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Summary
Summary
A celebration of the triumph of true love
As Ehwa grew from a girl to a young woman in The Color of Earth and The Color of Water, she began to understand and experience love and relationships, with her mother as a model and confidante. Now, in the heartwarming conclusion to this lyrically written and delicately drawn trilogy, Ehwa's true love comes at last, and as her mother looks on, she takes the final steps towards becoming an adult.
In the tradition of My Antonia and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, from the pen of the renowned Korean manhwa creator Kim Dong Hwa, comes a girl's coming of age story, set in the vibrant pastoral landscape of Korea.
Author Notes
Kim Dong Hwa is a widely revered Korean comic artist. Since his debut in 1975 he has become a mainstay of Korean manhwa (comics), best known for his tender stories and uncanny ability to write from a profoundly feminine perspective.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-This manhwa concludes this quietly moving trilogy about Ehwa and her mother. Ehwa is in love with Duksam, who left at the end of The Color of Water (Roaring Brook, 2009) to make his fortune so that he could come back and marry her. Actually, he also left to escape the men who wanted to punish him for destroying the property of the old man who tried to take Ehwa for himself in volume two. Most of this book takes place in the village with the two women pining for their men and talking about men and nature and flowers and trees. Hwa's black-and-white illustrations are once again stunning, simple at first glance but on closer examination they are amazing in their detail. The Color of Heaven can stand on its own as an enjoyable read, but it is an absolute must for readers who have devoured the earlier volumes.-Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Seventeen-year-old Ehwa bids good-bye to the man she wants to marry as the final volume of this delicate and poetic Korean historical trilogy opens. Her mother is simultaneously full of angry concern and understanding sympathy-each woman must wait, tending flowers and hoping to see their loves again. It's fascinating to see such a female-centered generational story, but it's a shame that, due to the time period, the women can take no action. They are passive, waiting, because "that is the heart of a woman"; their lives are incomplete without a man. Natural metaphors and seasonal images give the story texture: trees are undressed; male organs are chili peppers; and young men are butterflies flitting among flowers. Village girls see naked neighbors; men who aspire too much in their love are beaten to death; and marriage proposals come to the prettiest. The art is as minimally poetic as the content. Panels are spare, with plenty of white space, and the eyes are most often stacks of horizontal lines, making the characters seem thoughtful or as though they're looking sidelong at life. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The finaland bestinstallment of manhwa artist Kim's moving trilogy chronicling the coming of age of a girl in pastoral Korea, based loosely on his mother's own youth. As summer comes to a close, the strikingly cinematic opening finds Ehwa bidding a hurried farewell to the handsome wrestler who caught her eye in the previous installment (The Color of Water, 2009). Her lover heads off to work as a fisherman, and Ehwa returns to her mother's tavern and begins an autumn of discontent. She's testy to friends and fresh with her mother, but most of all, she's frustrated by the distance between herself and Duksam. Winter arrives, bringing with it not only Duksam's unexpected return and plans for a spring wedding but also the artist's stark, crisp winter landscapes. As Ehwa and her mother prepare for the traditional ceremony, the nuanced nature metaphors and fertile scenery evoke the melancholy of change. This title, more than its predecessors, blends achingly beautiful artwork with a well-paced storyas fully realized, finally, as the heroine the artist has created. (discussion guide) (Graphic novel. 14 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The tender and gorgeously illustrated manhwa trilogy (begun in The Color of Earth and The Color of Water, both 2009) honoring the artist's mother as she travels from childhood through girlhood to her status as a newlywed young woman comes to a successful close in this volume. Ehwa, at 17, is beautiful and lonely, having had to part with her true love when he must run away to sea. With her widowed mother, she learns to wait and to read traditional signs in nature, such as specific flower bloomings or the first snow. All turns out happily with her love's return and the ensuing marriage. The full cycle belongs in every literary collection.--Goldsmith, Francisca Copyright 2009 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Highly regarded in Korea, where his "Color" trilogy was first serialized in 1992, Kim has cross-cultural appeal. In this lyrical coming-of-age manhwa set a century ago in rural Korea, young Ehwa grows up under the fond eye of her widowed tavern-keeper mother. The increasingly pretty girl attracts the randy village boys, but she is drawn to less attainable and more sensitive lads: a local apprentice monk, a farmer's son schooled elsewhere, and a handsome worker from a different village. Intercut with Ehwa's tentative steps toward love is her mother's intermittent and achingly sweet liaison with a traveling painter, helping to deepen their complex mother-daughter relationship. Although the art, plot, and dialog have poetic beauty and charm, Kim still incorporates earthy and disturbing elements: male customers verbally harass Ehwa's mother, while Ehwa shows her distaste for her girlfriend's sexual explorations. VERDICT Kim's elegant trilogy will have strong appeal for its literary quality and offers key historical and cultural information, with a reading group guide included in the last two volumes. Sexual content and nudity, presented discreetly. For older teens and up.-M.C. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
