Sang Eun Lee’s memoir, Grace Notes, is a fascinating text to introduce students to a genre of writing less read and a time period in the classroom often overlooked. The combination of historical events she experiences, her close attention to cultural elements of growing up in Korea and her career and immigrant experiences, can all be employed in fascinating ways in a literature, social studies or modern history course. The fact that Sang Eun Lee has a no-holds, honest barred approach to her own life and all her family and friends, engages the reader in ways fiction can not.
The  text begins with a very vivid account of her early years, tracing traditional events in a wealthy Korean family, and then graphically demonstrating the way the war tore apart families when Korea is divided . The vivid scenes could engage students who would otherwise just see the Korean War as another event to be memorized and recited for a test. An educator could worry about how long such a different perspective could hold a young reader’s attention, but as the was recedes, and the age old questions of school/career choice are carefully depicted. Current students could relate to the challenges Sang Lee faces, especially her feelings of academic failure. Sang Eun Lee carefully develops the Confucian values at the core of the traditional family structure without ever coming out and directly addressing the sources. She also examines the way Christianity blends into their family life, both guiding and comforting her as the personal challenges grow for the narrator.
Another timeless element of the piece is how gender plays such an important role in the lives of the various family members and expectations for Sang Eun Lee. The fact that she is one of the youngest girls and clearly in the shadows of her brother, highlights just how some elements of gender have changed since the 1950’s and others hold true, especially in the Korean family.  Her brother’s violent rages and her husband’s issues over control demonstrates an honest portrait of her self and family. The detailed preparation and failure at the school selection process is appealing to any reader, but Sang Eun Lee’s ability to convey a sense of how the discovery of the Cello and the wonderful description of how the music transforms her sense of experiences, and eventual serves to drive her fate is something straight out of a good piece of literature.
Another aspect of the memoir that could easily be employed to convey the universal nature of the similarities in cultures is her quest for a romantic partner. Sang Eun Lee paints a clear, but not overly judgmental view of her parents’ relationship, to frame what her expectations are for dating. The traditions of “The Meeting”, where each student is assigned a number and matched to spend an evening together, leading her to practice the cello more, is both humorous and revealing. The emerging romance  leads one to imagine where her life could go, had she actively pursued the relationship, choosing career over romance, a courageous choice for the time period. Sang Eun Lee is always discreet in her discussions of sexual behavior, making the text appropriate reading for the classroom discussion. Only at the very end of the tale, when she meets him later they have both establish very different lives, does the reader realize how many factors were at play in her youth. The dinner scene reminds any serious reader of literature of the end of Willa Cather’s’ My Antonia in the heart- felt feeling and a sense of regret and confusion over their youthful actions and reactions.
In a similar light, the details of how painful the immigrant experience is for Sang Eun Lee and how random events shape her life continue to reinforce what types of challenges each immigrant faces. Her ever-changing relationship with her sponsors, and their family, emerges to show how hard one must work to negotiate the unspoken cultural differences we meet in a multi cultural society- an essential lesson for today’s students.
Grace Notes chronicles the quiet courage  involved in attempting to hold to the traditional values of the Korean family, while trying to embrace the new world. The historic, cultural, sociological and literary merits of Grace Notes make it a great choice for engaging students unfamiliar with a country prominent in today’s political  events and financial future.

What a story! I cannot imagine anybody’s life in Korea during the war. But to have been a child at that time, with such musical talent and ambition and to have had the strength and courage to survive and then to immigrate to America! I read the book cover to cover with nary a break and came away with a lot of historical knowledge and with a great amount of respect for Sang.

This is a wonderfully well-written and insightful memoir telling of the author’s interesting life, first in Korea and later in America. I was emotionally involved in her story from the beginning, especially in her detailed recollections of her challenging childhood in a war-torn country, growing up as the youngest child in a large prominent family. Equally enthralling was her journey to the United States and her honest portrayal of how she adapted to find her place here. I loved this book!

I greatly enjoyed this book. I found the descriptions of Sang’s early life in Korea so informative and I got a good understanding of what life might be like in Korea, especially the competitive school system. I loved Sang’s description of her music education and her early music career. But I think my favorite parts were the passages about Sang’s emigration to the United States and her early adulthood, adjusting to American life, trying to find balance between her love of music and her desire for a traditional family. Korean Americans are such an important part of our society, especially in Southern California, and I feel like I have a little more insight into the experience of Korean American women.

Sang is a talented story-teller and she has chosen the perfect moments of her life to tell her greater story. I think anyone would enjoy this book.

Grace Notes 독후감

아름다운 삶은 하나님이 주신 본래의 모습을 찾아가는 모습이라고 믿습니다. 자유가 우리에게 중요한 이유도 여기에 있습니다.

그런데 우리의 역사를 보면, 이념, 종교적 교리, 또는 사회 제도나 문화까지도 인간을 지배하기 위한 수단으로 사용한 일이 많았습니다.

중세기 르네상스 운동은 바로 그런 종교적 탄압에서 벗어나 자유를 선언한 인간 승리의 역사라고 생각합니다. 그리고 예수께서는 그 선구자라고 저는 믿습니다.

사람의 병을 고쳐 준다는 일은 인간사 중에서 가장 아름다운 일일 것입니다.

그러나 예수께서 안식일에 그런 일을 했다는 것을 바리새파 사람들은 문제 삼아 시비를 걸었습니다.

거기에 대해서 예수님께서는 “안식일도 사람을 위해서 있는 것이다.”라고 선언하심으로, 가장 아름답고 중요한 것은 인간생명이며, 그 생명은 사랑으로 인해서 더욱 아름다워진다고 믿습니다.

상은씨의 책에서 저는 무엇보다도 하나님께서 베풀어주신 자신의 삶을 가장 소중히 여기고 행복과 진실을 추구해 나가는데 용감하고, 열정적인데 대해서 감탄을 했습니다.

그리고 종교적인 교리나 문화 또는 사회제도의 한계를 극복하고 삶의 아름다운 모습을 그대로 만들어가는 그 눈물겨운 노력들을 보면서 존경심을 가졌습니다.

인간의 행복과 자유 그리고 진실을 부정하는 어떤 세력도 받아드릴 수 없다는 것이 저의 소신이며 이런 생활철학으로 평생 목회를 했습니다.

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