MEEGOOK

In November, 1982, Jesus asked Kang on the darkest night of her life, “Why aren’t you going to church?” Kang who had broken almost all of the Ten Commandments by age 25, questioned God in disbelief. “Why me?”, “You must not know of my dark past…'Three years after the Korean War ends, Jeanhee Kang is born to poor rice farmers in a predominantly Buddhist culture. A bowl of white rice came only once a year as a birthday celebration during her early childhood. A starving five-year-old Kang prays to her imaginary God, Hananim, for food to fill her hunger and asks Him to help her to run away for a better life as if God, Hananim can hear her cries. At sixteen, Kang’s life is forced into a role as a sub-human for breaking Korean taboo. No one can save her from her shame, not even her imaginary God, Hananim. Kang refuses to yield to her iron clad culture, believing her childhood dreams are still valid, and decides to challenge her unforgiving culture at any cost. She steals money to buy a one-way train ticket to run away to a brothel to earn a way to escape South Korea against all odds. At eighteen, Kang arrives in Meegook —America with $40.00 and a set of Korean to English—English to Korean dictionaries ready for a second chance against all odds. This captivating underdog tale, Meegook—Dry Bones doesn’t spare the reader any of the agonizing details of Kang's life nor does the book hold back all she overcame to realize her redemption in Jackson, Mississippi.