Grass

Grassis a powerful antiwar graphic novel, telling the life story of a Korean girl named Okseon Lee who was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War—a disputed capter in twentieth-century Asian history.



Beginning in Lee's childhood, Grass shows the lead-up to the war from a child's vulnerable perspective, detailing how one experienced the Japanese occupation and the widespread suffering it entailed for ordinary Koreans.  Keum Suk Gendry-Kim emphasizes Lee's strength in overcoming the many forms of adversity she experienced.  Grass is painted in a black ink that flows with lavish details of the beautiful fields and farmland of Korea and uses heavy brushwork on the somber interiors of Lee's memories.



The cartoonist Gendry-Kim's interviews with Lee become an integral part of Grass, forming the heart and architechture of this powerful nonfiction graphic novel and offering a holistic view of how Lee's wartime suffering changed her.  Grass is a landmark graphic novel that makes personal the desparate cost of war and the importance of peace.



Afterword. Black-and-white illustrations.