Point of View

"Year of Impossible Goodbyes" is told from the first-person viewpoint of Sookan, a ten-year-old Korean girl in 1945. Sookan likely represents Sook Nyul Choi, the author of the book, but it is not autobiographical. Sookan has been raised to appreciate both Buddhism and Catholicism, but she wonders which religion can help her understand the tragic events going on around her. She thinks to herself, "When would Grandfather's merciful Buddha or Mother's Catholic God come to help us?" (Chapter 4, p. 58) Sookan has lived a sheltered life, rarely leaving her family home, but she is too familiar with the hardships of war, and she understands the implications, if not the details, of rape. Nonetheless, she tries to have a positive outlook and believe that things are going to get better for her.

At the beginning of the book, Sookan has never known a time when her people were free...