Anticipation Set

Anticipation Set: The Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Thinking about the titles of the two stories: So Far From the Bamboo Grove and The Year of Impossible Goodbyes I believe these two will be very similar readings. The book So Far From the Bamboo Grove opened my own eyes about even the superior Japanese race families being treated poorly and had to go through many conflicts to even survive. I see this book being very similar because it is not only around the same time period but because conflict and hardship is parallel to war. I think that the narrator of the story will have to deal with goodbyes like Yoko that will cause difficulty between her culture, her beliefs or her family. It is the things that we take for granted: being able to go to school and learn about their own culture, wondering when they might eat next or where it will be safe to sleep. Because of the titles of the books and what I already know from So Far From the Bamboo Grove; I believe The Year of Impossible Goodbyes will be very similar to what Yoko went through.

From the quote, "one's life is short, but the life of the spirit is long," I believe it translates to the Korean culture and the beliefs of the family. They might see the hate, the death the blood and all the things throughout life that can be troublesome. But how they react to these incidences and how they live their life echoes in eternity. The spirit of a person goes on and on, and the life of which they live may be short, but their values and beliefs are what allows the life of the spirit to live forever. It makes me think the book will bring acts of hate towards this Korean family but there will be a ending that empowers a person to live well no matter what the circumstance.