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The Hen Who Dreamed she Could Fly by Hwang Sun-mi
, 21 Jul 2016
The Hen who Dreamed she Could Fly is a modern fable for mid-aged children and adults written by the Korean writer Hwang Sun mi.
This is a short and sweet novella, that you will devour in a seating. It has all the elements of successful classic tales for children but will captivate also adults. For a start, the story is Universal as there are no location names, no human names, so the story could be happening anywhere, Korea, USA, or Spain. The story also speaks to any culture, religion or social class. The settings and characters are those of a traditional fable: a barn, anthropomorphic domestic animals; good, bad and evil characters; a hero, a subversion of the animal order of some sort, and an embedded moral lesson. Unlike classic fables and folk tales, the moral lessons in this novella are very contemporary, very 21st century. One of the main messages of the book is explicitly mentioned:
Just because you’re the same kind doesn’t mean you’re all one happy family. The important thing is to understand each other. That’s love! (Kindle Locations 984-985).The reading of the book is far from linear as there are different layers and themes touched at the same time, which will appeal to people of different conditions, even to people who see the world very differently. Two major themes are obvious to me:
1/ Nature simple "is"
> Subverting nature is never going to work because Nature has a rhythm that simple "is". You can learn how Nature works to take advantage of it, to exploit it in a way, but Nature itself can't be modified. A gazelle would never want to eat a lion, not would be able. A man cannot eat kill a buffalo on his own unless he has a weapon, the weapon is not Nature. > Knowing what your true nature is saves you from havoc.
> The call of the wild is an instinct that does not disappear when you tame a wild animal because their nature is just that.
> Everything in Nature makes sense, even predators and scavengers. They are not nasty, just as hungry as cute animals. Even cockroaches have a function in Nature.
2/ Our nature does not always equal Nature
> We are what we decide to become.> Our nature could limit us, but we can still overcome obstacles with willpower and determination, inventive, patience and resolution to achieve anything.
> Our birth family are not always those who treat us as family or those who treat us best.
> An uterus doesn't make a mother. A woman can be barren and still be a good mother, better than a birthed mother.
As you see, there are some contradictory affirmations in these two main themes, and to me that was the main problem with the story, that the message was not clear enough, that it could say things that are contrary at the same time.
There are embedded questions in the story, as well, and those are the most sensitive questions:
> Does motherhood equal womanhood?
> Does being of a different race or of the same gender make a difference in being a good parent? Said differently, can a mother from a race or gender that is not that somebody born with make a difference in your growing up?
> Is surrogacy OK?
> Does Nature define your nature?
> What is more cruel, the cruelty of Nature or subverting Nature for the sake of personal fulfilment and getting hurt because of it?
> Does being of a different race or of the same gender make a difference in being a good parent? Said differently, can a mother from a race or gender that is not that somebody born with make a difference in your growing up?
> Is surrogacy OK?
> Does Nature define your nature?
> What is more cruel, the cruelty of Nature or subverting Nature for the sake of personal fulfilment and getting hurt because of it?
Eventually, what you will enjoy the most about the book is the sentimental part of it, the emotions that this foolish mother of a hen called Sprout brings in you. Interracial inter-religious and gay couple will find their struggle reflected in the fable. Any struggling single mother will cry at finding her harshness and devotion reflected. The book will also touch non-mothers because the story will remind them of the abnegation, love and willingness to overcome obstacles that some mothers have, perhaps their own.
The characters in this novella are well drawn. The weasel is my favourite, s/he know who s/he is, his place in Nature, and doesn't apologise for whom s/he is, what other people think of his/her way of life or the hatred s/he attracts. Sprout the hen is foolish, yet we are immediately drawn to her compassion, selfless love, and the way she stands the harshness of life, even though she put herself in that position.
The ending is great. A great lesson. Because there are things in life you cannot change or subvert, as simple as that, you like it or not.
The translation by Kim Chi-Young really flows. The language used is very simple, but I guess that was also in the original as this is, after all, a book mainly for children. Yet, sometimes I found some wording that was a bit off to me, probably because English is not my first language. However, there is one occasion that the word of choice seemed not appropriate:
I love the black-and-white minimalist illustrations by Japanese artist Kazuko Nomoto's (aka Nomoco's), who is also the author of the paperback and hardcover's covers. There are very few illustrations in the book, just at the beginning of each chapter, and a flowery line at the end of the chapter. I thought there was room for more illustrations, and that the book would have benefited from more.
As happens with other Korean books that become popular in the West, senseless comparisons to English-speaking novels immediately sprout or are summoned: Animal Farm and Charlotte's Web. Really? Why the need to say something as senseless?! Those novels have nothing in common with this book except for the fact that they have animal characters in a farm. I have never read John Livingston Seagull, which is another book frequently mentioned, so I cannot comment on that. Personally, the only influences that came to mind when reading it were European, Aesop's fables and the Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, although to be fair, the script of the movie Babe, which is Australian, also came to mind. Yet, this book is quite different in mood and message from all of those.
One of the sentences reads "She tried not to lose consciousness, wondering what was happening." (Loc. 64).I thought that a talking hen would have never used this expression because hens simply don't have consciousness, something one can easily put aside because this is a fable. However, talking of a hen in the third person, I would have simply said "not to faint." I thought, this would be easier to understand for children as well. This is, of course, a very personal appreciation.
I love the black-and-white minimalist illustrations by Japanese artist Kazuko Nomoto's (aka Nomoco's), who is also the author of the paperback and hardcover's covers. There are very few illustrations in the book, just at the beginning of each chapter, and a flowery line at the end of the chapter. I thought there was room for more illustrations, and that the book would have benefited from more.
As happens with other Korean books that become popular in the West, senseless comparisons to English-speaking novels immediately sprout or are summoned: Animal Farm and Charlotte's Web. Really? Why the need to say something as senseless?! Those novels have nothing in common with this book except for the fact that they have animal characters in a farm. I have never read John Livingston Seagull, which is another book frequently mentioned, so I cannot comment on that. Personally, the only influences that came to mind when reading it were European, Aesop's fables and the Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, although to be fair, the script of the movie Babe, which is Australian, also came to mind. Yet, this book is quite different in mood and message from all of those.
NOTES
~o~ The book was first published in Korean in the year 2000, and it is a modern classic there. The novel was first published in English in 2010, this edition being of 2014, way behind the date when it was translated into other major languages.
~o~The story was brought to the big screen in 2011 in a Korean animated film titled in English Leafie, a Hen into the Wild and also Daisy a Hen into the Wild, and turned into the theatre stage in 2015. The book was also adapted to a comic book.
KINDLE RENDERING
Although you can easily individuate and zoom in the illustrations, the images are not very big, they don't fit the full page in my tablet. When you double-tap and individuate the image this is still a bit small, even if you zoom it by pinch it in, and it doesn't look neat enough. This could be easily solved in the Kindle edition, so the image can be zoomed without losing quality and zoomed in more.
A WARNING
This book is not for small children and needs of parental supervision as deals with themes that aren't easily understandable to children. I would not give it or read it to a small child, unless s/he is older than 6y.o.a.
KINDLE RENDERING
Although you can easily individuate and zoom in the illustrations, the images are not very big, they don't fit the full page in my tablet. When you double-tap and individuate the image this is still a bit small, even if you zoom it by pinch it in, and it doesn't look neat enough. This could be easily solved in the Kindle edition, so the image can be zoomed without losing quality and zoomed in more.
A WARNING
This book is not for small children and needs of parental supervision as deals with themes that aren't easily understandable to children. I would not give it or read it to a small child, unless s/he is older than 6y.o.a.
IN SHORT
A entertaining, heart-warming, though-provoking book for children and adults that will keep you thinking and feeling.
Posted in
Books Reviews,
Chi-Young Kim,
Children Books,
Fiction,
Illustrated Books,
Kazuko Nomoto,
Korea,
Korean Literature,
Nomoco,
Sun-mi Hwang,
The Hen Who Dreamed she Could Fly
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