Sun-hee (who becomes Keoko) and Tae-yul (who becomes Nobuo) take turns narrating this story. (Fact # 1 out of many that I learned by reading this book.) In an effort to gain more and more control over the Koreans, Japan decrees that every Korean has to change their name to a Japanese name. Korea is controlled by Japan at this point in time, and has been since 1910. When My Name Was Keoko takes place in Korea during World War 2. I remember taking a class in European History in high school, but I don't think there was even one offered for Asian history. This comes home to me every time I read a book set in the Eastern Hemisphere. I am incredibly ignorant of Asian history.
In my opinion, here's the best line in the whole book : If you get the right edition, there is a postscript from the author at the end explaining some of his thoughts as he wrote this book.
The mystery kept the plot on track, and it was very difficult to put down in the last few chapters. This was not a short book, but it was a surprisingly fast read. The most annoying thing I found was that the monks kept throwing entire sentences in Latin into their dialogue - with no translation! I understood what was going on anyway, but it got a bit on my nerves by the end. These parts of the book can be rather confusing (especially trying to keep track of all the different heretics), but they don't get in the way of the overarching narration.
Many pages are devoted to explaining heresies of the day, as well as recording debates between the monks about the nature of God and the devil. With an increasing number of murders, you would think the theological aspect would get totally swallowed up by the mystery. Of course, it doesn't stay that simple for long (as if that were simple) when each progressive day, another monk turns up brutally murdered. They have two tasks to complete - solve the mystery of a monk who had been murdered (or had he?) the day before their arrival, and mediate a discussion between supporters of the Holy Roman Emperor and supporters of the Avignon Pope. William of Baskerville and his young scribe Adso arrive at an abbey in the mountains of Italy. It is part medieval history, part murder mystery, and part theological debate.
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