[.ca] So Far from the Bamboo Grove (ISBN 0688131158)

Another Million Little Lies - Japanese Version:
What a lier! She is totally lying almost everything. Her father was a war criminal who had worked for Japanese Manchurian occupation, which was probably related to kill numerous innocent Koreans, and Chineses. He deserved the wanted poster but only spent 6yrs in prison! Especially, the most saddest part, she claimed, she suffered from Seoul to Pusan is totally out of sense. Even after Aug.15 when Japanese king announced the defeat, Japanese army still controlled almost all area in Korea. There are many proofs supporting Japanese army killed Koreans who were on the road, cheering their independence from Japan. Japanese army handed over their control of Korea to U.S army after Sep. There were Japanese armed forces as they had been for 35yrs. Then, who could kill who? Raping and kidnapping hundred thousands your Korean girls was Japanese Army's one of the businesses in their occupation over Korea. There are a lot of intentional or unintentional lies making me upset in this book. I believe, the author should make it clear that it is real story or fictioned story. If she claimed this is real, then she needs to prove it.. or she is just a lier like James Frey.

what a ridiiculous story!!!:
japan occupied korea and manchria during the world war II. japanese slaughtered many koreans and chinese in the war. japanese forced korean to change their name into japanese style and tried to remove their culture. yoko's father was a war criminal and they lost in the war. they had to give up their happy life as a conqueror in the manchira and korea. is it a sad story? why don't you write a sad story of lost Nazi Germany? what a ridiculous and disgusting story!!!

it is not real-story it is a fiction, don`t lie to children:
In the story, reportedly based on the real-life experiences of the writer, young Yoko witnesses Koreans' ruthless attacks and rape of the fleeing Japanese and the ensuing hunger, agony and death while she escapes from Namam in today's North Korea through Seoul and Busan to Japan. When U.S. planes bomb their train, the family is forced to finish their dangerous journey on foot. But while critics have commended the author for her courageous tale of survival, a number of historical inaccuracies have been discovered in the story. Among them is the erroneous claim that Japan's military occupation of Korea was justified by the Taft-Katsura Agreement of 1905. The bombing of the train by U.S. planes is also suspect, as the American military did not bomb any part of North Korea during the time frame of the story. Further, the claims of daylight rapes of Japanese women seem unbelievable, as occupying Japanese troops were not disarmed until weeks after Korea's liberation on August 15, 1945. The writer also claims that she and her mother were forced to steal the uniform of a dead Communist soldier in order to hide from North Korean forces, but North Korea's Communist army was not founded until 1948 so there would have been no uniforms of that type at that time. Yoko also writes that her father, who worked in Manchuria, was against the war, but records show that he was a war criminal who served for six years in a Siberian prison. Finally, the bamboo groves mentioned in the title of the book existed only in the southern part of Korea until the 1920s.

A young girl's horrifying past that haunts her memory....:
well, its not that horrifying...i think she wrote this book just to get everything out of her. she probably wants to let it out (like writing in a diary about your day) and also just tell others of her life. to tell others that life can be better than digging in garbage cans, watching your mother die, suffering, getting injured, being seperated with your family members, etc. to tell us that we should be glad with the lives we have now and we must love and care while we can, while we live. her book is a lesson to all of us out here. we should appreciate our lives and what we have! I'll stop now. i sound like a preacher.<

A Fiction:
I know, this book is a well-written story. full of what a great drama should have. If it is a FICTION, this book is great. However the author claimed that this book was written based on real stories she actually experienced. There are lots of lies in the book. too many to be called a real story. Their are some lies: 1) No bamboo can grow in the Northern Korean town, Nanam, where she lived. There's no 'bamboo grove' not only in North Korea, but also in the upper part of South Korea. Most parts of Korea is too cold for bamboo to grow unlike Japan. For this, the author gave an excuse. She said, it was bamboo grasses, not bamboo tree. You know, Nanam is really cold, even bamboo grasses can't grow at all. Even though there were bamboo grasses, they couldn't make cracking noises when US airplane bombed the town. 2) In her book, US fighters bombed Nanam in 1945. In the preface, it was written that "Americans were already bombing industrial sites in northern Korea". And she said "I had't had a night's sleep in two weeks because of the air raids". However there was no raid done by Americans at all. Surely in 1945, there were lots of raid by Americans in Japan. But no in Korea. For this, the author gave an explanation. She said she had no knowledge on fighters at all, so the fighters could be Russian ones. However there was no record of raid in Nanam in 1945 regardless of Russia or America. 3) In her book, North Korean Militia raped the author and her family. However there was no North Korean Militia, because NKM first appeared 3 years later in 1948. And the region where the author stayed was still controlled by Japanese army who were the sole armed force in 1945. For this, the author said, "Whoever Mother, my sister and I encountered were North Korean Militia? I do not know." in the recent interview. 4) In her book, she wrote, "my father was an Oxford graduate and Japanese diplomat". However it turned out to be lies that her father graduated from Oxford and was a diplomat". For this, Yoko told that "diplomat was her father's nick name" in a recent interview. As you see above, her 'real' story is full of lies. The problem is that no one knows except her if all of these things were really based on her true story, even though lots of lies have been revealed. No one knows, if she actually faced such a brutal experience. or if she faked the whole thing. But her sincerity is in doubt considering lots of lies she made in the book. If she tells the world that her book is a fiction, then nothing can be disputable. The problem is that she still insists all of these things are true despite of fatal flaws. If the latter case, this stains koreans' honor considerably. There are no report or record about any rape accident done by Koreans to Japanse while Japanese retreated from Korea. Non-finction should be based on rigorous truth that can be verifiable , especially when it is used for an education material. Isn't it?