Grass

This is one of those graphic novels where the drawing style completely matches the harrowing events of being a comfort woman (cw rape) for the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. Maybe I’m biased as a Korean-American who gets emotional watching Asian elders suffering before my eyes, but every five pages, I have to stop and take a deep breath.

I learned so much in this book than what we were ever taught in the American education system. It’s a gift to have the story of a real former comfort woman told like this. I’ll treasure this book… show more.

I don't know why I picked this book up, but it was the best thing I've read in quite a while. Grass is a graphic memoir of Okseon Lee. We find her as a young girl, born into poverty. Her parents deny her an education and sell her into servitude.

Ultimately, she is forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese army's occupation. Each step of the way, her abusers justify horrific treatment in terms of Okseon's mandate to pay her own debt.

These details make her story all too relatable and familiar. Keum Suk Gendry Kim's masterful, compassionate portrayal is… show more.

A prize-winning work of graphic nonfiction, Grass tells the life story of Lee Ok-Sun, a Korean girl kidnapped into the military comfort station in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. The book is based on the author’s interviews with Lee, and begins with her impoverished childhood. It narrates her torture at the hands of the Japanese army and the hardships she faced after the war ended. The artwork is done with bold ink strokes, contrasting with the measured tone of the story. Together they produce a deeply moving narrative of the ordeals suffered by Korean women and girls under the Japanese military sex slavery… show more.