Kim Soom
Rutgers University Press
14 October 2025
94
eBook - PDF
Fiction
ARC via Edelweiss
An elderly Korean woman talking about being forced into sexual slavery during World War II. A modern Korean woman extricating herself from a failing relationship with an artist. Award-winning South Korean writer Kim Soom presents us with portraits of two women who couldn’t be more different but who both show resilience and compassion. No Hand Held Stories, containing one non-fiction piece and one short story, demonstrates the power and breadth of Kim’s writing. “Granny Wild Goose” uses former Comfort Woman Gil Won-Ok’s own words, recorded during conversations with Kim, to tell her life story of brutality, betrayal, and survival. In “The Root’s Tale,” the female protagonist comes to understand the strength of solitary women. Both devastating and reaffirming, No Hand Held Mine shows why Kim Soom has received every major literary award in Korea. Joon-Li Kim and Doo-Sun Ryu’s sensitive translation maintains Kim’s lyricism and exquisite imagery.
No Hand Held Mine was a deeply thoughtful work. The prose-poem style of the narrative in 'Granny Wild Goose' perfectly encapsulated the disjointed nature of memories and the way the mind holds onto some things and forgets others. It was an emotional representation of the trauma experienced by the narrator. This first story was the one that spoke to me the most in this collection. 'The Root's Tale' was also interesting, but it didn't capture my mind and heart in the same way. Overall, I am giving this book four stars. I found Kim Soom's prose really lyrical and interesting and I would like to read more of her works in the future. I believe she has written a novel centered around the 'comfort women' too, so I would really like to read that one at some point.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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