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There are currently 27 member reviews
for The Stone Home
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Linda Z. (Melville, NY)
A Devastating and Traumatic Time
Crystal Hana Kim, the Author, the Author of "The Stone Home" has written a powerful, heart-breaking, memorable and intense novel. The Genres for this Novel are Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, and Adult Fiction. This is a complicated and difficult book to read. The timelines for this story are set in 1981 in South Korea, and 2011. The author vividly describes her characters, and the atrocities and abuse that occurred. In the early 1980's, before the Olympics, the South Korean Government wanted all vagrants, beggars, and other people sent to detention centers to rehabilitate them to be returned to society. What happened instead makes for a nightmare hidden in history. The detention centers were similar to Concentration Camps, but referred to as state-sanctioned reformatories.
Families were often ripped apart, and the children were beaten, physically and psychologically abused. Originally the vagrants were only to be there a year, but many disappeared or died. In this novel, the author discusses the relationship of a mother and daughter, that tried to have hope, and two brothers, who were forced to make difficult choices.
The author does mention how some of the prisoners were kind and showed hope to one another. This is an important book that does shed light on the darkness of a violent and powerful hidden time and agenda. I would recommend this book to shed light on a devastating time.
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Linda O. (Jacksonville, NC)
The Rehabilitation
Crystal Han Kim's novel, "The Stone Home," is a vivid expose of the state-sanctioned reformatory system of the 1980's in Korea. Claims that its goal is to rehabilitate and reform its citizens are strikingly similar to the claims for favoring Indian Boarding Schools in the United States. The novel alternates timelines between the 1980's and 2011. The story is told from the alternating perspective of two characters; Eunju, who has been taken from the streets with her mother, and Sangchul, who has been captured with his brother. The reader's attention is captured quickly in the opening pages of the novel as Eunju opens her front door to find a stranger with a knife that Eunju instantly recognizes in her hands. The young woman has been sent by her dying father to learn the story of her birth from Eunju, who seems not pleased at having been given this task. Eunju's story is very clear throughout her telling. Sangchul's, on the other hand, is sometimes confusing. We see some jealousy toward his brother and much guilt over the manner of his brother's death. These haunt him over the course of the novel and his paranoia over what he thinks he may or may not have done is hard to follow sometimes. Kim's prose is almost lyrical at times and her depiction of the reformatory system in Korea is violent and disturbing. I found the book quite enlightening about a period of history of was unaware.
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Sonia F. (Freehold, NJ)
Heartbreak and resilience in The Stone Home
Historical fiction lovers like me will rush to discover more about reformatory institutions in South Korea in the years leading to the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
In this novel, Crystal Hana Kim emotionally reveals a dark chapter in South Korea history; state sanctioned brutality, abuses, coverups, and just plain human rights abuse.
" It is only by knowing our past that we can guard against the future ".
This searing novel shows humanity's capacity for evil. But some can be evil and some can be good as discovered in these pages ; a mother and daughter bond and two brothers whose bond is put to the ultimate test.
Through alternating time lines and inmates point of view , we meet Eunju in 2011 who opens her door to a woman bearing a familiar knife that she remembered from 30 years ago.
In 1980 Eunju and her mother are homeless, living on the street and is scooped up by the police and sent to the reformatory center.
The characters in this novel are determined and resilient. Kim deserves praise for this exploration of violence and how if we as humans want to we can rise from the ashes, the brokenness, the darkness into light with acts of friendship and devotion.
Thrilling and tragic —this is not a novel for the faint of heart but I hasten to add, human rights atrocities should not be ignored in order for these horrific events never be repeated.
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Barbara P. (Mountain Center, CA)
A Journey Into a Nightmare
The Stone Home takes us into a world that few of us could imagine. We are introduced to a relationship between mother and daughter that feels familiar and familial, and then we are taken to a place that brings our their best and worst selves. We know of concentration camps with warring nations, but to see a place like The Stone Home being administered by their own government is maddening and frightening. The stories introduces to two main voices, but so many more personalities, with twists and turns - some foreseeable and the most important one and unfolding surprise. This is a perfect book club read that will stimulate a great amount of discussion.
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Karen S. (Allston, MA)
Painful, and then more painful
I wouldn't say this is for everyone—it is grim and brutal throughout. That said, I kept reading to the end because Kim was unspooling a story that I wanted to finish. This is historical fiction about a time and place in South Korea that I have not explored, and I am glad to have some exposure.
I will not be looking for more about these "reformatory centers."
That said, I found Kim's writing carried me along. If this was written by a less skillful writer, I would not have finished the book. This is what earned the 4 stars.
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Marcia S. (Ackley, IA)
What does one do to survive?!
It is hard for us to fathom the existance of such institutions, past or present. How does one find the strength to survive? Eunju and her mother, Umma, are imprisoned in a Korean reformatory which is actually a place of forced labor and terror. A fellow prisoner, a young man named Sangchul, is captured with his brother. We witness him do things to others, just to survive. Loyalties are tested and betrayals common. We see Eunju find strength against all odds. Then there is Narae, a living memory from the past. She's come to Eunju to learn the story of her past, and find out who she really is. The story is definitely thought-provoking and a deep read.
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Randi H. (Bronx, NY)
Difficult but worthwhile
The Stone Home is a difficult read about an unknown (to me at least) piece of history. A story about a mother and daughter in South Korea who are swept up by authorities attempting to "clean" the country of undesirables, mostly the poor and those on the fringes of society. Kept locked up against their will, The Stone Home tells of their life in a reform facility and the people with whom they come in contact and eventually form a family of sorts. The book does not gloss over the violence in this life, making it at times a difficult read. However, overall I was grateful to learn about this overlooked historical event.
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