American Seoul
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She was everything everyone else wanted her to be. Until she followed her own path. Helena Rho was six years old when her family left Seoul, Korea, for America and its opportunities. Years later, her Korean-ness behind her, Helena had everything a model minority was supposed to want: she was married to a white American doctor and had a beautiful home, two children, and a career as an assistant professor of pediatrics. For decades she fulfilled the expectations of others. All the while Helena kept silent about the traumas--both professional and personal--that left her anxious yet determined to escape. It would take a catastrophic event for Helena to abandon her career at the age of forty, recover her Korean identity, and set in motion a journey of self-discovery. In her powerful and moving memoir, Helena Rho reveals the courage it took to break away from the path that was laid out for her, to assert her presence, and to discover the freedom and joy of finally being herself.
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emotional
I enjoyed some of the book. At times I was confused with the timing as it jumps around a bit. Overall a nice quick emotional read.
It's difficult to judge a book that's an autobiography. I don't want to judge Helena's story itself. Each of our stories are ours, with all of our ups and downs. So I'll try to base this on how I think she told her story. I was sucked in and wanted to hear what she had to say, so it wasn't difficult get through or anything. I think she presented her story well, but in some areas I think she went into greater detail than was necessary, and I would have liked her to dive a bit deeper in others. I understand she was trying to protect some people, so in that sense I get it. But the areas she dug into weren't the kind of details that most people would get (medical stuff). She went through a lot in her life and came out on the other end of things OK I guess.
