Introduction

During the final years of the Japanese Occupation, Gui-yong and Eum-chun strike gold by finding a love as sweet as sticky rice. But their love for each other and for their secretly adopted daugh- ter is not enough, as they must soon accept the impossible?a mistress moving in to bear Gui-yong the male child deemed necessary in a society still smoldering in Confucianism.

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Excerpt

PART I: BEFORE THE WAR
Chapter 1: The Voice of Heaven

The day before the wedding
Seoul, 1949

Soo-yang

“Stifle your laughs,” Mrs. Chong told her daughter, Soo-yang.
Laugh? What would she find so funny? Tomorrow, she’d slip into bed with another woman’s husband, his wife lying in a room three feet away behind thin rice-paper doors. That’s how her life as a mistress was about to begin. So, what happy tune should she wriggle her shoulders to, giggling like an idiot who couldn’t tell red beans from black beans? ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

(1) What are the positive effects and qualities of the dozens of Korean proverbs used throughout The Voices of Heaven? What are the negatives?

(2) List Confucian values/teachings specified throughout The Voices of Heaven?

(3) List the main characters in the order of their importance to The Voices of Heaven and why do you think so?

(4) When does the pace of the story slow down the most?

(5) If you were to cut parts of the book, what would they be? Why did you choose those parts?

Weblinks

»	Author Maija Rhee Devine's web site
»	Kirkus Book Review

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