FREE YEAR OF IMPOSSIBLE GOODBYES PDF Sook Nyul Choi | 176 pages | 01 Oct 1998 | Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc | 9780440407591 | English | New York, United States Year of Impossible Goodbyes Summary | SuperSummary Inthe Japanese had been occupying Korea for over thirty years. Sookan is a little Korean girl whose family fights for the cause of Korean Independence, but this is very dangerous. The family hopes that World War II will end soon so that they can be free. Sookan and her little brother, Inchun, try to help out at home, where they are secretly taught about Korean history and culture by their Grandfather. The family runs a small sock factory in their yard, with a group of teen-aged girls who work all day, every day to make socks for the Japanese army. The Japanese Imperial Police rule over the people cruelly, confiscating anything of value, and forcing everyone to worship the Japanese Emperor. Sookan's three older brothers and Father are far away, in Japanese labor camps, or working to free Korea from Japanese rule. When Grandfather is dying, he asks Sookan's Mother to tell the children the stories of their family, and Sookan discovers just how cruel and destructive the Japanese have been to her family. Captain Narita, an Imperial Police officer, kidnaps all the sock girls, taking them to the front to be sex slaves for the Japanese army. The Japanese finally surrender to the Allies, ending the war. Sookan's family is so happy to be able to act Year of Impossible Goodbyes again, but soon the Russians come in to take over Korea. They recruit everyone to be a good Communist and work hard to build a workers' paradise. In fact, the people are no better off than they were before, because they still have to work as slave laborers for very little food, while constantly being barraged with propaganda. Sookan's family pretends to love the Communist Party, while they plan their escape to the south. Sookan, Inchun, and Mother run away in the night, paying a guide a lot of money to take them across the border of the thirty-eighth parallel, where Korea is divided. After a harrowing train ride and a day of running and walking, Mother is separated from the children, and they discover that their guide is a double agent, who has betrayed them. Sookan and Inchun wander for several days, looking for Mother, and finally they find someone who offers to help them get across the border. They have to crawl under a train, cross a river on a large train trestle, cross two fields where a searchlight seeks out targets to shoot, and go through a barbed-wire fence. They barely make it, and the Red Cross nurses on the other side help the children recover for several days. They take a bus to their Father's Year of Impossible Goodbyes, where they are reunited with their three older brothers. After more time has passed, Mother Year of Impossible Goodbyes their sister also make it to the south, and the family builds a new life Year of Impossible Goodbyes themselves. Read more from the Study Guide. Browse Year of Impossible Goodbyes BookRags Study Guides. All rights reserved. Toggle navigation. Sign Up. Sign In. Get Year of Impossible Goodbyes from Amazon. View the Study Pack. View the Lesson Plans. Plot Summary. Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9. Chapter 10 and Epilogue. Free Quiz. Topics for Discussion. Print Word PDF. This section Year of Impossible Goodbyes words approx. Themes Style Quotes. View a FREE sample. More summaries and resources for teaching or studying Year of Impossible Goodbyes. Year of Impossible Goodbyes from BookRags. The Year of Impossible Goodbyes | Reading A-Z For as long as Sookan can remember, the Japanese invaders have occupied her country and have attempted to strip away all aspects of Korean culture. Sookan's father and older brothers have not had contact with Sookan; her youngest brother, Inchun; and her mother in several years. In order to survive, Sookan's mother has been forced to run a sock factory in a building on her property. The Japanese soldiers demand a certain production quota each day. If Sookan's mother does Year of Impossible Goodbyes meet it, her food rations, which are already skimpy, are cut back even further. In time, a series of dramatic events changes Sookan's life forever. Her grandfather dies, which Year of Impossible Goodbyes her mother to fall into a debilitating depression. Everyone's spirits rise when World War II ends, but more tragedy lies ahead. Year of Impossible Goodbyesselected by the American Library Association as a notable book inprovides an insider's glimpse of North Koreaa country that has Year of Impossible Goodbyes become one of the world's most secretive societies. Like the young character in her novel, Year of Impossible Goodbyes fled the hardships of the Communist takeover of North Korea by escaping to South Korea when she was a young girl. After college, she worked for a brief time for her husband, a Korean businessman. When her husband died, Choi became a teacher, working in New York 's public schools. After twenty years of teaching Choi retired and devoted her time to her writing. Since all of Choi's novels are based on her personal experience, her books can be read as a journey through her life. Year of Impossible Goodbyes was Choi's first novel, published in The story covers her incredible escape to South Korea. The story is set in South Korea and portrays the invasion by North Korea, as supported by Russia and China, into the lower portion of the Korean Peninsula. Once again, Sookan and Year of Impossible Goodbyes family are forced on the run. Gathering of Pearls is the last of Choi's trilogy and follows Sookan as she travels to the United States to go to college. The novel portrays the challenges that Sookan must face in learning and adjusting to a culture completely different from her own. After this trilogy, Choi wrote Halmoni and the Picnic and Yunmi and Halmoni's Triptwo children's picture books. Also inshe published The Best Older Sisteran easy reader for elementary-school students. Choi has two daughters, Kathleen and Audrey. She lives in Massachusetts, Year of Impossible Goodbyes she spends her time writing and giving lectures on her books. Choi's story begins in Pyongyang, Korea now the capital of North Korea. Though the day is warmed by spring, the people in the story feel a sense of oppressiveness all around them, as if they are still in the throes of a harsh winter. Their country is under the control of the Japanese, who are bent on stripping away all sense of Korean culture. People are forced to work hard for the Japanese army, which is fighting to bring down the armed forces of the United States. Sookan, the nine-year-old girl who narrates the story, lives with her mother; her youngest brother, Inchun; her grandfather; and her Aunt Tiger. Sookan's father has escaped to Manchuria, where he is assisting an underground Korean liberation group. Sookan's three older brothers have been sent to Japanese labor camps; her sister Theresa, who is a teen, has been sent to a nunnery. Sookan's family runs a sock factory in a building attached to Year of Impossible Goodbyes house. With the help of several young women who walk to Pyongyang from the countryside, they make socks Year of Impossible Goodbyes the Japanese soldiers. Every day Captain Narita comes to the factory to inspect their work. Sookan and Year of Impossible Goodbyes mother do all they can to please him. Captain Narita is in control of how much food Sookan's family receives. The girls who work in the sock factory include Haiwon and Okja. Haiwon often comes to work early so that she can chat with Sookan, Mother, and Aunt Tiger. Okja comes early, too, but she is very quiet, while Haiwon makes everyone laugh with her stories. Kisa is the only man in the factory. He keeps the Year of Impossible Goodbyes machines in good condition. There is an old pine tree in Sookan's yard. There had once been a garden underneath it, but the Japanese soldiers stomped the flowers down. Keeping a garden was a waste of time, they said. But Grandfather loves the tree. It represents freedom to him. When Captain Nirata comes to the house one day, he discovers the women enjoying a small celebration of Haiwon's birthday. Because they should have been working, the captain retaliates by having his men chop down the tree. This sickens Grandfather, and he takes to his bed, swearing he will never go outside again. Eventually Grandfather dies. Sookan Year of Impossible Goodbyes her grandfather. He used to secretly teach her how to make the Korean characters that corresponded to their language. Speaking Korean was forbidden, so this act was Year of Impossible Goodbyes of rebellion. Sookan's mother also suffers, falling into a depressive state that makes her incommunicable with the remaining members of the family. Because she is unable to oversee the production of the socks, the sock girls do not meet their quotas. Captain Narita decides the girls would be worth more to the soldiers if he sent them all to the battlefront. There they could give the soldiers pleasure, Captain Narita tells everyone. A couple of days later a big truck arrives at the gate, and the Japanese soldiers force Year of Impossible Goodbyes girls to climb into the back.