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Title details for Clay Walls by Kim Ronyoung - Wait list

Clay Walls

by Kim Ronyoung
David S. Cho
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
A landmark modern classic about the Korean American immigrant experience and the dawn of Los Angeles’s Koreatown
A Penguin Classic
Kim Ronyoung (Gloria Hahn, 1926–1987) tells the story of Haesu and Chun, immigrants who fled Japanese-occupied Korea for Los Angeles in the decade prior to World War II, and their American-born children. First published in 1986, Clay Walls offers a portrait of what being Korean in California meant in the first half of the twentieth century and how these immigrants’ nationalist spirit helped them withstand racism and poverty. Kim explores the tensions within a family of immigrants and new Americans and brings to the forefront the themes of Korean immigration, U.S. racism, generational trauma, and the early decades of Los Angeles’s Koreatown from a Korean American woman’s point of view. Through three sections representing the perspectives of mother, father, and daughter, what resonates the most is the voice of a woman and her self-determination, through national identity, marriage, and motherhood.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF that contains select Suggestions for Further Exploration from the book.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    December 10, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593947968
      • File size: 353597 KB
      • Duration: 12:16:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 1, 2001
      A multigenerational tale of a Korean family's immigration experiences in America.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This novel is worth listening to as an early fictional treatment of the Korean immigrant experience in America. First published in 1986, it covers the period ranging from before World War I to just after the end of World War II, when much of Korean identity was built around opposition to Japanese colonialism. The novel is told in sections, one for each member of the Chun family: mother Haesu, voiced by Sue Jean Kim; father Chun, Greg Chun, and U.S.-born Faye, Ami Park. All the narrators deliver fine accents as the characters work out how to be Korean in a world in which they are part of a tiny minority. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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