Masked Dolls
Cód:
491_9780993215469
An Australian woman, burdened by the original sin of her Caucasian ancestors, and a Taiwanese woman, haunted by the memories of 100 years of conflict in her homeland, meet as backpackers while travelling in South Korea. As they live and travel together, two women in flight, one from the East and the other from the West, struggle to find a way out of their personal dilemmas.* * *Shortly after the dawn of the new millennium, Judy and Jiaying are thrown together in a youth hostel in Seoul, both having escaped long-term relationships. Their arrival in Seoul in the first year of the 21st century coincides with passionate anti-American demonstrations on the streets of the city, as South Koreans protest against US troops being stationed in their country, western hegemony and the manipulations of arms dealers. Anti-American sentiment spreads like wildfire.Judy’s parents hail from Britain and France, meet in Paris during a volatile period in French history – the student movement of 1968 – and later migrate to Australia to begin a new life. After her parents part, Judy abandons racial and cultural prejudice and, while studying in Tokyo, falls in love with Zhou, a Chinese student from Beijing. But this stormy relationship eventually culminates in violence and Judy, fleeing its demise, escapes to Seoul.Jiaying’s family are from war-torn China, which, in the 19th century had suffered invasion and colonisation by the British and French; in the 20th century had been occupied by the Japanese, under the pretext of liberating Asia from Western imperialists; and was then convulsed by a Communist revolution propped up by the Russians. Having both fought in and sought to escape the wars, Jiaying’s grandparents and parents eventually settle in Taiwan, carrying with them the scars of a century of conflict. Attempting to begin a new life on this island of exiles, they struggle to come to terms with the humiliation that generations of Chinese people had
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