“It’s silly to go on pretending that under the skin we are all brothers. The truth is more likely that under the skin we are all cannibals, assassins, traitors, liars, hypocrites, poltroons.”

                           Henry Miller

“Yung Sook” is the story of a sixteen-year old South Korean girl, orphaned and struggling for survival in the war torn landscape of Korea in 1950. Driven to prostitution she eventually comes to be the mistress of an American Air Force physician based outside of post-war Seoul.  What ultimately transpires between the doctor and Yung Sook moves the story on to a surprising conclusion.

Richard Karlen’s novel is a compelling indictment of war. The book reveals through the experiences of one young girl, war’s devastating consequences to the people whose homes have been turned into fields of battle.  As a victim of the inhumanities of war’s destructive nature, Yung Sook is reflective of millions of others who have since the dawn of civilization endured the brutality that seems almost inherent in man’s nature.

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