![]() ![]() ![]() Question 1 This book provided an amazing window into what it must have been like to live in Seoul in 1978. Both women end up entangled with male suitors who seem unsure what they want from women or from life, perhaps mirroring the uncertainty in the broader culture (and belying the petty egoism of some insecure men). Though she also has a conflicted relationship with her family, a desire to pull them all out of poverty has given her a fierce ambition to graduate from university at the top of her class. In defiance of him, she has dropped out of school to join the protest movements seeking labor reforms. She blames her controlling, cold-hearted father for the untimely death of her mother. Jisun grew up in a wealthy home, but her childhood was far from ideal. ![]() This historical context is fertile ground to explore how class shapes the main characters’ motivations and opportunities. In this context, a university education is a rare privilege that can mean the difference between a cushy job versus toiling in an unsafe factory for little pay. It is a time of rapid economic growth and its attendant troubles – severe inequality, class struggle and labor protests. ![]() The author talks about the process behind her historical research and how it shaped the narrative.Įverything Belongs to Us is the story of two childhood friends, Jisun and Namin, coming of age in Seoul, South Korea in 1978. Wuertz’s novel Everything Belongs to Us transports us to Seoul in 1978. ![]()
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