In 1983, South Korean Kim Hyun Sook is heading to college. She worked really hard during her high school years to excel and achieve the grades necessary enter the local college. Her mother would rather she follow the more traditional path of finding a husband and raising a family, but her unconventional father, who owns a barely surviving steak house, is supportive and wants her to accomplish her dream of studying literature.
At the time, South Korea is in theory a Republic, but in practice it is a military dictatorship supported by the Americans. Paranoid about the North Korean threat, the surveillance apparatus of the South Korean state sees enemies everywhere, especially on campuses. Ideas not supported by the regime are banned, people who resist are imprisoned, and even people who do not threaten the regime can find themselves subject to arrest and abuse. Having led a sheltered life and protected by her parents, Sook is unaware of the violence that plays on her campus, but her arrival quickly opens her eyes to the abuses and the struggle to achieve basic liberties like reading books and voicing one's opinion.
Joining a book club, Sook is at first horrified to realize she is now a member of a subversive group. When officer Ok, of the security services, closes in on her small group looking to arrest communists and make a name for himself, Sook must decide whether she will stand with her new friends and fight against the regime that oppresses so many, or let the totalitarian regime that governs South Korea silence her voice.
The black and white illustrations are very effective in setting an atmosphere of fear and darkness oppressing the population. Based on Sook's own biography, fans of politics and of history will appreciate the details on how one can resist an illegitimate regime.
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