Gathering of Pearls

Sookan, the young Korean heroine of Year of Impossible Goodbyes and Echoes of the White Giraffe, has arrived in the United States to attend a women's college at the start of Choi's latest novel, set in 1954-1955. Having survived the war in her homeland, Sookan now faces the challenges of learning English and adapting to a new culture while keeping up with her studies and making friends during her freshman year. She works harder than anyone else and endears herself to her classmates, roommate and professors. But the pressures of too much work, combined with homesickness, lead to exhaustion-and a more relaxed approach to the college experience. When she receives bad news from her family in Seoul, she struggles to ``turn her pain into pearls of wisdom and understanding,'' as her mother has always urged. Despite some poignant scenes, this novel lacks the emotional depth and clear, exciting story lines of its predecessors. Sookan plays an almost martyrly role here, and the first-person narration shows her continually praising herself or being praised by others for her kindness and good deeds; her strength and spunk are conspicuously absent. Admirers of the earlier works may find this pristine, cheery world rather dull. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)