So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins Chapters 1-3

In So Far from the Bamboo Grove, the author's Japanese family must flee World War II North Korea after hearing that the Russians have landed. The book is about this journey to Seoul in South Korea. After reading about this family's first few weeks on the road, I felt sad about the Family's many setbacks, having to get off a train because of a bombing, having to almost getting bombed themselves. I also realised what war might have felt like.
The Kawashima family gets on a hospital train and they try to help the patients. For instance, they help a pregnant woman give birth. They also give their food and water to her. They also try to make the patients feel better. This reveals that the Kawashima family is very compassionate.
Later on, the Kawashimas have to face some Communist Korean soldiers and are almost turned in. However, an airplane drops a bomb on them, killing the soldiers and saving them. This is ironic because the Kawashimas were always practicing bomb drills back home so that they wouldn't get killed. However, the same fearful bombs helped them greatly.
The author refers to her sister as "Honorable Sister." Sometimes, the author exchanges less than honorable words between each other. They have a relation ship where they dislike each other smetimes, but always love each other. Her older seems bossy to the author. This probably because she is trying to care for her younger sister and is bossing her around to keep her safe.
The Kawashima family faces a life-or-death situation by going to Seoul. This helps them deal with hardships because they have been living in a world of hardship. The way the Kawashimas act seems the way that many others would act as. On the train, they look after the other patients and feel sorry for them, and give them their food. Others would probably act this way because you would feel sorry to see a wounded/sick person and try to be compassionate and help them.