American Hagwon
By Min Jin Lee ★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10 ""I called this meeting in the hopes of pointing out that our community, socio-economic class, culture, and history all seem to demand a kind of unattainable achievement, and it's harming our..."
By Min Jin Lee
★★★★★★★★★½ 9.5/10
640 pages
What’s it about?
This book follows the Koh family- John, Helen, and their three children, Bo, DH, and Mido. John has a good job, all the children excel, and the family has had opportunities to live abroad. They are back in Korea when John's career is dealt an unexpected blow. The family moves to Sydney, then back to Southern California, where they try to regroup.
What did it make me think about?
What a great, yet quiet story!
Should I read it?
I really enjoyed this book. It is LONG- in the best way. The characters are so well-written, and you become immersed in their lives. It offered lots of insight into Korean families' lives, both in Korea and abroad. I need to be careful not to generalize about South Koreans as I move forward, as I feel like I learned so much. It was hard to imagine any child being as diligent and hardworking as those in this novel- let alone an entire generation of Korean children. I thought America could be overly competitive when it comes to children and education. America seems pretty relaxed in comparison. Although the ideological argument about competition and education was compelling, it was the characters that had me hooked.
A passage I marked
"I called this meeting in the hopes of pointing out that our community, socio-economic class, culture, and history all seem to demand a kind of unattainable achievement, and it's harming our children. We expect them to do things that we could not have done ourselves."
