“Spare prose, fragmented voices, and vivid descriptions come together to carry the story of a young woman caught between cultures. Rebekah S., Boogie Down Books (Bronx, NY) “A vital and vastly under-represented perspective beautifully rendered by writer and translator.” This complex, layered story, originally published in Japanese, reaches a cathartic conclusion once Ginny resolves to catch the proverbial sky as it falls, thereby forgiving herself and claiming her agency.” Compact chapters set a brisk pace, punctuated by family letters from North Korea and a scene in the format of a play that flesh out a collective history and entrenched prejudice against Koreans in Japan. The specific and universal quests to belong echo back to Chesil's original title, Jini no pazuru (Jini's Puzzle), searching for all the ways to fit the pieces together and finally make herself whole.”
Jinhee's attempts to reclaim some semblance of justice and autonomy sets in motion her international odyssey. “A literary triumph that's both outstanding storytelling and searing societal commentary. “The beauty of Chesil’s storytelling and Takami Nieda’s stellar translation is its revelation of inner acceptance and belief.” It can open the mind of readers to the lives of others, and provide the silenced the courage to speak up.”
The Color of the Sky is living proof of literature's importance. “A bracing look inside the mind of a Zainichi teenager to challenge readers with a deeply traumatized consciousness and the pain and liberation that comes in processing that trauma. A literary hit in Japan when it was released, this beautiful and thoughtful novel explores the Zainichi Korean experience through a teen girl who seems surrounded by secrets.” “Though it is just over 150 pages, The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the Heart packs a lot of emotion, history and personal growth within its pages. the novel unpacks the complexities around nationalism, prejudice, and identity.” “The translated version of Chesil’s debut novel, which was originally published in Japanese, draws from her own childhood. Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2022Ī Kirkus Reviews Anticipated YA Book of 2022 Praise for The Color of the Sky is the Shape of the HeartĪ Ms. Inspired by her own childhood, author Chesil creates a portrait of a girl who has been fighting alone against barriers of prejudice, nationality, and injustice all her life-all while searching for a place to belong. In witty and brutally honest vignettes, and interspersed with old letters from her expatriated family in North Korea, Ginny recounts her adolescence growing up Zainichi, an ethnic Korean born in Japan, and the incident that forced her to leave years prior. Ginny sets off on the road in search of an answer, with only her journal as a confidante. Then, Ginny finds a mysterious scrawl among Stephanie's scraps of paper and storybook drawings that changes everything: The sky is about to fall. She can't bring herself to open up to anyone about her past, or about what prompted her to flee her native Japan.
Stephanie, the picture book author who took Ginny into her Oregon home after she was kicked out of school in Hawaii, isn’t upset she only wants to know why. Seventeen-year-old Ginny Park is about to get expelled from high school-again. Now in translation for the first time, the award-winning debut that broke literary ground in Japan explores diaspora, prejudice, and the complexities of a teen girl’s experience growing up as a Zainichi Korean, reminiscent of Min Jin Lee's classic Pachinko and Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street.
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