Dong Hwa Kim (1)Reseñas

While the notes at the end of the book laud this as a feminist work, I can't totally agree. Ehwa and her mother live on their own and are totally self-sufficient, but other than talking about puberty, they spend most of their time discussing boys and men. (This is a shout-out to my YAAers who introduced me to the Bechdel test!) Regardless, the graphics were so expressive that even though they were in black and white, I saw each frame in color. So much emotion was over the top, but it totally sucked me in. I have already requested the next book in the series.

First in a trilogy, this is very much a coming-of-age novel about Ehwa, who ages from about age 5 to 13 in this installment. She lives with her widowed mother, who runs a tavern. Ehwa's mother has a boyfriend-of sorts, a traveling artist who stops buy irregularly. Ehwa is a bit younger/more naive than her friend Bongsoon. Ehwa likes both a young monk-in-training and the local landowner's son (who Bongsoon has her eyes on). This is a sweet story, but I was surprised the author is male.

The drawings in this are amazing. They are single-color, small and large panels. The flora drawings are both important to the story and so amazing. Kim's facial expressions are also very well done.

I will be reading #2 of 3 in the near future!

Successfully straddles the line between frank and poetic sexuality - reading Ehwa's journey in becoming a woman was simply delightful.

Slow, poetic, pastoral, not usually my thing but the art made up for the slow plot

Completely unsure how to rate this one because of millions of conflicting feelings. I loved (and honestly was discomfited by) how frank and open the sexual discussions were. Human sexuality is shown as normal rather than shameful behavior, which was refreshing.

However, I wasn't sure I liked the emphasis on beauty and femininity and fragility that all the floral/botanical metaphors conferred. I don't like it when people, men especially, say they want to protect women by putting them on a high pedestal of hyper-femininity and innocence (something that happens in India in discussions of women as "goddesses" to be revered). I also dislike when women are treated as strange creatures men will never understand.

But at the same time, this is a historical piece and must be seen through that lens. I wasn't sure how much of the discomfort/annoyance I felt about the book were from my own modern American biases and ignorance about Korean culture and history in general. It's hard for me to gauge how important a feminist work this is without a frame of reference.

Definitely an interesting and thought-provoking read for sure!

This was delightful! Gorgeous art, and the translation seams are invisible (I get really annoyed when the English sounds obviously translated). It's very much about a young girl growing into her sexuality, and that sexuality is frank, in a way that I think should be perfectly appropriate for middle schoolers -- it's all innocent, from the girl's perspective -- but is not considered acceptable in mainstream American culture.

The Color of Earth is a graphic novel written by Korean author Kim Dong Hwa. The book is the first in a series of three based on his mother's life growing up in Korea. This book starts when she, Ehwa, is seven years old and ends when she is a teen. The book focuses on her discovering what it means to be a woman and how she grows and blooms into a young lady. It was an interesting story to read, especially since you realize that no matter what part of the world you are from, young girls are essentially the same. I liked the relationship that Ehwa has with her mother, a widow that runs a tavern. There is a lot of symbolism in the book, both through the text and the pictures. The artwork was lovely, just simple enough yet detailed to convey the emotions the characters are experiencing. I would read the next volume if the opportunity presents itself.

A really beautiful and lyrical graphic novel (or a "manhwa" in Korean, according to the comments in the back), this book tells the story of Ehwa and her mother. Ehwa is just reaching puberty and feels the stirring of desire for the first time, as Ehwa's mother remembers the joys of having a man in her life. Lots of metaphors using flowers, which got old after a while, but still beautiful nonetheless.

I got to say the book surprised me, it's not what I expected, though I should have known from the cover, the girl is standing shyly but she's holding her skirt high. It's a coming-of-age story about a girl and her widowed mom, both of them are seeking love and they compare it to flowers. I got to say that the art is amazing and so is the information, but I didn't like how these girls acted.

I'm absolutely in love with this, and I can't wait to pick up the sequels when I get to work today. The black and white drawings were so gorgeous that I kept turning pages long after I'd intended to go to bed last night, until I ended up just finishing it in one sitting.

I flipped through this one so I could see how it ended. The depiction of Ehwa's wedding night, at least, was artful and beautiful, if pretty ridiculously dramatic.

This one was so irritating compared to the first, probably because Ehwa was older. In the first place, she became such a brat, and in the second place, they talk about nothing but romance. In three hundred pages, I don't think a single character said anything that wasn't about women being flowers and men being butterflies, the wind, or a fire that must be tended. So, so boring.

This book is not only gorgeous but tells a really great story. This follows Ehwa and her widowed mother. Ehwa starts out as a child and is slowly developing into a teen, and experiencing first loves and the beginning of becoming a woman. This is a stark contrast to her mother, a very young widow who misses having someone to connect with. They have a very close relationship. The book is filled with both verbal and visual symbolism and is well worth a read.

This book is not only gorgeous but tells a really great story. This follows Ehwa and her widowed mother. Ehwa starts out as a child and is slowly developing into a teen, and experiencing first loves and the beginning of becoming a woman. This is a stark contrast to her mother, a very young widow who misses having someone to connect with. They have a very close relationship. The book is filled with both verbal and visual symbolism and is well worth a read.

This book is not only gorgeous but tells a really great story. This follows Ehwa and her widowed mother. Ehwa starts out as a child and is slowly developing into a teen, and experiencing first loves and the beginning of becoming a woman. This is a stark contrast to her mother, a very young widow who misses having someone to connect with. They have a very close relationship. The book is filled with both verbal and visual symbolism and is well worth a read.

This book is not only gorgeous but tells a really great story. This follows Ehwa and her widowed mother. Ehwa starts out as a child and is slowly developing into a teen, and experiencing first loves and the beginning of becoming a woman. This is a stark contrast to her mother, a very young widow who misses having someone to connect with. They have a very close relationship. The book is filled with both verbal and visual symbolism and is well worth a read.

A thoughtful exploration of family, growing up, sexual awakening and different kinds of love. In this second book, Ehwa is becoming more aware of her sexuality and becoming less of a child, more of a young woman. The actual romance arc is quite fast, as the book seems to compress time quite a bit, but its gentle tone prevents it feeling rushed. The loving, deep conversations between Ehwa and her mother actually form most of the story as they explore the concepts of romantic love and marriage.

An excellent graphical memoir of growing up in Korea, and a young girl's slow unfolding discovery of what it means to be a girl, both biologically and culturally. A lot of familiar, believable childhood emotions and thoughts come across here, despite the rather poetic flavour many of the conversations have.

I liked this book. It addressed issues such as puberty and other aspects of growing up without making it feel like a lecture. I personally felt like I didn't get as much from this book as I probably could have, if I had known more about the Korean culture, but the book does give very helpful notes to give some background context. I liked the portrayal of the characters, though. They seemed very realistic, which gave the story more believability. It was a good book.

I don't know about a preteen or teen audience, but as an adult I found it really fantastic. Incredibly good drawing and layout, and conception. The topic is frank and earthy, to be sure, and so it might not be for a shy young girl. But I loved it.½

VOYA Ratings: 3Q, 3P

This graphic novel by Kim literally paints beautiful images of the sometimes funny and often confusing journey through adolescence as experienced by the character of Ehwa, a young girl living with her mother in a rural village in Korea. Typical to the genre of graphic novels, there are times when the humor is raunchy and crude yet this feel appropriate given the ages of the characters as they stumble through the natural exploration of their maturing bodies and sexuality. This humor is punctuated with occasional sweeping full-page scene of a lone figure in a pastoral setting. This serves to add a somber and emotional tone to the story as experienced by Ehwa and adds visual appeal for the readers.

I really enjoyed this manga. It's rare to have an honest, funny discussion and exploration of sexuality in manga. Also, this humanizes another culture and provides a fairly detailed experience a girl has with growing up in Korea, interacting with males, and learning about her body. I liked that it was historical fiction and loosely referenced some of the societal pressures of being a mother raising a daughter on the outskirts of a town. I read the whole trilogy because they had me hooked. I think the manga will make readers chuckle at the young girl's concern about learning she doesn't have a gouchou.

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3Q, 2P

The book was written just fine. However, the genre just isn't that appealing to me and I think that only a certain amount of youth patrons will find an interest in these types of books. Still, I enjoyed how the story was split up into sections that coincided with Ehwa's stages of puberty. Still, I found it a bit slow and rather difficult to get through. Reading graphic novels is always an arduous task for me though, so my opinion may not be the best one to look at for this book.

I chose the VOYA rating of 4Q because the artwork was stunningly beautiful and the storytelling was of extremely high quality. The reader feels like she is peeking into a series of windows, eavesdropping on the life of this young, rural, Korean girl as she discovers the world and the romantic side of herself. The reader almost feels as if she could step through those windows and into the Korean countryside to chat with the characters.

I chose 4P because it is a compelling and popular book, but I think that young adults with a bias against graphic novels may never have an interest in picking this up and reading it.