I appreciated this story about Korean picture brides who marry Korean men in Hawaii in the decade of 1910 for its historical fiction elements. I always like learning history that is new to me through historical fiction. This book blends learning about Korean history of that time period with Hawaiian history of that time period. However the writing was a bit flat which might be a result of the book being translated from Korean.

3.5 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

The Picture Bride caught my attention for a few reasons, one being that the “picture bride” marriage practice was a pivotal part of my own family’s history. I also know the most about it from the Korean side of my family, so I was intrigued to see one from a Korean perspective…and to have it also be a translated work made it all the more appealing.

I really liked how it captures the environment of the period, exploring the reasoning behind women choosing to become picture brides, as well as the risk being taken in marrying someone you don’t know. Willow and the other girls have high expectations of their new husbands, as well as the “paradise” that awaits them in Hawaii, and of course the reality is much different and more complex.

I also appreciated seeing Willow navigate the challenges that greet her, like her tense relationship with her husband, the adjustment to life working on the plantation, and the struggle to unite and form a community in the face of adversity.

And while I did have mixed feelings about the direction the book took, I like how it establishes the interconnected news of it all, and how the picture brides were largely still around with their families by the outbreak of World War II, to see their children undergoing their own struggle to assimilate, while maintaining ties their culture.

But the way it was executed made the World War II/second generation part feel like an afterthought, a few chapters from the daughter’s perspective that felt different from the rest of the book. It would have been interesting if this had either been saved for another book, or if it had been expanded into a fully fleshed out arc in its own right.

Despite my issues, I really appreciate what this book is trying to do, especially as I haven’t read many, if any, books about this time period. If you’re interested in Asian historical fiction and/or translated fiction, I recommend keeping an eye out for this one.

This is a fascinating, well-researched account of a period in history I know little about--the culture of Korean communities in Hawaii during the Japanese occupation of Korea. I had heard of the concept of picture brides but did not know about it in the context of this community, nor did I realize how fraudulent the marriages often were. Some of the writing is a little clunky (possibly due to the translation), and the switch in POV from Willow to Pearl felt abrupt, but otherwise the narrative flows well and is informative.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for this advanced copy.

The PIcture Bride tells the story of Willow, a Korean woman living under Japanese occupation who sees a picture of a man living in Hawaii who is looking for a bride and agrees to marry him. She and her friends journey across the Pacific to a new life, with all of the happiness and sorrow that goes with it.

This story was beautiful and I loved the variety of characters and detailed telling of life in Korea before WWI and Hawaii before and during WWII. Willow, our main character, felt like a rich portrait of women who came to live in a land they didn't understand, where they didn't speak the language, all in the name of a new life. I loved that we got to hear so much about life in Hawaii as it was for Asian laborers, even though it was clearly difficult.

I also loved that even though these women married men, the book continues to focus on them and their wants/needs/loves. The men only exist in their world for this book and it was great to have them as the center of this story, especially as the men are not reliable. Willow is multi-faceted, wanting love, being industrious with regards to business, and playing the role of peacemaker and core of her friend group. She is realistic and practical, but hopeful and it was a pleasure to read her story.

Overall, I thought this was a nice novel about a particular experience, one that I have not heard much about but is a key part of the story of the Asian diaspora and the history of Hawaii.

What a beautiful translation of The Picture Bride by An Seonjae and what a well researched, beautifully written story by Lee Geum-yi.

Family does not have to be blood. Family can be defined as the people in your life who you are closest with and whom you will stand by and support during the good times and the bad times. Willow, Hongju and Songwha are three young girls, who captured my heart, living a difficult life in a rural village in Korea with their families. They are being sent as picture brides to Hawaii to marry Korean men they have only seen pictures of. The Korean men had traveled to Hawaii in 1903 as immigrants to work on sugarcane farms. These same men are promising the girls a better life if they come to Hawaii to be their wives. How brave these girls are to leave their families, traveling so far, in hopes of being able to send money home. From 1910-1924 there were actually over a thousand girls who took the risk and left the only home they had known to better their lives, hoping to become educated, escape poverty, and escape Japanese rule.

There is a tremendous amount of history in this book pertaining to Korea, Japan and Hawaii. While being swept away by this exquisite story I was also able to learn so much about the history of Korea and Hawaii, spanning from 1903 through WWll.

I highly recommend this book. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge Books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. It will be out October 11th.

Pub date 10/11/22
Genre: historical fiction
Thank you @forgereads and @macmillan.audio for my e-ARC and ALC!

Willow has no future in Japanese-occupied Korea, so she agrees to become a "picture bride" to a Korean man in Hawaii in hopes of a better life. I loved getting to know Willow as she dealt with the adversity in her life, and Joy Osmanski did a wonderful job bringing her to life on audio. Her relationships with fellow picture brides and her father-in-law were a highlight. The Hawaiian setting and coming of age elements reminded me a bit of Molokai, another favorite.

"When it comes to their children, every parent’s heart is the same."

This is primarily the story of how three picture brides from a tiny village in Korea get to Hawaii during the harsh Japanese occupation of their country. The entire concept of picture marriages and their consequences are so well-detailed that you are transported to this promised paradise which in reality was far from it. Getting their hopes quashed was one thing, and having to endure hardships in the hopes of bequeathing a free country to their children was a whole different thing for Willow, Hongju, and Songhwa.

The efforts of the Korean community in Hawaii towards the independence movement features heavily and all the opposing sides to the story gives out well-rounded information. Towards the end we also see Japan attacking the American naval base at Pearl Harbour and it’s consequences. Koreans that had fled to Japan had next to no standing in society and on the other side of the world, Koreans on American soil were considered Japanese which made life a bit more difficult especially after Pearl Harbour. This conflict is highlighted well by Willow’s son who wants to join the army to prove that he is an American patriot.

"Adults took sides and divided according to nationality, race, or religion, but there were no such boundaries between children."

If you are aware of the Korean way of writing and the way it comes out after translation, then you’ll find nothing to complain in this one. If you aren’t familiar though, it could take a little time to get used to the manner of storytelling and to come to terms with the culture. Reading the author’s note and also that of the translator in advance could help in this regard.

Coming out tomorrow, The Picture Bride is a heavy lesson in history disguised as a lovely story. Thank you @netgalley for my advance copy.

👩🏻

#leegeumyi #thepicturebride

The Picture Bride is a historical novel that transcends its unique historical moment to touch on experiences and themes the reader will find familiar: the significance of family, the trials of marriage and love, loss and grief of loved ones lost to death or distance. The novel revolves around the migration of picture brides from East Asia to Hawai'i and the Western United States, a practice that was rampant in the early few decades of the twentieth century. Japanese and Korean men left their homelands to find work on Hawai'ian plantations, and as they accrued a little bit of wealth they found themselves in a primarily homosocial world, absent of East Asian women. To find love and fulfill their duty to wed, they would engage the services of a matchmaker and seek out a bride from their home country. The technology of the day limited the contact between potential bride and groom to correspondence and a photograph, hence the name given to this marital transaction: both the bride and groom would have nothing to more than a photograph to base their physical attraction on.

Many men who sought wives in this way were long past the typical marriage age of men in their home countries. Aware of their advanced age and how this might deter a young woman from wanting to marry them, they often used a fake photograph of someone else or a photograph from their youth. Picture brides discovered the deception on their arrival, too late to turn back -- if they had the money to do so -- without suffering humiliation or possible repudiation by their families.

Of course, such arrangements also resulted in personality mismatches and other deceptions of character, on both sides. In the end, all the migrants have no choice but to set those differences and loyalties aside; the people on the plantation and scattered across the islands become the only family they can have.

This is a story of the pain and joy of being an immigrant, of what lengths we have to go through to find our place in the world. The novel focuses on loss of family and the gaining of new ones. How these young women adapted, thrived, or wilted in their new homes so far away from their homelands is what unfolds in the novel. I won't spoil it for you so I will stop my review here.

The Picture Bride is a novel about what it takes to live one's life as best they can, with what they have and what they have lost.

I realize that this book was a translation, so be prepared for the stilted language that did not flow, sentences that are choppy and it took some resolve to work through.
Although aspects of the Korean independence were an important part of the background, I was not able to assimilate that story and found it quite confusing. It was interesting to know that many Asian people chose to settle in Hawaii and how difficult it was to establish yourself to gain any kind of affluence.
The female characters were interesting enough but if I had borrowed this book from the public library, it would have gone back early.
Thank you #NetGalley for this early copy in exchange for my honest review.

I did not love this. I had a really hard time getting into it, and just couldn't really get past it. Gave it three stars because I thought the content was ok and someone else with a different desire for a read may still enjoy it.

For fans of “Pachinko” or “The Mermaid from Jeju,” “The Picture Bride” by Lee Geum-yi is a welcome addition to your TBR pile. It’s a sweeping saga that follows Willow, an 18 year old girl, who leaves her village in 1918, moves to Hawaii and marries a man she has only met through a picture. She is joined by other girls who are on the same journey, eager to start a new life with their husband-to-be. The matchmaker that brokers the arrangement, fabricates a number of things to the would-be picture brides, including how money, clothes and shoes are everywhere for the taking. She also tells Willow that she will be able to learn English and go to school. Enticed by the “paradise” picture the matchmaker paints, Willow goes to Hawaii. However, upon arrival, the picture brides realize they were duped! Many of the men these women were arranged with were much younger looking in the pictures; thus, leaving them to marry men who were three times their age!

From here, the story weaves together a portrait of strength & sisterly bonds between the women. It’s a fascinating piece of historical fiction that not only highlights Korean culture, but also the fact that family sometimes is not only joined by blood, but friendship as well.

Thanks to Lee Geum-yi, #Netgalley and publisher Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Forge Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review. The book is out on October 11th!

I enjoyed the premise of the book more than the execution. I think I would have enjoyed the story more if it was written from the point of view of the main character instead of turning it into a multigenerational story.

This story had me in a chokehold for the entire time. I’ve come to know these cities. I’ve been to the sugar mills and pineapple plantation . The street where the laundry and Methodist church in Wahiawā are 2 blocks from my library. The church is actually there and had their 100th anniversary service 3 years ago- I found it on YouTube! But oh my goodness the history that is in the dust on these roads. I can’t even begin to imagine the hope these women had coming to paradise. And the pain that immigrants had to suffer just to provide for their families. I’ve been learning over the course of my time living here that this place is so much more than an island paradise.

The prose feels a little choppy and simple at times but the story is so captivating. And it honestly feels fitting considering the language barriers the characters in the story face. I appreciated the translators note at the end which gave a little more depth to the meaning of words chosen (and not chosen). I truly hope this author is able to have more of her works translated, I look forward to reading more!

The book begins in 1917 during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Willow is a Korean teenager and is presented with a chance to find a better life in Hawaii as a picture bride. After she and several other Korean girls make the long journey to Hawaii, they discover their husbands were not always truthful, having sent photographs from their younger years or having implied that they were wealthier than they truly were. Willow navigates her new life, frequently drawing strength from the bonds she shares with her fellow picture brides. In addition to adjusting to married life, Willow encounters obstacles related to diverging loyalties in the Korean struggle for independence.

Covering the span of many years, the story is an interesting look into a part of history I was only mildly acquainted with. I felt an attachment to Willow and admired her strength, and I enjoyed seeing how she grew as a woman. As a high school teacher, I enjoy reading historical fiction from different cultures and plan to recommend this book to students as well. It is important for students to see themselves in literature as well as to learn about history that they might not otherwise encounter. While I enjoyed the book overall, I kept waiting for a turning point that never really came; the last part of the book seemed to make an attempt at such a turning point, but I found it somewhat dissatisfying. The book is a translation, which may also impact the writing style; in places, I couldn’t stop at the end of a chapter, but in other places, the writing seems somewhat superficial. Still, I enjoyed the book and the impression these women, especially Willow, have made on me.

The book is based on experiences, friendships, hard work and a new life. Willow is faced with things from the moment she knows when she became a picture bride. She even has friends who experience this as well.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

This is a thoughtful tale of a Korean “picture bride” named Willow who ventures to Hawaii to meet and marry a man she has only ever seen a picture of and vice versa. This was the 1920s version of mail order brides, with neither party really knowing what to expect. It struck me how brave these women were to leave their country and families behind and set off for the unknown. Some faired better than others. Willow narrates her story until the end, which is narrated by her daughter. The descriptions in the book are evocative and really invite readers in and the story itself is unique and interesting. The ending has a few surprises and wraps the story up nicely.

The setting: three young picture brides leave Korea in 1918 for Hawaii and thoughts of a better life. Willow [the main character] especially hopes for a chance to be educated. Hongju is a widow after only two months of marriage. Songhwa, as the granddaughter of a shaman--and an unknown father, is much scorned in Korea.
They cross the ocean, become seasick, look after one another and form lasting bonds before meeting their husbands [none of whom were as depicted in their photographs--or in their stories].

The book has three parts: their journey, their lives in Hawaii, and then--briefly--18 years later, the story of Pearl--Willow's daughter.

I am in the distinct minority of readers as I did not care for this book at all. I could have put it down and walked away at any time. I'm sure the translation was faithful to the Korean but for me the book was simplistic, pedestrian, and BORING. On the positive side, I did learn tidbits of Hawaiian history, about the competing Korean independence movement [Syngman Rhee and Yongman Park], the history of Koreans and other immigrants [primarily Japanese] in Hawaii, and certain Korean habits and customs [e.g. they eat in silence because if people talk when they're eating, blessings run away]. And, it was easy to read, but...

It is a story about hardships and friendships.

I like historical fiction and I like reading about other cutures but this book did nothing for me. And, I found the ending particularly tiresome.

The author's note was more interesting than parts of the book!

A must read for anyone who loves historical fiction and wants a read about an era and community little written about.

This story about a young Korean woman who travels to Hawai'i to marry a man she's never met is heartbreaking at times, but it's a powerful story about courage and women's friendships.

Read The Taste of Sugar by Marisel Vera for a perspective on Puerto Ricans who also worked on the plantations in Hawai'i (there is a scene in which Korean and Puerto Rican workers share a meal).

Many thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of three young Korean women who came to Hawaii as brides to better their life. It continues with the saga of their lives as they try to remain friends under the political tension of the Korean/Japanese conflict and survive financially in Hawaii.

I really enjoyed this book. It was chock full of history and experiences that I have known nothing about. The writing is beautifully honest. Lee Geum-yi has an excellent way of describing the complexities of love accompanying frustration and even hate. My only nitpick is that part 3 seemed a tad rushed, squeezing 18 years of history - both world and family - into a few compact chapters.