Rosa Kwon Easton's White Mulberry is a beautifully crafted tale that intertwines themes of heritage, family, and personal growth. Set against a rich cultural backdrop, the novel follows its protagonist on a journey of self-discovery, grappling with the complexities of identity and the pull between tradition and modernity. Easton's prose is evocative and tender, bringing the characters and their struggles to life in a way that is both relatable and deeply moving. The story is as much about finding one’s place in the world as it is about the strength and resilience drawn from family ties. White Mulberry is a poignant, thought-provoking read that lingers long after the final page.

love reading multicultural stories, particularly Japanese literature fascinates me. This book is inspired by the true life story of the author’s grandmother’s (Halmeoni) life.

This is Miyoung/Miyoko’s story, who lived with her mother and stepsister in Japan-occupied Korea (during World War II). When she is 12, her sister Bohbeh is forced to leave for Japan to marry an unknown man, in hope of a better life for her. When Miyoung turns 13, she too leaves Korea to live with her sister in Japan (mainly to study and escape an unwanted marriage).

The story, which spans over 13 years, tells about familial bond, determination (to achieve something substantial in life), love, loss, and survival.

I enjoyed reading the book from the very beginning when Miyoung is perched on the sole mulberry tree outside her house and watches a stranger stopping outside the gate, eyeing her sister, Bohbeh.

The writing is mostly good. However, at certain points it slips into the ‘too much telling’ mode and gets repetitive. I could not ignore the repeated usage of ‘Warmed’ (her/her tired body or heart or her body/heart warmed). But overall, the book is nicely written and, most importantly, in a very engaging manner. The descriptions of setting, food, and culture are vivid and create lovely imagery.

The characters: I really liked Miyoung/Miyoko (her Japanese name). She is smart, intelligent, determined, so focused on her studies and career, and practical. Too practical that sometimes it smacks of selfishness. I don't know if the author has done this purposefully (because there are several other ways to show the practicality as per the situation), but Miyoung’s emotions suddenly brim when she finds some kinds of benefits, even if it's love.

I loved Teacher Kim, Taeyoung (her stepbrother), and Bohbeh. The last two chapters were full of apprehensions that kept me on the edge of the seat.

Overall, an interesting, well-written, and culturally rich story that I enjoyed reading.

I started off really well: a young poor rural girl in a Japanese dominated Korea sees her sister being married off abroad. A studious clever girl, with no prospect of further education, she's drawn to the western church of which a beloved teacher is a member.

She is allowed to continue her education in Japan, moving in with her unhappy married sister.
From there the book lost its charm for me in terms of plot, but the historical setting and cultural intricacies of Korean people in Japan at the onset of WW2 is/was interesting.

The plot, or lack thereof, was later explained to be a retelling of a family member of the author.

Not my cup of tea, but each to its own.

I received a copy from NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.

I found the history featured in this book fascinating as I knew very little about the relationship between Korea and Japan in the early 20th century. I felt for the main character and all the struggles she faced in life but I found it all a bit stilted with little flow. I would have loved the story to continue for a bit longer as I felt that the ending was too abrupt. This is different to the normal books I read and I’m glad that I read it.

In 1928, in a small village in a Korea that is occupied by Japan, a young girl is given the opportunity to change her life. But how high is the price she will have to pay in order to reach for her dreams?

Moving to live with her sister in Japan, Miyoung soon adapts and learns to enjoy her life in her Japanese incarnation as Miyoko. But as she eventually learns, hiding so many things about herself, and the life that she has left behind begins to catch up with her.

Finding space for herself within a Korean community, taking a lover and eventually giving birth to a child, Miyoung find she faces difficult choices as Japan is poised to enter the Second World War. And her decision now will help to chart the course for the rest of her life.

This is a beautiful historical rendering of a time, place and culture that many of us are unfamiliar with, but the story in White Mulberry provides a welcome introduction written and delivered by a deft hand.

Over time, Miyoung faces poverty, racism and patriarchal forces, but she has a spirit that keeps her going despite the most trying of circumstances. To know that this was partly based on the author's family history adds yet another dimension to Kwon's story telling. This one is well worth a read, and gets 3.5 stars.

This novel is a poignant and beautifully crafted tale. Miyoung’s journey is both tragic and captivating, showcasing her incredible resilience in the face of oppression and racism, which kept me engrossed throughout.

The revelation that this story is rooted in the author's own family and heritage elevates it significantly. It is truly inspiring!

I appreciate NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

While I enjoyed reading this book I did find the pacing to be slightly off. As we follow our main character through her life it felt to me like the story jumped from one major event to another without much in between to develop the main character more thoroughly in order to understand/empathise with her life choices. At the beginning it was clear she was a head strong independent character but this wavered for me through the mid point of the book.

This is a fictional exploration based on a true story, delving into a geography and time period previously unfamiliar to me. The depiction of 1920s to 1930s Korea in the main character's childhood is vivid and was a strong start to the book. The pace remains brisk throughout, with constant developments in the main character's life as a young Korean navigating life in Japan.

However, at times, the pace feels overly quick, with significant life events unfolding rapidly and little exploration of the protagonist's thoughts and feelings about them. Some of the main character's motivations felt unconvincing, and the plot often moved forward without delving into the reasons behind her radical decisions.

Occasionally, the writing, particularly the dialogue, comes across as awkward and solely serving to advance the plot. There are instances where events or decisions lack sufficient buildup. Ultimately, the book, though powerful in its premise with personal connections to the author, concludes rather abruptly and unsatisfactorily. It feels like a missed opportunity given the initial strength of the story.

I had hoped that the tone in the Author's note at the end of the book would have carried through the rest of the novel.

What an absolutely beautiful book of resiliency and courage amid one of the most dangerous and difficult times in history. This beautiful books eloquently captures the heart of a lion in young Miyeoung as she navigates the challenges of childhood in a country occupied by the Japanese, the heartbreak of losing her first love, and the endless sacrifice of motherhood and the greater good. Rosa’s novel ripped my heart out in all the best ways! It’s a beautiful story of heroism and a mother’s unending courage! This book will stay with me for a long time!

This book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There are many things I enjoyed about the White mulberry, starting from the locations and life situations it led me through as a reader to the determination of its main character. Seeing that this was a book written mostly based on someone's life story (with minimal changes from what I understand), there would be little point in me addressing the plot, and I had no significant issues with that in any case.

The writing style is quite enjoyable, though I have to say that I had a bit of a difficulty in feeling strongly for the characters, so I connected with the situations and themes much more than the character of Miyeong's husband for example. I appreciated the sisterly bond that kept appearing throughout the story and it was a pleasant surprise that the sister I expected to be a tragic side character has found some sort of happiness for helself in spite of the circumstances and that the male character Miyoung had lived with for her first few years of her Japanese stay had also defied my expectations and was much less stereotypical than I feared he would be.

While religion is something I don't connect with and distance myself from, it was interesting to see how it could influence the lives of these specific people in this historical period, and especially how it affected Miyoung who needed a supportive community, which her church provided.

The strength of the main character and how she tackles all her challenges even in the midst of the biggest uncertainties is commendable. She's not perfect, she's only human, but she genuinely does her best for her own future and for the sake of those she cares about.

There's one issue however that I have to raise about this book that keeps me from giving it the high rating that it would deserve based on the story and the storytelling alone. From the very first chapters, back when Miyoung still lives in Korea, the author makes the repeated choice of writing things both in Korean and English right next to each other, or using the Korean as a spoken line, and then dedicating the rest of the sentence to explain what was said in English. This broke the rythm of reading for me in an incredibly frustrating way and took away so much from the reading experience. Often it felt like the flow was just abruptly stopped, as if we've hit a wall, and sometimes I felt like a teacher just stopped whatever was going on to explain to us readers the language or the cultural tidbits we need to know in a classroom-like manner. This didn't fit into the narrative smootly enough to be enjoyable and I would have much preferred to see many of these in English where the words didn't carry extra importance in their Korean form, and when they were important, it could have been numbered as a footnote the reader can tap on (in case of an ebook - alternatively looking at the bottom of the page or the back of the chapter in print).
Yes, I understand that identity and language are closely tied, especially in this story, but I also believe that at least half of these repetitions and teaching sessions could have been left behind or changed for a better reading experience. I've read other works where the foreign vocabulary and the language shifts were handled in a way that didn't make me yell in frustration, such as the Last night at the telegraph club, so I know it should be possible.
I sincerely hope that one day I'll be able to see a version of this book in a more "reader-friendly" version in this aspect, because other than this linguistic issue, I genuinely enjoyed the story and its themes of fitting in, tackling challenges, forging bonds and finding one's identity.

4/5 stars

⋆ ★ Some thoughts ⋆ ★

◦ Amazing writing and narration - the book is so immersive.

◦ The characters are well developed but their motives are repeated many times over the book - Miyoung looks out for her infant son, and how she must stick to her nursing job to provide for him, and many other other instances as this is recurrent. Sometimes, these personal motifs don't align with the ending. For example, Miyoung barely spends time with her son but that kid (who's grown up all his life with his paternal grandparents) is okay to move countries with her - he doesn't even throw a tantrum. So, personally, it feels like the author could've added some more depth to the conflicts the characters face, before resolving them.
◦ I enjoy historical fiction, especially about East Asia so this was truly enjoyable for me. The author has done amazing research on Koreans who were expats in Japan and how horrible the war was and the intricacies of it.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing with me an advanced readers copy.


⋆ ★ Summary from the blurb ⋆ ★

1928, Japan-occupied Korea. Eleven-year-old Miyoung has dreams too big for her tiny farming village near to become a teacher, to avoid an arranged marriage, to write her own future. When she is offered the chance to live with her older sister in Japan and continue her education, she is elated, even though it means leaving her sick mother—and her very name—behind.

In Kyoto, anti-Korean sentiment is rising every day, and Miyoung quickly realizes she must pass as Japanese if she expects to survive. Her Japanese name, Miyoko, helps her find a new calling as a nurse, but as the years go by, she fears that her true self is slipping away. She seeks solace in a Korean church group and, within it, finds something she never a romance with an activist that reignites her sense of purpose and gives her a cherished son.

As war looms on a new front and Miyoung feels the constraints of her adopted home tighten, she is faced with a choice that will change her life—and the lives of those she loves—forever.

Rosa Kwon Easton’s novel, White Mulberry, is a coming of age story that digs into Korean and Japanese culture and the tense relationship that existed between the two in the early to mid-20th c., misogynistic views in both countries, and parental alienation. The focus shifts from the beautiful tree that blooms outside protagonist Miyoung's Korean home which represents childhood and safety against the challenges and compromises that a single mother must make in order to provide for her child in a foreign country where she is not welcomed. This debut is based on Easton’s Korean grandmother’s remarkable real life journey.

Easton’s story is told like the reader is sitting by her grandmother’s knee and learning about a vital part of history, involving family-shared trauma and grief, with a love story that rises above both. Miyoung is a young Korean girl who grows up in a split family. Her father has other wives and children and thus, other responsibilities. The goal is for the daughters to be married but Miyoung is inspired by her teacher and begs for an education instead. She is thirteen when she leaves home to study under a scholarship in Japan and has to make choices without reliable guidance such as changing her name to the Japanese Miyoko. She falls in love with a Korean rebel, united by their shared love of Christianity and country, then follows a somewhat complicated path to a nurse-midwife career. Ultimately, she fights for her child, her job, and carries ongoing guilt over choosing a taken identity over her true ethnicity.

Easton brings the reader in to see beyond the international curtain, to sample the foods of both countries, learn some of the language, and spotlights familial expectations in a Korean family while WWII is brewing. While Miyoung’s choices differ from ones I would have made, I respect that Easton’s story is based on true life. The hitch with basing writing on a real person’s life is that the author needs to honor the existing history and Easton does this in a delicate, respectful way. Her writing is sensorial, bringing the sights and smells of both countries into the prose and leaving the reader with a strong sense of her grandmother’s life. The dialogue is tacit in many areas, representing the reticence of both the characters and the culture. Booklovers who enjoy lesser known 20th c. history, WWII love stories, and origin stories from other cultures, will favor this book which is appropriate for mid-teens through adults. It reminds me, in many ways, of a less gritty The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai or Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing. Be sure to read the Author’s Note at the end for further context. Thank you to Lake Union and NetGalley for making this eARC available for my honest review.

This book started off strong, and thankfully remained strong. I really enjoyed the story and Miyoung as a main character, she was resilient, headstrong and still emotional and overwhelmed. Her choices and path in life had me hooked, I know this is a historical fiction but knowing that so many women lived a similar life added to the reading experience. Easton wrote this book with the respect and love it deserved, I could feel her passion and dedication to the characters through every single chapter. There’s nothing I love more than a well written and character strong novel, and this was it!

"White Mulberry" delves deeply into the story of Suhr Miyoung, who, after moving to Japan to further her education and escape the marriage that her father had arranged for her, had to change her name to Haramoto Miyoko and the way she dresses and behaves in order to fit in, hoping that the Japanese would treat her as an equal.

The story begins in the early 1930s, when Miyoung's half sister, Baobeh, is married off and goes to live with her husband in Japan. Her mother, who wanted Miyoung to have an education so she wouldn't be scammed like she was, persuaded her father to let her finish primary school and postpone plans of marrying her off, but her father thought education was pointless for daughters and found her a match whom she was set to marry after graduating from primary school. After learning that the groom chosen by her father was a bully in her school, she worked hard and poured all her time and energy into her studies in hopes of receiving a recommendation letter that might convince her father to allow her to continue her education in a middle school in Pyongyang. She ended up getting a recommendation letter from her teacher, but because sending her to a middle school in Pyongyang costs money and the Western school that the missionaries planned to build in her town will not be open by the time she starts middle school, she was sent to Japan to live with Baobeh and her husband, where she could continue to study for free. Realizing how badly the Koreans are treated in Japan, she had to conceal her identity and claim to be Japanese in order to avoid being tormented at school and to get a job so she could send money to her mother in Korea, who became ill not long after she left.

The novel’s strength lies in its nuanced depiction of the harsh reality of immigrants and the difficulties of adapting to a new culture and identity while retaining one's own. The story looks thoroughly into Miyoung's sacrifices to live and be accepted in Japan, all while pursuing an education that her mother desired for her.

The eye-catching colors on the cover caught my attention and the synopsis piqued my interest which is why I decided to read the book. I appreciated getting to know Miyoung, her story and the people around her. The first few chapters were a bit slow, but the pace picked up at the 20% mark. The ending, on the other hand, felt rushed and abrupt, which is why I only gave it a 4 star because I felt like I didn't get closure on the situation between Miyoung and her father. Overall, "White Mulberry" is a compelling read that I recommend especially to those who enjoyed Asian historical fictions books such as "Pachinko", "The Mountains Sing" and "Daughters of Shandong".

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for providing me with an e-ARC in return for my honest and unbiased review.

Thanks netgalley. Unfortunately this one isn't for me.
Beautiful cover and story though. I tried to get into it but couldn't finish.

I have always enjoyed reading historical fiction books centered around Asian culture. I definitely agree with another reviewer about those who like Lisa See novels, potentially liking this book too. Miyoung’s story was beautifully told, I loved the detailing and the language. So many cultural details that really helped bring life into the story. I found myself crying alongside her in sad times and feeling elated when she was successful in her wishes.

I wish the Korean and Japanese phrases used could have also included the Hangul and Kanji/hiragana symbols.If not in line perhaps in a glossary. I also think there were some pacing issues midway through the book too. I wish there were more fleshed out bits for her story. That it was a bit longer in some places. I would be curious to read this as a non-fiction telling of her grandmother’s story.

Based on a true story, White Mulberry follows the story of a young girl living in occupied Korea. Forced to move to Japan to continue her education and escape an unwanted marriage, Miyoung must navigate love and loss, freedom and persecution in a country that promises her a future in exchange for rejecting her past.

Easton draws from the stories of her family to paint a picture of Korea during a period seldom talked about. Set between 1928 and 1943, the impact of Japan's growing military efforts in the war is felt deeply by those under occupation. Rich in historical and cultural details the novel brings to light the hardships endured by Koreans both living at home and in Japan, whilst acknowledging the community and sense of identity people were able to preserve in the most unlikely circumstances.

Peppered with traditional Korean and Japanese phrases along with detailed descriptions of authentic dishes, cultural practices and historic events, Easton painted an immersive picture of life in both Korea and Japan that draws the reader in. Unfortunately this attention to detail didn't extend to the dialogue which felt stilted and lacked finesse. As a result I found it difficult to create an emotional connection to the characters. The novel suffered from a 'show me don't tell me dilemma' wherein we were told about the protagonists feelings and thoughts on a situation, rather being shown them through storytelling. In some places it felt like a recitation of events rather than a novel, perhaps because -as Easton explains - it is a fictionalised account of her own grandmothers life. I'm left wondering if the book would have fared better as a biographical account of events rather than a novel.

Easton's writing is so poetic and I loved reading this book. Following Miyoung's story was interesting and kept me engaged thought-out the story. I highly recommend this book

I'll admit that this kind of historical fiction rarely works with me, but now and then I keep trying. PACHINKO did, so I was kind of hoping this could work somehow, too.
But not really, unfortunately. I was intrigued at first, engaged with the protagonist's journey and storyline, but then it all fell flat to me. Maybe it's because I didn't clique with the writing. Maybe because I'm simply not in the mood for such a book.
All I can say is that I'm sure other readers will love this novel.

Have you ever wanted to pluck a character from a book and personally protect them from harm? Because that's exactly how I felt about Miyoung. I knew Korea was under Japan's control at one point but seeing the conflict as it happens in real time from the perspective of a girl, who we see grow into a woman, was eye opening and brilliantly done. The racism was so disgusting that I had to take breaks while reading this book because it was so heartbreaking. This book will be going on my list of favorites for sure.