A Step from Heaven

A Step from Heaven- a wonderful book to teach symbolism

A Step from Heaven, written by An Na is a novel that provides the reader with vivid imagery through the eyes of little Korean girl named Young Ju. Young Ju and her family leave Korea in hopes of a better life in America. The author chronicles the reader through Young Ju¿s life allowing the reader to experience Young Ju growing from a four year old, to young girl, to a teenager, to a young lady. Through this journey, An Na does an exquisite job of adapting the voice of the Young Ju to fit the appropriate age. This book is beautifully written and is filled with important symbolism. It would be a perfect book to incorporate into an English class for a middle school or high school curriculum to teach the skill of recognizing symbolism or imagery. It also could be part of a social studies curriculum dealing customs of different countries or immigration. Young Ju is a strong young lady who is brave. She faces fear and hardship with a determined grace. She embarrassedly has a father who progressively becomes more alcoholic, abusive, and depressed as the novel progresses. Young readers who themselves might have a parent who struggles with alcoholism and all the demons that are associated with the disease, will relate to Young Ju and her family attempting to keep their dysfunctional family life a secret. The author also does a good job of showing that all characters are not ¿all good¿ or ¿all bad.¿ Young Ju¿s father, though abusive, is shown with having a caring side as well. Even though this book deals with the tough subject of abuse, it is also very light hearted funny at times. The reader will see how a Korean girl adapts to America as she struggles to learn the language and American customs. This a great book for teachers to add into their curriculum. It is recommended that the teachers read the book aloud to the students allowing them more easily to pick up on who is who in the book. The teacher reading the book aloud will also make it more easy to direct the students to the symbolism throughout the book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Korean Insight

Okay, so maybe in reading and rating this book I'm a little biased because I am Korean-American girl, but I thought that it was a good book. The ideas that An Na writes about are so true to Korean culture; the pressure to be perfect; the importance of family; the value of men over women; and dealing with two cultures. The phoenetic spelling of Korean words to English was awkward and I doubt if anyone without knowledge of the Korean language would be able to understand any of it i.e. 'harabugi' 'uhmma' 'apa' 'halmoni' 'uhn-nee' 'gomo' (I even had trouble trying to understand what the spelling was meant to mean in Korean) but I still think that anyone should read it. The book gives a little insight to the life of a Korean girl growing up in an American society.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Nice...

I remember reading this book a few years ago and loving it. And I just got done re-reading it. Loving it more than the first time.

Brookheart

Whoa, who the h e * *r u??? Snowcloud: Kevin. I think. Serpentfang: *glares at Snowpoop* Snowcloud: :( :*( PLEASE STOP!!! :*( :*( *wails and puts head in paws* I hate myself. Brookheart: MASON!!!!!!! You... GRRRR!!!!!!! Mase, just go away. Serpentfang: As long as I'm away from her. Snowcloud: D*: he hates me... everyone does... :( Brookheart: MASON I'M GOING TO- Snowcloud: Its okay! I just want him to love me. *sulks* Brookheart: ...... I'm sorry? My brothers a jerk. Snowcloud: I love him. :I Brookheart: EXACTLY!!!! We need to find you a bf...

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Brookheart

I do not knowif this is theright book. Sil??? Oh and btw don't call other ppl hot in front of your bf they pout and act like a baby. :P I should know... xd! Poisonclaw: I did NOT do that! Autumny: *twines tails with Poisonclaw defensively* Brookheart: Ugh. So Sil what happened???

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Struck a chord

Less than 100 pages long, the book contains powerful emotions much larger than its size. The writer had clearly felt the emotions that I had felt years ago. Although my life was nowhere near as volatile as the protagonist's, I could share her feelings, from confusion to fear, and sympathize with her as she encounters abuse from her father. An Na's writing style made it possible for me to forge a connection with the character, and for that reason, the book is special.

This book is amazing why not try it?

This is one of those books that i would read over and over it's that good. Yes it could have a few bad words but it has a good plot and has an amazing interview at the end with the author.

Very Touching

When Young Ju is four years old her family moves to California from Korea. On the flight to Mi Gook 'America', Young Ju concludes that America is heaven. However, she finds out that America is another earthly place and is disappointed. When Joon Ho, Young Ju¡¯s little brother is born Young Ju experiences her father¡¯s favoritism towards his son. Her family struggles to adjust to life in America and is weighed down by the difficulty of learning English. When Young Ju¡¯s drunken dad becomes depressed and angry her family starts to fall apart. Young Ju Park is the main character in the book A Step from Heaven. She is very intelligent. In the book she does very well in school. Young Ju shows jealousy toward her younger brother, Joon Ho, who is favored by her dad. Like all little boys, Joon Ho is mischievous. He is also stubborn in getting what he wants. Apa, Young Ju¡¯s dad, is very self-centered and inconsiderate. In the book, he gets drunk most of the time and gets violent and abusive. His lack of care and love for his family brings pain in the family. Also favoring his son, Joon Ho, because of the fact that he is a boy who will continue to carry the Park name, inconsiderately hurts Young Ju. Uhmma, Young Ju¡¯s mom, is caring and understanding. She loves and cares for her family. She shows understanding towards her drunken husband instead of getting mad or angry. Even when she is beaten or abused, she forgives Apa. ¡°Apa says that in Mi Gook everyone can make lots of money even if they did not go to an important school in the city. Uhmma says all the uhmmas in Mi Gook are pretty like dolls. And they live in big houses. Much bigger than the rich fish factory man¡¯s houses in the village. Even Ju Mi, my friend who is one year older and likes to boss me around, says she would like to go to Mi Gook.¡± I think this is an important passage of the book in understanding the novel. It explains the American Dream that immigrants from all over the world hope and fantasize to achieve. And it explains Young Ju¡¯s family¡¯s dream of coming to America. One of many reasons that people want to come to America is because ¡°everyone can make lots of money even if they did not go to an important school in the city.¡± Apa believed that he¡¯ll make a lot of money in America, which is partly true. Apa and Uhmma dreamed to live in a big house like most Americans do. They also wanted a better education for Young Ju. Many immigrants come to America to receive a better education and achieve their dreams in this country. A Step from Heaven by An Na is a book that anyone could relate to. The book relates to my life a lot since I am a Korean American immigrant living in the U.S. From reading this book I learned more about the immigrants living in America, their struggles and their family life. I strongly recommend this book to anyone living in America, either an immigrant or a citizen of U.S. I think it is important to know and learn about the people who make up this country, which in this case, immigrant from all over the world. I think it is important to know what immigrants go through in this country and how they struggle to achieve the American Dream.

A Pretty Decent Read

All in all this book was pretty good. Took me about a week to lazily read through it, so not very long either. I particularly liked the descriptions from the perspective of 4 year-old Young Ju, they were very thought provoking to me. However, I thought it was very sad to see how the move affected her Apa and how he affected them. I recommend this book to anybody who wants a basic description of a young Korean girls experience moving to the U.S.

A great read about immigration into the united states

A Step From Heaven Front Street.,2001,???.,$15.50 An Na ISBN-1 -886910-58-8 Change is formidable! People settle into one way and it is difficult to adjust, whether it¿s customs, language or what you eat everyday. A Step From Heaven is about a four year-old girl who moves to America from Korea. Young Ju has a hard life in Korea and it always seems like her father is in a oppressive mood. When she hears she is moving to a place called Mi Gook she believes that she is moving to Heaven and will join her dead grandmother, when, in reality, Mi Gook is America. ¿I am a mountain rabbit bouncing, running. Where am I going? I am going to see Harabugi. And when Halmoni comes, I will ask her if she liked the bus called an airplane. In Mi Gook, everyone will be happy and filled with love. I am a mountain rabbit bouncing, running closing my eyes. Waiting for heaven.¿ Young Ju arrives in America after a long journey on a plane with her mother and father. They move into a cramped place that they rent from a Korean man they call ¿Uncle Tim¿. After she lives in America for a while, she talks to Uncle Tim about living in heaven and he tells her that this is America, which he tells her to consider ¿a step from Heaven¿. Young Ju has to struggle with adapting to American culture while trying not to forget her parents¿ Korean customs. Unfortunately, America still does not improve her father¿s temper and he is often drunk. Her father, or Apa, gets only low-paying manual labor jobs. Young Ju¿s family is poor and lives in a very plain condominium with limited space. This embarrasses her because her wealthier friend, Amanda, whom she meets once she starts school, has very involved, loving parents and lives in a pleasant upscale house. Whenever Amanda offers to drop her off at her house, Young Ju tells her she lives in one of the big, wealthy homes at the top of the hill and then, after Amanda drives away, Young Ju walks down the hill to her own house. She pretends her parents are chefs who work all the time so her friend can¿t ever come over. Young Ju builds up so many lies that she finds herself trapped in them. As the book goes on, and Young Ju gets older, her family problems only grow until Young Ju¿s father is so unhappy and abusive to her and her mother that something must change. Young Ju¿s American perspective helps her realize her family might have choices which they did not have in Korea. A Step From Heaven is a powerful book about immigration. The voice of Young Ju begins as a young child and grows up with the story, which I think makes the book increasingly exciting as Young Ju gets more intelligent and able to contemplate what is going on around her.Young Ju¿s far-from-normal childhood shows intense and even violent differences between Korean and American culture. Young Ju¿s father feels it is acceptable to treat his wife and child in a way that is actually against the law in America. A less drastic example of this is when Young Ju is invited to her best friend Amanda¿s birthday party where there will be girls and boys. Her parents will not let her attend. Young Ju¿s parents accuse American girls of not studying and caring only about boys. This aggravates Young Ju because she knows Amanda does study and is an intelligent person. I think this incident is a dramatic illustration of how Young Ju¿s parents don¿t let her do many things that a normal child growing up in America would be allowed to do. This is the first book about a young girl moving to America that I have ever read. This book took me through a variety of emotions. At times I felt really sad for Young Ju because her family was so hard to deal with. I also felt angry at her father for treating her the way he did. I understood how uncomfortable it was for Young Ju to be in a country and not kno

Good book

It was a pretty good book about an asian girl who moved from Korea and has an abusive fater. I learned something important from this book. One of my favorites.

one of the best books

Would you like to know how it feels like to be somewhere you thought it is heaven? Then you should read ¿A step From Heaven¿ by AN NA. You will get excited as you travel along with Young Ju as she tells her story starting from the year she was four till she became a college student. A young Korean girl who thought America was the other name for heaven, had a chance to go there at the age of four only to find out that it is not heaven but ¿a step from heaven¿. She and her family face a lot of challenges while they try to learn the language and find jobs to make their living. In this all caching up, Young Ju tries to be the best kid in the family and makes her father proud even if he keeps telling her that girls are worth nothing. She tries to prove that she is strong and as good as her little brother while her father becomes a nightmare for the family. She became the first one to ask questions that no one did in the family and stood up in front of her father for what she believed in. And she shows them her ability and strength to deal with difficult situations. The 2002 Michael L. Award winner, AN NA being Korean and growing in America seems to be expressing her own life experience through this book. Readers can understand how it feels like to be in a country that has different culture and different perspectives of things. AN NA, through this Korean girl, tries to show the readers that anything can be done provided there is a proper mind set. And even as Young Ju grows all she ever dreamed of is to make her parents proud of her and to change her father¿s idea of girls. AN NA shows all the different kinds of characters of life in adopting things in a totally strange and completely different culture.

a must read

As an immigrant from Korea, there were just so many things I just had to agree with.. such as Korean parents constantly telling children to speak English and their traditional Korean beliefs.. It tells reader a good idea about difficulties immigrants face, one of them being a cultural conflict between parents and children.. a MUST READ.. although I wouldn't say that this book is completely accurate.. For example, I didn't quite understand the part when Young-ju described Coca-Cola as a 'black liquid.' Sometimes, not very often, the author she seemed to exaggerate her experience, although Young-ju did come from a small countryside.. Also, in Korean, younger brothers call their older sisters noona, not unni. I think everything else was described with accuracy and confusion immigrants have felt at least once between their new home and their past. Although this book is simply excellent, remember that this is a sad story that not all Korean immigrants face. A prior knowledge about Korea and its culture might be needed to understand this book, since this book is written completely from an immigrant's perspective.

The American Dream

Young Ju's family want a better life in America. After all, it is where dreams come true. Korea and America are worlds apart as Ju's parents find out. Young Ju comes to America as a small child with her parents and brother. She has many struggles while growing up American, but always reflects on her Korean heritage. She not only discovers much about herself as she matures, but learns even more about her parents. You will laugh, cry, and love with Ju as you become entwined in her life through the wonderful language and style used by the author AN NA.

A Tear-Steeler

An Na portrays the growing changes of Young Ju and her father so well in this book, tears begin to fall. It's sad but a real page-turner; a wonderful book.

Brings tears to your eyes

This book is amazing, i'm a freshman in high school and i decided to go ahead and read next years list to save me time for summer, i picked this book out of the list because i'm an oriental freak....and i can say one thing that this book talks about true life about a girl struggling between cultures and her family, by the middle of the book i had tears from some scences being so amazingly touching! i totaly reccommend this book to any human being its an extrordinary book.

Very good piece of work {Masterpiece}

This book really cought my attention. It is hard for me to sit and read, but when I started to read the first few pages of ' A Step From Heaven' I couldn't stop reading. I would be called for dinner, and I would say 'I'm coming, I'm coming' But I never went. I wanted to see what was going to happen next in the story.I got into it so much I portrayed myself into the story. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about life in its self. An Na is a very good Author...

A touching story

In A Step from Heaven, An Na tells a story of a young Korean girl named Young Ju and her life with her family in America. The story starts out with Young Ju arriving to America as a little child and ends with her going into college. At first going to America, little Young Ju thinks she is going to heaven, but once she arrives she realizes it is only a step from heaven, a very steep step from heaven. With many hopes and dreams of a heavenly lifestyle ahead, Young Ju and her family struggles onward trying to make a living, and adapting to the new environment.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.