudice in Japan: her experience of going to a North Korean school, the verbal abuse she hears from Japanese people, her sense of not belonging anywhere. It's beautifully written - I underlined some sentences to come back to you later. If the novel was just that - Ginny's chronological story - I would have totally loved it.

I am still not convinced about the begging and end - that is her being in the States and getting inspired by her host mother to "come to terms" with herself and her past. It seemed and still seems to me too naive for how Chesil writes and how she manages to introduce the reader to important and difficult topics in the rest of the book.

PS It's interesting though that the book has been marketed as a young-adult novel, despite not being published as such in Japan (it was shortlisted for the prestigious Akutagawa Prize).

<i>"But maybe it's okay if I didn't try so hard all the time. If it's okay to take what life gives me, I think I'd like that. Maybe I'm not meant to do anything. Maybe I'm meant to do nothing and just let life happen. And it'll be all right, because another star will always be shining. If I made like a shadow and disappeared, maybe that would put everyone's mind at ease."</i>

TL;DR: A really tricky book to review because until after I had finished it, I genuinely thought this was a memoir, not a work of fiction. And I believe it is "inspired" by Chesil's life, so that may have been a source of confusion for me.
Ultimately, a powerful vignette-type story that offered a glimpse into an identity-conflict I knew little about.
<b><i>I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</b></i>

Vibes: Not really applicable here.

Genre: Realistic YA/NA Semi-Auto-biography / Creative Non-Fiction

Romance Meter: ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡
Romantic love is not the focus here. Maybe some elements of self-love/acceptance.

Character MVP: Not really applicable here...

Verdict: A really tricky one to review for me, but one which I ultimately enjoyed.

I had never heard of Zainichi Koreans before, or the prejudice and discrimination they face(d) living in Japan, so I found this to be a powerful testimony/account of navigating identity.

As I mentioned above, I did think this was a memoir the entire time I was reading, and it was only afterwards that I realized that it was a work of fiction. So that's why I think some of the things other reviewers took issue with didn't really bother me.

The rules for memoir / creative-non-fiction are a little bit looser; in memoir -- I'm thinking of [book:All Boys Aren't Blue|44280883] which I read last summer -- the goal is not necessarily to tell a "traditional" story with a clear beginning-middle-end and straightforward plot & conflict. You get snapshots, selectively curated by the author to convey the point they want you to. So here, for me, the goal was Chesil's experiences growing up as Zainichi Korean, and other things, like what happened to her biological parents and the details of how and why she ended up in Oregon, weren't *as important* to the "story."

Ultimately, this was a quick and "easy" read -- I wasn't bothered by the translated prose -- although the subject matter was heavier at times. I found Ginny's struggles to be heartbreaking and a pause for reflection.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review.
Before I could finish reading this book it got archived and there's no way I can review a book I didn't finish reading.

When I read the descriptions for this book on NetGalley I was super excited to have access early and to read it. Unfortunately, the changing timeline, the back and forth between places and characters really confused me. I never got a handle of Ginny’s character and what she had been through in her life. I wish I could say I loved this one, but I think there are some parts that got lost in translation.

The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the heart is beautiful and heart breaking in turns. The fact that it is based on the authors own life making it even more powerful.

The story of a Zainichi Korean teenager growing up in Japan, I think "The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of the Heart" is a good novella let down by Chesil lack of experience in telling a story.

In "The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of the Heart" we get to know Ginny, who seems to have heaps of problems in high school (in danger of being expelled... again), and her journey to that moment. The biggest problem I found is that it feels as if the story is all over the place, jumping in place and time with little focus and time to develop the story. Our main character is all over the place, which makes sense them being a teenager, but also makes the story come and ago with random changes of scenery and little time to develop the characters. From the ones when she studies in a Japanese school, to the North Korean one and then to Hawaii I felt that what we were encountering were little vignettes with little or non cohesion. There is little in terms of creating a narrative that develops the inner world of the characters and all end up being stereotypical or cartoonish. This extends to Ginny, with whom is difficult to connect.

I think when Chesil is trying to explain how things are in the North Korean high school within Japan or how people react to some situations she does a better job than when developing Ginny as a human being. Those little snippets of Japanese everyday life and social commentary are the highlight of a book that could be much more than what it ends up being..

Takami Nieda’s translation gives American readers a glimpse into the complex cultural dynamics for ethnic Koreans in Japan. The young narrator struggles with this identity along with all of the normal teen coming of age hurdles. Not only young readers, but anyone who has felt marginalized or “less than” due to otherness will bond with Jinhi right away.

The book has a short chapters with varying settings, which at times becomes disruptive to a smooth, linear read. However, this is probably authentic to the narrator’s memory and frame of mind at the time of the telling.

I get glimpses of some beautiful writing, but I also get some stilted phrasing here and there. Metaphors such as the one in the title are artistic and, for the most part, seem to survive the translation well. The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart would be a strong addition to public and school libraries across the country.

Thank you to Chesil, Takami Nieda, Soho Teen, and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly wished I liked this book but sadly I didn't. I didn't know if I just wasn't in the mood for this. Or if it was the translators writing style. This is a story I would've loved to read in its original language.

I enjoyed this book. It was a short and easy read but I loved reading from a perspective vastly different from my own. I would've loved if this book was a little longer and had more detail. I feel like it was missing a little something. It was a moderately fast paced novel but I would have enjoyed if the author had slowed things down and been more detailed with everything. There's so much to say about the topic but it seemed a little lacking here.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Ginny Park, a seventeen year old girl on the brink of being expelled from school. Through her journal and letters from her family, we learn of Ginny's past as a Zainichi Korean and the difficulties she experienced growing up.

I think, first and foremost, that this book is beautiful and important. It draws on the author's own experience, and delves into the unique identity of Zainichi Koreans and the subsequent hardships they face. This book is honest about those experiences and difficulties, and is equal parts beautiful and devastating.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I did find some of the sentences clunky. I'm not sure if this is an issue with the translation or simply that the author's intent with some sentences wasn't actually able to be translated in an effective way. Regardless, that was a minor hurdle to get over, and overall I had a good time reading this interesting and compelling semi-autobiographical novel.

Thank you to Soho Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Ginny is a 17-year old ethnic Korean living in Japan and attending a Zainichi school (school for Koreans living in Japan). When the story starts, Ginny is living in America because she has left one of her previous schools and been expelled from another. The story was very hard to follow and I just couldn't get attached to any of the characters. While the bullying aspect or being Korean in Japan was interesting and new to me, the overall story wasn't compelling enough for me to recommend it to others.