Ginseng Tango by Cheryl Pallant ~ a Review

by MK French

How it begins...

Two western colleagues and the department chair pick me up from the airport and drive me to my university apartment. The space, much smaller than my house in Richmond, is three pyeong large, a dorm-like 350 or square feet, with kitchen area, desk, wardrobe, bed, and night stand. The floor is heated Korean style, an ondol, something to look forward to when the weather cools or I need to dry clothes. The bathroom converts into a shower with the press of a button, a nozzle hanging from the wall near the sink. Through the sliding glass doors near my bed is a view of an angled, red tiled roof and an easily climbable railing for getting to a large flat roof which I anticipate using to extend my small deck. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Sept. 2017; Big Table Publishing Company
978-1945917141; ebook, print (216 pages)
memoir

Cheryl Pallant is an English teacher that decided to leave the United States to teach in South Korea after her marriage fell apart. This memoir, told as a series of vignettes, unfolds slowly. It begins with the circumstances leading her to accept the position, then moves to the troubles in getting to South Korea, and then her experiences teaching and living there. She comes from a background of dance, language, Buddhism, meditation, and spirituality. This and her open, inquisitive nature allows her to bond with most of the people she interacts with regularly. She learns about the culture, paternalistic and strongly Confucian even as they are trying to Westernize, and in turn learns about herself as well.

Memoirs are as good as the experiences recounted and the style that it is presented in. Interesting lives can be made boring and almost irrelevant if there's no skill in conveying the experiences lived. Cheryl Pallant is a writing professor in Virginia, which means that her observations are elegantly conveyed here. The culture in Daegu is outlined piece by piece so that we absorb the detailed nuances as she did. It's like we're living through the experiences ourselves, which is a feat not all travel memoirs are able to do well.

I decided to read this book because I've never been to South Korea and thought this might be a way to learn a little more about it without any propaganda attached. There are certainly differences between our countries, but some things are very similar. The people that Cheryl meets and talks with are open to telling her their stories, and in the middle of them, all is the same sense of longing to be someone of worth and remembrance, to feel a purpose in life and a sense of completion. This is a desire that all people feel, no matter what country or culture they come from, and it really helps me connect with them as much as with Cheryl.

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Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and golden retriever.

Linking to Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

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