Kyung-Sook ShinThe Court Dancer: A Novel

This book follows the true story of Yi Jin, a court dancer in the palace of the Korean king and queen in 1890. Jin was brought up by a seamstress when her pregnant and abandoned mother died of an illness. The seamstress' sister is a court lady, and through her association, Jin has access to the palace grounds. Jin catches the attention of the Queen who takes an interest in the girl.Jin meets a French Catholic priest named Blanc and a mute orphan boy, Yeon who follows the priest around. Both people have an impact on her life. Blanc teaches Jin French. When Jin becomes a court dancer Yeon accompanies her with his daegeum flute. Jin becomes the favorite dancer in the court, mesmerizing all including visiting diplomats with the Dance of the Spring Oriole.A French diplomat at the court, Victor Collin de Plancy falls in love with the dancer and persuades the King to allow him to take her back with him to Paris. There she is on display as a novelty even as she wears the latest fashions and adapts to French culture. She longs for home.Jin's story is a love story but not in the traditional sense of girl meets boy and falls in love. Her's is not a happy ending. Korea is going through an upheaval as Japan asserts a dominating force over the land, usurping Chinese rule of the region. The court dancer's story plays out against the background of tremendous changes happening in the Korean Joseon dynasty.Jin's life unfolds in a lyrical style. The writing is soothing and graceful, much like the Korean dances described. Other than an unusual use of the em dash to indicate dialogue instead of quotations and sometimes unclear pronoun antecedents, the writing is fluid and precise.The reader develops a strong empathy for Jin which makes the ending all the more shocking. I recommend this book to those wishing to expand their knowledge of Korean history specifically and expose themselves to other cultures.

Beautiful but haunting.

Wow, what a book!

The best book I've read in a long time. Kyung is one the best writers alive today. This story mostly takes place around 40 years ago in S. Korea but can easily relate to any country or for that matter any person.

This was such a good book! It was very well written. I found myself getting wrapped up in Jin's emotions and get plight. I wish the ending hadn't had been so sad, but if it hadn't, it probably wouldn't have been as good a book.

Interesting story about Korea

I got bogged down by this book and had to quit about halfway through. The staggering amount of detail did not have a strong enough story line to drive the plot forward. There are many who enjoy this type of treatment, but I guess I'm not one of them. Better books were clamoring for my valuable reading time so I had to set it aside.

If you like a writer who has no idea of plot, pace, and style, you will love this book. Way too long on insignificant portions of the "story" and too much left unsaid. For a story that was supposed to be informative of a portion of Korea's history, very skimpy. Do yourself a favor and don't bother reading this.

This story centres on the colonial aspirations of the European powers, and those of China and Japan, in the Korea of the late 19th and early 20th century, as seen thru the eyes of a young Korean Court Dancer.

Un romanzo che sto leggendo con estremo interesse!