The Foreign Student - Susan Choi (Extra book)

Ever start reading a book and part way into it, find out it was the wrong book?  Well that’s what happened to me when I started reading The Foreign Student by Susan Choi.  It was suggested I read the book to help understand the international exchange students experience on college campuses, well, it did have some examples early on, but clearly after the introduction of characters and story line, it drifted into another direction.  If you have followed my blog over the years, you know I will always finish any book I begin, so it goes with this one, which means I will be reading the other Foreign Student in the coming months.  The story is of a Korean young man, after completing military service at age 25,  who is given a scholarship to study in the US (at Sewanee University) by a Christian organization.  The story begins with his arrival and all of the barriers he faces upon entry to the campus.  Chuck, as he is known, has trouble with language, fitting in, and understanding the culture of the students and the campus environment.  Chuck’s roommate tries to help him, as does a “mysterious woman” (Katherine) whom is later known as the daughter of a former college professor at Sewanee.   From there the story goes in two distinct directions, Chuck’s history in the military before he arrives to the campus when the Russians and Americans split Korea after WWII and he was held captive and tormented; and the story of Katherine and her affair with a college professor starting at the age of twelve, I would say rape at the least and seduction at best.  And how do these two stories intersect?  Well Katherine meets Chuck, and Chuck is taught by the professor whom Katherine has the on-going affair (Charles).  Interesting how the author plays on the names of the two characters, the youthful in-experienced Chuck (the Korean student) and the older professor (Charles).  Choi does this same technique with foreshadowing of the “hurricane” with the ending of the story as well.  Katherine comes from a well-to-do family with means and has to eventually make the choice between Charles and Chuck.  Throughout this “coming of age” tale, Chuck is hindered by his own understanding of his journey by the horrors of his entrapment and as he tries to find “peace.”  Katherine’s own “awakening” from the grips of Charles occurs as her mother fights for her life, where Katherine who has lived on her parent’s money will need to begin to live a life for herself and not be relying on others.  I intended to read a book that would assist in learning more about international students, and got a “love story” with many “warped” turns.  Interesting that this mid-40 year old placed the story in the 1950s.  Her historical representation was sound, but the movement from Korea to Sewanee to the mother’s home in New Orleans made for a complicated storyline.  Not sure in the end if the characters grew/changed/or even moved toward some new place.  I’d say she would have been served better in sticking more with Chuck’s story rather than Katherine’s, or else come to some stronger resolution between the two.  In the end, I didn’t gain what I had hoped to gain, but at times a “Lolita” story with an interruption of an international student stopping in.  Looking forward to the other Foreign Student book.