Top 5 ESEA Must-Read Books
ESEA must-reads according to Sally Lau, aka What Sally Read Next and London Book Fair 2020’s Bookstagrammer of the year!
@whatsallyreadnext
Books are not just a great way to escape the real world; they are also an excellent source of knowledge about countries and cultures from all around the globe. From a personal perspective as a British-born Chinese, I have loved utilising books to help me to expand my knowledge of my family’s home country, having previously relied on hearing my parents' stories of their childhood and watching films and TV series to learn about Chinese culture. Whether you’ve been lucky enough to visit your family’s home country or not, books offer the opportunity for you to be transported to another place without the need to even leave your home. It's certainly a lot cheaper than a plane ticket! I would love to share with you some of my favourite ESEA reads and reasons as to why they have made it into my top five. These are all books that I've loved and learnt a lot from, not just about my own Chinese culture, as they have given me an insight into other ESEA countries too. I don't think that they should be exclusively read by the ESEA community though, as I believe that they are ideal for anyone wanting to understand more about ESEA countries and cultures.
China:
Wild Swans by Jung Chang
Wild Swans documents the three generations of the female side of Jung Chang's family during the 20th century in China - her grandma, who became a concubine to a warlord, her mother, who was a young Communist, and Jung Chang herself, who had been a Red Guard for a brief period of time, as well as a peasant, steelworker and electrician. With my Chinese family background, I found Jung Chang's Wild Swans to be an extremely insightful and shocking read about what life had been like back in my parents' home country during Mao's control over China and the Cultural Revolution. I don't think that you need to be Chinese to fully appreciate this book as it is such an important read which I have no doubt will still be referenced for decades to come. I would also say, don't be daunted by the size of it as you won't want to put it down!
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
A group of four Chinese women, all recent immigrants to San Francisco, call themselves 'The Joy Luck Club' and regularly meet up to play mahjong whilst reminiscing what life was like back in China. Told from the perspectives of four mothers and their daughters who are first-generation American-born Chinese, Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club features sixteen short stories which ultimately highlight the similarities between the generations despite their initial apparent differences. As a first-generation British-born Chinese, I felt like I could really resonate with the characters in this book which made it a very meaningful read to me. I also found that some of the differences between the mothers and daughters referenced in The Joy Luck Club mirrored my own differences between myself and my parents who weren't born in the UK.
Korea:
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo
An impactful and incredibly eye-opening read despite it being less than 200 pages long, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 was released during the heights of the #MeToo movement and sparked a new feminist movement in Korea. We read about the life of Kim Jiyoung, who from the start of her life was a disappointment to her parents who had wanted a son, not a daughter. She gets blamed when she's harassed at night, she gets overlooked for a promotion despite working harder than the men promoted ahead of her and she has to make a decision between having a career or becoming a full-time mother. This isn't the story of just one woman, it's a story about Korean women and one that many women around the globe have been able to resonate with. The high level of gender inequality and discrimination that women face in Korea is highlighted by this book and it was certainly something I hadn't been aware of until recently.
Korea & Japan:
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
This is the book that I think I'm most known for within the bookstagram community as I'm always recommending Min Jin Lee's Pachinko to everyone. It's also the only book in this top five that I've read more than once - yes, it's that good, trust me! Pachinko is a beautiful yet heart-breaking story spanning decades and generations of the same family, starting in Korea during the early 20th century and ending in Japan. After Sunja falls pregnant by an older man who turns out to have a family of his own, she accepts the offer of marriage by a kind minister to escape the shame that she will bring to her loved ones. They move to Japan and the minister raises the child as if they were his own. However, the consequences of her actions find a way to haunt Sunja over the years and leaves a mark on each generation after her. Pachinko taught me about the hardship and discrimination that Koreans faced whilst living in Japan and how they felt like they had lost their identity, something which I hadn't been aware of until reading this book. I thought that Min Jin Lee wrote about the themes of love, family and homeland really well, leading me to feel fully invested in both the characters and the story.
Singapore:
How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee
A strong debut from Jing-Jing Lee, How We Disappeared raises awareness of a period of time in South East Asia that some people might not have been aware of. It's a harrowing story about the struggles that women faced during the Japanese occupation of Singapore in the 1940s. We are introduced to Wang Di, who as a 17-year-old, was taken away from her family and forced to become a 'comfort woman' at a brothel for Japanese troops. Decades pass and yet Wang Di's experience at the brothel still continues to haunts her. In a second narrative, twelve-year-old Kevin hears his grandmother whisper a life-long secret that she's kept from her family just before she passes away. Kevin is intrigued to find out more about his grandmother's secret but is completely unaware that he is about to uncover something even bigger than he initially thought. The mystery surrounding his grandmother's confession had me speculating for most of the book as to how the narratives of Wang Di and Kevin would eventually merge together.
I hope that this has helped you to find a new book to discover among my top five ESEA recommendations. If you've enjoyed this article, feel free to check out my bookstagram @whatsallyreadnext for more suggestions and ideas for your next read!
Sally has been sharing her passion for reading with the Instagram community for the past three years through her virtual book clubs, bookstagrammer meet-ups in London and countless book recommendations, which contributed to her winning Bookstagrammer of the Year in 2020 at The London Book Fair. Some of her other interests include her cats, drinking copious amounts of green tea, travelling and musical theatre!
Follow Sally on Instagram @whatsallyreadnext.
