Book #3302

Somebody's Daughter

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Somebody's Daughter

By Marie Myung-Ok Lee
2005, 264 pages, Hardback.

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Book Description From the Front Cover Flap

Imagine giving birth to a daughter and having her whisked away moments later. Imagine being left to wonder for the rest of your days what became of her. This is the story of Kyung-sook, a Korean woman who fell in love, only to be abandoned at her most vulnerable moment.

Imagine being adopted and growing up six thousand miles from the land of your birth, always wondering what your birth mother was like. Imagine being told what your birth parents died so your new parents could raise you to be an all-American girl. This is the story of Sarah Thorson, who discovers the truth about her birth when she is nineteen.

Sarah's story begins when she drops out of the University of Minnesota and, more by happenstance than by design, decides to study in Korea. As the summer pogresses, Sarah becomes more and more intrigued by her Korean heritage, eventually discovering the truth about her adoption; her birth mother did not die in a car crash. With the help of two remarkable men, Jun-Ho Kim, a Korean hoping to befriend Americans, and Doug Henderson, a Korean American struggling with his mixed heritage, Sarah embarks on a crusade to find her birth mother that leads her to a deepening involvement with the culture, language, and people of Korea as she opens windows into the mysterious circumstances of her birth.

The stories of Sara and Kyung-sook are told side by side: will they find each other?

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Short Description

Follow the story of Sarah Thorsen, an adopted Korean American, as she embarks on a quest to find her Korean birth mother and ends up discovering her own identity too. "Sombebody's Daughter" by Marie Myung-Ok Lee is a must read for foreign adoptees, their parents, and anyone interested in a good page-turner. This book is a real tear jerker so be warned!

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Comments

Their story, from beginning to end, is extremely poignant. It's easy to see Sarah and Kyung-sook's transformation from insecure and meek to brave. Somebody's Daughter borrows from a familiar plot, similar to most adoption or orphan stories, but still manages to be interesting.

If you're looking for a book that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, then this is for you. Sarah's search for her mother and Kyung-sook's search for her daughter are guaranteed tearjerkers.
-Taylor Amato, ELLEgirl

Somebody's Daughter will appeal to teens with an interest in multicultural issues, especially cross-racial adoption. But it can also be read for its vivid portrait of the country. Lee's portrayal of rural villages, a bustling modern city, and the people who have preserved their heritage in the face of civil war is strong and memorable.
-Sheila Janega, Fairfax County Public Library, VA, School Library Journal

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About the Author

Marie Myung-Ok Lee was born and raised in Bob Dylan's hometown, Hibbing, Minnesota. Her stories and essays have been published in Witness, The Kenyon Review, Newsweek, and the New York Times. She has received many honors for her work, including an O. Henry honorable mention for an adaption of a chapter from Somebody's Daughter. Lee has been a MacDowell Colony fellow, has served as a National Book Award judge, and has taught fiction writing at Yale University. She is a founder of the Asian American Writers' Workshop. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in the Americas at Brown University.

Lee's most recent novel, Somebody's Daughter, is based on her year as a Fulbright Scholar to Korea, taking oral histories of Korean birth mothers. She has been involved in the adoptee community for many years. One of her family members is adopted from Korea.

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