The Color of Earth - Softcover

Kim, Dong Hwa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1596434589 ISBN 13: 9781596434585

Publisher: First Second, 2009

Synopsis

First love is never easy.

Ehwa grows up helping her widowed mother run the local tavern, watching as their customers – both neighbors and strangers – look down on her mother for her single lifestyle. Their social status isolates Ehwa and her mother from the rest of the people in their quiet country village. But as she gets older and sees her mother fall in love again, Ehwa slowly begins to open up to the possibility of love in her life.

In the tradition of My Antonia and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, from the pen of the renowned Korean manwha creator Kim Dong Hwa, comes a trilogy about a girl coming of age, set in the vibrant, beautiful landscape of pastoral Korea.

About this title

About the Author

Kim Dong Hwa is the author of many graphic novels – or manwha, as they are called in Korea, where he lives. His books include the popular work My Sky and the literary piece The Red Bicycle .

Review

“The first in a trilogy, this beautifully scripted and drawn Korean manhwa provides a truly intimate but respectful journey in the company of a young girl and her widowed mother ... This is an exquisite and feminist-positive story richly literate and imaginative. Readers will eagerly await the subsequent volumes.” ―Booklist

“This book has no conflict other than that common to youthful competition over boys, but it is a work of great humanity that sucks the reader in. Kim's artwork is stunning, and seldom has a male writer captured the attitudes, emotions and behavior of female characters so believably.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Flower and water motifs course steadily through the author's erotically tinted observations of daily life, but the breathtakingly elegant line drawings of Korean landscapes elevate the use of such standard metaphors for fertility and sexuality. Furthermore, the author is able to evoke nuances of emotion from stock-character forms in a genre not known for its subtlety.” ―Kirkus

“The lush drawings combine prettily stylized elements with richly realistic detail, and they turn even indelicate moments, such as a literal pissing contest between local boys, the monk's first nocturnal emissions, and Ehwa's shock at her menarche, into tenderly rendered, universal episodes of growing up. Though the art is black and white, the textures inked in the fabrics and details of the landscapes suggest breathtaking beauty and rich color to complement the lyrical music of the text, which at times becomes poetic.” ―BCCB

“The expressive artwork captures both the beauty of the Korean countryside and the inner life of Ehwa and Namwon. It is a quiet, dreamy book that focuses on characters rather than plot. It should appeal to mature girls ready for a thoughtful coming-of-age story, as well as manga fans looking to try something new.” ―VOYA

“While the book begins when Ehwa is seven and only takes her into her early teen years, the nostalgic tone and slow pacing make the title more likely to appeal to older readers. The artwork is beautiful, particularly in Hwa's depiction of the landscape and the two main characters. A good additional purchase for libraries looking for less action-oriented manga/manhwa titles.” ―Alana Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT, School Library Journal

“The Color of Earth gives us an intimate glimpse of adulthood seen through the experiences shared by a mother and her child. Book two comes in June, and the final book will be in stores in September.” ―Shojo Beat Magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: First Second
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1596434589
• ISBN 13: 9781596434585
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320
• Illustrator: Kim Dong Hwa