A Step from Heaven

What struck me most about this book was Young Ju's struggle to find her identity...an identitiy that is uniquely her's. From the moment her hair was permed to the final vignette when she mentions that she never learned to read or write Korean and needs to go to her mother for translation, we watch her struggle to find her place...Her place in the world, her school, and her family. Her identity remains rooted in her Korean background, but she begins to find an identity somewhere between being Korean and being American. When she first has her hair curled, she says that she looks in the mirror and does not even recognize herself, but her mother thinks she looks beautiful, because now she looks like a "Mi Gook" girl. Later in the book, her father tells her that she is no longer a good Korean girl, because she does not respect him the way he believes she should; she has become "too American". In the end, she pushes her straight black hair behind her ear...She has found her identity.

What makes this identity development so compelling is that it could be any one of us. No, we have not all immigrated to the US from another country, but every person goes through a time in their life where they are searching to define themselves. The audience for this book is in that particular stage of life where students are beginning to search to find out who they are apart from their family. I really like that the book follows Young Ju's development from a child through college. So often, I think that we want to try to define who we are overnight and in a few words. The truth is that our identity, like Young Ju's, is multi-layered and very complex. We cannot be defined by one particular aspect of our lives. Young Ju was not just a Korean or an American; she was somewhere in between. She was not just a student or a daughter or a sister or a friend, she was all of the above and more. No one aspect was more important than the other. As Young Ju did, we must all find ourselves...an identity that is uniquely our's.

The other part of this book that struck me was the vivid abuse. I realize that many more people than I know suffer from some type of abuse. Abuse is one ugly aspect of society that crosses all cultural boundaries. It knows no limits...no boundaries. And it is just as ugly in every culture.