Fox Girl

by Nora Okja Keller

Book Overview

Nora Okja Keller, the acclaimed author of Comfort Woman , tells the shocking story of a group of young people abandoned after the Korean War. At the center of the tale are two teenage girls--Hyun Jin and Sookie, a teenage prostitute kept by an American soldier--who form a makeshift family with Lobetto, a lost boy who scrapes together a living running errands and pimping for neighborhood girls. Both horrifying and moving, Fox Girl at once reveals another...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142001961
• ISBN13: 9780142001967
• Release Date: March 2003
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Gritty life in America Town

When reading "Comfort Woman," I felt that though the book was poetically written, it was a bit too much peppered with descriptions of Asian mysticism to impress Western readers. "Fox Girl," on the other hand, was an excellent read. While most of the story would not ring true today, in the 60's and 70's it was a very real situation that occurred as American GI's were a ticket to money and a better life for Korean girls who had no jobs and no way to feed themselves. Descriptions of going to the "Monkey House" for treatment of VD's and how women needed to carry a working license when they were as young as 14 were fascinating. The main character was someone who had a typical situation but had a headstrong attitude... and Lobetto, the biracial pimp who dreams of his black father sending for him to live in the United States was quite heartbreaking. Having lived in Korea for four years, America Town still exists but it is a very different place. Even so, I learned quite a bit about the history of what the situation was like 30 years ago. This book will make you wonder what you would do to survive.

Okja Keller rocks!

I saw the cover and of this book, and that was enough to pique my interest. I read the exerpt and bought the book. This was the first book of this particular topic that I read, and I must say, bravo! It captivates life as it was right after the Korean war between young Korean women and American GI's. It depicts the life of Hyun Jin and her friend Sookie, and the boy Lobetto and how there lives take place from childhood up until early 20's. The time line of the book begins when the three are youngins and their lives eventually go seperate ways. The book portrays life as Korean "prostitutes" as you may call them evolve. The Hyun Jin and Sookie want to make it to America and the path along the way takes several intersting turns and halts. There are rapes, beatings, friendship, relationships, family, and the brining of life.

Different and Intense

I was hooked on this book after just the intro chapter. I wanted to read something different. Something more than boy meets girl. I found it in Fox Girl. It is an eerie look at a world and culture I never imagined. Though sometimes depressing, it's always thought-provoking. I could hardly put it down. I just had to keep finding out what was going to happen.Sookie's absence of feeling and remorse is amazing. Hyung Jin is also a little selfish, except for when it comes to the baby. Her first "honeymoon" scene is rather brutal and hard to read, but very well written. Very emotional. I recommend the book.

A Story of Survival

Fox Girl, by Nora Okja Keller, is a very well written story of survival. It takes place right after the events of the Korean War and shows how it affects the children as they grow up. The main character is Hyun Jin. In the beginning, she lives on a military base with her family and her only friend is an ugly young girl everyone calls Sookie. Sookie, as a child, was in total awe of her beautiful mother and her many boyfriends. Little does either child know, however, is that Sookie's mom is a prostitute. The chapters that tell of their childhood are extremely amusing with the naive thoughts of the young girls about Sookie's mother. These chapters are not all fun and games, though, for they foreshadow Sookie's destiny. Hyun tells of Sookie's mother's talks with them about sex and men which seem to influence how Sookie lives her life later in the book... The book grows slightly darker when the girls grow up and Sookie ends up becoming one of the most beautiful young women in the neighborhood and gets into her mother's profession. Hyun's opinions are as interesting as the story from beginning to end. Overall, this all makes for a good read, at anytime, especially if you have a spring break or summer vacation coming up.

Are we all doomed to become our parents?

...I kinda knew I was in for a harsh ride. I mean, I read the inside flap (...); however, desensitized as I am, I had to force myself to read past the recounting of Hyun Jin's first occupation. Also, this is a book in which the main character, the predicted heroine, is not quite a heroine; the story unfolds from her, but it's her friend Sookie who drives the action, who is the repulsively attractive person we all know, the one that doesn't seem to think in quite the same morals that you do. To Sookie, she thinks to save herself first; but the paradox is that what Sookie does will ultimately save her friend and her child, and I think that she understood this far better than Hyun Jin does. It's not enough to take away the "heroine" label from Hyun Jin, just to chip it.Through Hyun Jin and Sookie, we see the facets of friendship and the interpretations of motherhood, and how dreams of America that once possessed the people that settled this country has swept, and influenced, the East. It's somewhat low-key in Hyun Jin's narratives; you catch nuances of the tone. It's a disturbing book, pointing out the unredemptive ugliness of human society, but offering the solace that perhaps some can slip through, correct the mistakes made.