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A review by daphnelee
Umma's Table by Yeon-Sik Hong
4.0
I’ve Finally completed ‘Umma’s Table’ by Hong Yeon-sik who also created ‘Uncomfortably Happily’, the graphic novel about newly weds struggling to make ends meet as artists and writers in their lonely Korean countryside home.
In ‘Umma’s Table’, it could be the same couple (this time depicted as humanoid cats), now with a newborn baby, moving into yet another rented house in another remote Korean village. They are writers and artists, balancing their work and family life. The husband, Madang, does the cooking and gardening, and helps out with baby much more than Kdramas would have us believe Korean men usually do. He also has ailing parents back in Seoul. His mother, who is not 60 yet, is depressed from years of abuse by her alcoholic husband whose drinking has turned him into a semi-invalid.
Madang, while reflecting on his responsibilities as husband, father and son, recalls happier times, when his Umma was a young, smiling woman who served the most delicious meals on a table bigger than the tiny kitchen in which she cooked.
Hong’s work is autobiographical and his candour makes it a moving, even painful read. Having lost my own parents when I was in my 20s, I could relate to most of the MC’s actions and emotions. And like my own positive memories involving my parents, Madang’s involve food and eating. This book definitely made me hungry, and crave for Korean food I’ve not even tasted.
Like ‘Uncomfortably Happily’, ‘Umma’s Table’ could have been better translated. The language, especially the dialogue is too Americanised and doesn’t give us much of a Korean feel. For example, I would have retained the Korean family titles and honorifics, simply because it’s an important aspect of Korean culture. Madang’s kid brother calling him ‘Bro’ just doesn’t convey the respect and affection conveyed by the Korean ‘Hyung’, used by a man to address an older brother or simply an older man who he is close to. in these times, when diversity is being stressed ad nauseum, you’d think a publisher like D&Q would want to avoid making Korean characters in a Korean setting sound American.
In ‘Umma’s Table’, it could be the same couple (this time depicted as humanoid cats), now with a newborn baby, moving into yet another rented house in another remote Korean village. They are writers and artists, balancing their work and family life. The husband, Madang, does the cooking and gardening, and helps out with baby much more than Kdramas would have us believe Korean men usually do. He also has ailing parents back in Seoul. His mother, who is not 60 yet, is depressed from years of abuse by her alcoholic husband whose drinking has turned him into a semi-invalid.
Madang, while reflecting on his responsibilities as husband, father and son, recalls happier times, when his Umma was a young, smiling woman who served the most delicious meals on a table bigger than the tiny kitchen in which she cooked.
Hong’s work is autobiographical and his candour makes it a moving, even painful read. Having lost my own parents when I was in my 20s, I could relate to most of the MC’s actions and emotions. And like my own positive memories involving my parents, Madang’s involve food and eating. This book definitely made me hungry, and crave for Korean food I’ve not even tasted.
Like ‘Uncomfortably Happily’, ‘Umma’s Table’ could have been better translated. The language, especially the dialogue is too Americanised and doesn’t give us much of a Korean feel. For example, I would have retained the Korean family titles and honorifics, simply because it’s an important aspect of Korean culture. Madang’s kid brother calling him ‘Bro’ just doesn’t convey the respect and affection conveyed by the Korean ‘Hyung’, used by a man to address an older brother or simply an older man who he is close to. in these times, when diversity is being stressed ad nauseum, you’d think a publisher like D&Q would want to avoid making Korean characters in a Korean setting sound American.