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Books like Comfort Woman

Comfort Woman

1998, Nora Okja Keller

Nora Okja Keller (born 22 December 1966, in Seoul, South Korea) is a Korean American author. Her 1997 breakthrough work of fiction, Comfort Woman, and her second book (2002), Fox Girl, focus on multigenerational trauma resulting from Korean women's experiences as sex slaves, euphemistically called comfort women, for Japanese and American troops during World War II.

Keller’s first novel was highly praised by critics, including Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times, who said that in Comfort Woman, "Keller has written a powerful book about mothers and daughters and the passions that bind generations." Kakutani called it "a lyrical and haunting novel" and "an impressive debut." Comfort Woman won the American Book Award in 1998 and the 1999 Elliot Cades Award; previously, in 1995, Keller won the Pushcart Prize for a short story, "Mother-Tongue", which became the second chapter of Comfort Woman. In 2003, she won the Hawai'i Award for Literature.

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