But when she arrived in America she found herself once again surrounded by fanaticism and prejudice.Įlizabeth’s mother had always told her that life was made up of ten thousand joys as well as ten thousand sorrows, and, supported by her loving daughter, and by a return to her Buddhist faith, she finally found a way to savour those joys, as well as the courage to exorcise the demons of her past. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for Elizabeth Kim.

After some time, she was lucky enough to be adopted by an American couple. Elizabeth Kim is the pen name of an American journalist who authored the book Ten Thousand Sorrows, which is described as a memoir. Until the day that Elizabeth’s grandfather and uncle came to punish her mother from the dishonour she had brought on the family, and executed her in front of her daughter.Įlizabeth was dumped in an orphanage in Seoul. In her memoir, Ten Thousand Sorrows: The Extraordinary Journey of a Korean War Orphan, Elizabeth Kim tells of another forgotten legacy of the war. Elizabeths mother had always told her that life was made up of ten thousand joys as well as ten thousand sorrows, and, supported by her loving daughter, and by a return to her Buddhist faith, she finally found a way to savour those joys, as well as the courage to exorcise the demons of her past.

Yet there was a tranquil happiness in the intense bond between mother and daughter. Ostracized by their family and neighbours, she and her mother were regularly pelted with stones on their way home from the rice fields.

The illegitimate daughter of a peasant and an American GI, Elizabeth Kim spent her early years as a social outcast in her village in the Korean countryside. a book teaching how the need to break the vicious cycle so that the future generations and the peers wouldn't be haunted by the past. ‘I don’t know how old I was when I watched my mother’s murder, nor do I know how old I am today.’ Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Ten Thousand Sorrows a book about learning to let go of the past & move on to the future.

Ten Thousand Sorrows by Elizabeth Kim