The Living Reed

by Pearl S. Buck

First published 1963

Amazon

4.3(3,225)

In 1881 the Kim family serves close to the Korean royal court, secure in rank but divided over how the kingdom should respond to foreign pressure. Reform, court intrigue and Japanese expansion destroy that security. The assassination of Queen Min, the weakening of the monarchy and Japan's eventual annexation force members of the family into exile, concealment and resistance while others attempt to survive within the colonial order.

Four generations carry the story through occupation, cultural suppression, imprisonment and underground nationalism to the end of the Second World War. Family divisions mirror national ones: collaboration may look like prudence, resistance may demand sacrifices from people who did not choose it, and survival can preserve both memory and guilt. The reed of the title becomes an image of a Korean identity bent repeatedly by imperial power without being wholly uprooted.