"Koh remarkably and beautifully translates the language of mothers as the language of survivors."

"Koh's book is a tremendous gift. We're so fortunate to have this literary reckoning from a tremendously talented writer. The Magical Language of Others is a wonder."

"This memoir broke my heart. The tragedies that filled the lives of Koh's mother and grandmothers are woven into mythic, magic tales in Koh's hands. Only by Koh's grace and mastery are we not crushed by the stories within The Magical Language of Others. I could read this book a thousand times over."

"Indisputably brilliant...a densely layered, lyrical exploration of the bonds between generations of daughters and mothers."

"Give yourself over to her narrative territory and the resetting of the borders of lineage, language, and lives lost."

"Intimate, subtle insights about a unique mother-daughter relationship."

"Both creative tribute and personal reckoning, this is a finely wrought, linguistically rich, provocative memoir."

"E.J. Koh writes of the boundary, between anonymity and naming, between absence and abandonment, between cruelty and safety for four generations of mothers and daughters, each speaking with an occupied heart and crossing narrative borders between Korea, Japan, and America. As a reader, you give yourself over to her narrative territory and the resetting of the borders of lineage, language, and lives lost."

"Stunning...This memoir will pierce you."

"An exquisite, challenging, and stunning memoir. E. J. Koh intricately melds her personal story with a broader view of Korean history. Through these pages, you are asked to experience one family's heartbreak, trauma, and complex love for each other. This memoir will pierce you."

"A haunting, gorgeous narrative...lushly told. Brilliant."

"Broke my heart...I could read this book a thousand times over."

"A beautifully crafted saga...graceful and moving."

"A poignant transgenerational story of trauma and recovery in South Korea, Japan, and America."

"J. Koh's memoir The Magical Language of Others floats stunningly through the abandonment she experienced as a teenager...[and] talks about living while excavating the troubled past and writing difficult love letters."

E. J. Koh is the author of poetry collection A Lesser Love, winner of the Pleiades Editors Prize (Louisiana State U. Press, 2017). Her poems, translations, and stories have appeared in Boston Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, and World Literature Today, among others. She is the recipient of the MacDowell Colony and Kundiman fellowships and the 2017 ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship, and was a runner-up for the 2018 Prairie Schooner Summer Nonfiction Prize.