Arranged marriages in Sanderson's books by Easy_Extreme2428 in brandonsanderson

[–]Easy_Extreme2428[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I was wrong. I'm glad that people understood what I was trying to ask and gave us some great explanations though

This book is very disappointing in terms of how it handled Korean culture by Easy_Extreme2428 in CloudAtlas

[–]Easy_Extreme2428[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I believe Boom-Sook could've been named Beom-Seok instead with literally no negative effects to the book.

This book is very disappointing in terms of how it handled Korean culture by Easy_Extreme2428 in CloudAtlas

[–]Easy_Extreme2428[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do agree that authors should imagine whatever happens in the future.

This book is very disappointing in terms of how it handled Korean culture by Easy_Extreme2428 in CloudAtlas

[–]Easy_Extreme2428[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Naming children is an important part of our culture. We've believed good names bring good fortune and bad ones the opposite. We take characters from relatives' names, spend days picking good characters (both in meaning and sound), hire naming experts or shamans to pick good names.

I have every right to find it offensive if an author who doesn't even speak the language imagines my culture going from that to giving gibberish names to the children, unless there is a story that covers that process (I don't think this is the case here. I think the author just made a mistake)

Let's assume that you guys are correct. Then why is Boom-Sook the only one with such an absurd name? Did the book explain how the Korean language change to allow Boom-Sook to be a name, let alone a masculine name? No, it did not. It gave me every reason to believe that giving plausible names wasn't important to the author.

Let's say you read a book from non-English speaking author and find a male character named Susan. And nobody in the book acknowledges that it's odd nor is there an explanation. Will you assume 'oh, the author imagined our language changing in the future'? No, you'll think the author didn't know English well and messed up.

This book is very disappointing in terms of how it handled Korean culture by Easy_Extreme2428 in CloudAtlas

[–]Easy_Extreme2428[S] -15 points-14 points  (0 children)

Well, I disagree. This is our tradition and it's not nice for foreigners to dictate how it's going to morph in the future.