by Chang-Rae Lee, 2010
Graphic violence & sex, even lesbianism. Why?!! “Gratuitous” sex and violence.
June, young Korean girl, loses her entire family one by one in aftermath and during Korean war. She is found by GI, Hector, on the road, follows him to orphanage. They both fall in love with Sylvie Tanner, minister’s wife, who had a tragic childhood also – witnessed her parents murdered by Japanese in China where they were missionaries. She is a heroin addict. Hector is a troubled, handsome, hero. Can drink forever w/o getting drunk. His dad used to take him to bars and set up drinking contests to win money. Hector leaves him one night to go have sex with a woman whose husband was away for WWII. His Dad ends up dying that night – drowning. Hector has to identify his bloated body days later – blames himself. Blames himself for Sylvie’s death in a fire that June started in the orphanage. Long, involved tale full of sorrows, woe, sex, violence, confusion. End doesn’t redeem it.
Here’s a review of this book from the Parade magazine of March 7, 2010: “The casualties of war extend beyond the battlefield. In The Surrendered, the victims include three Korean War survivors: a young refugee girl, a troubled GI, and the missionary woman they both love. Chang-rae Lee’s haunting novel follows the three from an orphanage in Korea, where their lives first collide in the 1950s, to New York City and Italy three decades later, as they confront the secrets that once bound them together and wrenched them apart. Read Lee’s remarkable, complex exploration of guilt and grace, sacrifice and (perhaps momentary) salvation before it lands on all the Top 10 lists.”