Author Samuel Park visited the Redondo Beach Main Library this past Tuesday to talk about his new novel, This Burns My Heart. The turnout wasn’t too high, but the cozy atmosphere was better for those who did attend, as everyone had a chance to talk to the author on an individual basis. After reading a few excerpts from the book, Park shared that the story was inspired by his mother and his interest in the period between the end of the Korean War and the modernization of Korea.

He told the audience that much of his research involved watching old Korean films from the 60s. Park explained that since these post-war productions were extremely low-budget, they had to be filmed in the streets rather than on sets, capturing images of buildings and people as they were in everyday life. And because the films were, in a sense, like documentaries of the past, he said they were very helpful in his research process.

During the Q & A session, Park drew a few laughs as he quoted some parts of a ”bad” review, which spoke of “the pulpy relish with which the author subjects his heroine to a gauntlet of misfortune and abuse [...] that rivals the tribulations of Marquis de Sade’s battered heroine Justin for sheer psychological, if not physical, depravity.” Park explained, however, that his main character’s misfortunes were not so much out of any kind of “depravity” as they were simply part of a believable reality for many Korean women in the 60s. When asked how he so accurately portrayed the mind of a female character, Park said that he simply wrote based on how he would feel in each situation and that because he was writing about his mother, he “had an engagement with the character that [he] wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

For those who have not yet been able to attend Park’s book events, there are two more coming up in Milwaukee and New York:

Milwaukee
Wednesday, September 7 (7 p.m.)
Boswell Book Company
2559 N. Downer Ave.

New York
Brooklyn Book Festival
Sunday, September 18 (Time/details TBA)

Check out Park’s website for more information! To buy the book, click here.