The Picture Bride by Lee Geum-yi is about a young girl, Willow, who travels to Hawaii to marry a man she has only seen one picture of. In 1918, Willow and her family lived in a small rural village in Korea. Willow wants more from life than being a housewife to another farmer. She yearns to go back to school after her mother pulled her out. When her father and brother died while rebelling against the Japanese occupation of Korea, her mother needed Willow at home to help take care of her younger siblings.
When a traveling merchant stops by, she has an interesting prospect for Willow. She knows a young man in Hawaii who is looking for a wife. She shows Willow a picture of him and Willow sends a picture of herself to him. Before long a match was made. Willow is nervous to leave her family and the only place she knows as home behind. However, she is excited because her matchmaker told Willow that her husband is a wealthy landowner, food and clothing is plentiful, and Willow will be able to go back to school.
Willow and a few other young women from her village travel to Hawaii together to become a picture bride. After a harrowing and long journey, Willow finally arrives in Hawaii to meet her new husband. However, she shortly learns that the matchmaker has lied to her about her husband’s wealth and her ability to be able to go back to school. Her dreams for a new life is shattered even farther, when she learns that her husband never wanted to marry her in the first place.
Willow tries to make the best of what she was dealt. She tries to increase her family’s wealth and social standing. However, when the Korean independence movements start to spread throughout their Hawaiian community, Willow sees it dividing her family and friends from each other as each person has differing views. Willow tries to forge ahead and create new dreams and work tirelessly for her family.
I thought the book was an interesting but slow moving read. There were chapters where nothing happened to progress the story. At times, there were a lot of characters to keep track of and I couldn’t remember how they all related to each other. I did enjoy reading about Willow and the other picture brides’ journeys and how their friendship lasted through the years. I like reading some of the historical portions about Hawaii and Korea. I never knew picture brides were a thing, so that was interesting to learn.
The first two parts of the book describe Willow’s life arriving in Hawaii and then her time in Hawaii. The last part skips a few years into the future. I didn’t care for the ending and the last portion of the book, I felt like it was out of place and not really needed. It seemed weird that Willow wanted her entire life to do something but then prevented her loved ones from doing what they loved. The book does explain why, but I felt that twist wasn’t needed and could have been left out especially since that person didn’t seem to tell anyone about knowing the secret. I wish there were more details given on what happened during the time jump. The book was translated from Korean so I felt some of the nuances might have been missed while reading it.
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