First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Two women’s lives and identities are intertwined – through World War II and the Korean War – revealing the harsh realities of class division in the early part of the twentieth century.

Can’t I Go Instead follows the lives of the daughter of a Korean nobleman and her maidservant in the early twentieth century. When the daughter’s suitor is arrested as a Korean Independence activist, and she is implicated during the investigation, she is quickly forced into marriage to one of her father’s Japanese employees and shipped off to the United States. At the same time, her maidservant is sent in her mistress’s place to be a comfort woman to the Japanese Imperial Army.

Years of hardship, survival, and even happiness follow. In the aftermath of World War II, the women make their way home, where they must reckon with the tangled lives they’ve led, in an attempt to reclaim their identities and find their place in an independent Korea.

Happy Friday everyone! Technically it is already Saturday so I hope everyone will have or is having a great weekend. I hope everyone ended the workweek on a high note. I hope everyone accomplished all their tastes for the week, or at least able to make some headway. After another grueling week at the office, I hope everyone gets to take a rest this weekend. I hope everyone gets to pursue their passions. Anyway, I can’t help but notice how time is flying, and fast. Just like that, we are already midway through the third month of the year. In a couple of days, we will be welcoming a new month and a new quarter. Time really waits for no one. Regardless, how has your 2025 been? I hope it is going great or how you wanted it to. If the year goes otherwise, I hope you experience a reversal of fortune in the coming months. I hope all positive energies flow into you. More importantly, I hope everyone will be healthy in body, mind, and spirit.

Before I could dive fully into the weekend, let me share a fresh First Impression Friday. This weekly update – albeit belatedly has been published a day late – has, over the years, developed into a fitting blogging week closer. It has become a weekly ritual. What was initially a space to take a breather has eventually developed into a springboard for my book reviews. With the new year comes new goals. One of my goals this year is to finish the year with more translated works than works originally written in English. As such, I kicked off my 2025 reading year with the works of East Asian writers. There are, however, other factors that figured in this decision, the primary of which was my inability to host a Japanese literature month in 2024, the first time in a while I failed to do so. Further, South Korean writer Han Kang’s Nobel Prize in Literature recognition is another driver for this decision. An older work by Han, We Do Not Part, which was also cited by the Swedish Academy, was just released in English for the first time last January.

Speaking of South Korea, my current read is a work by a South Korean writer. It was during the pandemic that I first encountered Lee Geum-Yi although, from what I researched, made her literary debut in 1984 and has had a very prolific career comprised mainly of young adult and children’s books. Interestingly, Can’t I Go Instead is categorized as a work of young adult fiction although, from what I have read so far, I can argue that it is a coming-of-age story; the two get intertwined anyway. Regardless, Can’t I Go Instead is also a part of my endeavor to read works of female East Asian writers in commemoration of International Women’s Day (March 8) and Women’s History Month (March). The book is already the sixth book originally written in Korean that I read this year, making it the most I read in a year, surpassing the three books I read in each of the past two years.

Anyway, Can’t I Go Instead commences on April 29, 1920, with the opening sequences capturing the labor of Lady Gwak, the mistress of the Gahoe-dong mansion in Seoul. The circumstances surrounding her labor were detailed in the novel’s earlier chapters. For one, she was giving birth in Korea under Japanese imperial rule. Her father-in-law was Viscount Yun Byeongjun who recently passed away under scandalous circumstances, leaving his son, Hyeongman, to occupy the position he once led. Lady Gwak and the Viscount’s relationship, however, was on the rocks; her only saving grace was her father-in-law. After several failed births, Lady Gwak finally gave birth to a daughter the Viscount named Chaeryeong. Chaeryeong is one-half of the two girls/women at the heart of the novel.

When Chaeryeong’ turned eight, her father brought her along on a long drive to a quaint countryside village to retrieve his present for his daughter. It was no ordinary present. Chaeryeong witnessed how her father offered a piece of land to an impoverished family in exchange for their daughter; the girl would be Chaeryeong’s maidservant. This was not the present Chaeryeong had in mind. When the purchased girl talked about her fate, seven-year-old Sunam stepped up and presented herself on behalf of the other girl. “Can’t I go instead?” she asked. This question sealed her fate; she was the other half that formed the novel’s backbone. The novel provides a cursory glance at their childhood. Sunam found comfort in the company of the other household staff such as Surine, the chief cook, and her son Taesul.

Being the young noblewoman’s maidservant, Sunam has become an integral part of Chaeryeong. Sunam was often made feel part of her mistress’ daily life. This, however,r can be attributed to Chaeryeong’s brother, Gangwhi; Ganghwi was born out of the Viscount’s love affair with Choi Inae who committed suicide by jumping into the Han River. After some convincing from her father-in-law, Lady Gwak raised Ganghwi as if he were her own child. Anyway, Sunam admired Gangwhi who always made her feel as though she was a part of the family. The story then leaps in time as the following scenes take the readers to years immediately preceding the First World War. This was how far I have come into the story. It was, however, palpable that the story’s vision is being narrowed down between the two main characters.

It would be interesting to see how the two girls’ lives would be intertwined. Technically, they are already intertwined but how their story moves forward in wartime Korea and Japan – yes, the characters were en route to Japan – piques my interest. It reminds me a bit of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko and even Juhea Kim’s Beasts of a Little Land. I just noticed today that most Korean writers I read were women. Apart from Han, Min Jin Lee, and Juhea Kim, I have read the works of Kyung-Sook Shin, Sohn Won-pyung, Cho Nam-Joo, and Hwang Bor-reum among many others. This is a stark contrast to my Japanese literary expedition which is dominated by men. Anyway, I can’t wait to see how Lee will capture the landscape of wartime Korea through the story of Chaeryeong and Sunam. For now, the latter commands my interest as the former is living up to her billing as a nobleman’s daughter. I also hope that we get to read more about Ganghwi.

While the book is midlength, the accessibility of the writing (and maybe due to the translation) makes for a breezy ride. How about you fellow reader? What book or books have you read over the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy whatever you are reading right now. Happy weekend!