Book
Nuclear family : a novel / Joseph Han.
"Mr. and Mrs. Cho run a successful chain of Hawai'ian plate lunch restaurants, and their adult children are finding their way in the world: 21-year-old Grace is graduating in a few months, and 25-year-old Jacob is teaching English in Seoul. They're set to take over the restaurants when Umma and Appa retire. But when Jacob is captured by the South Korean government for attempting to run across the DMZ, the Chos' peaceful lives are shattered. What could possess Jacob to do something so stupid? The Chos don't know that Jacob has been literally possessed by his wily grandfather's ghost, don't know that Jacob is hiding his bisexuality and confusion over his identity as a Korean-American; they don't know that Grace is constantly stoned and plotting her escape from the island and her family's expectations. The children don't know the burdens of their immigrant parents. Joseph Han draws from Korean myth to explore the generational trauma experienced by families shattered by partition, and the impacts of American imperialism on the Korean peninsula. Nuclear family is a spectacular debut novel -- at once devastating and hilarious -- about the memories that bind and divide families, and the yearning for home"-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781640094864 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: 299 pages ; 22 cm
- Edition: First hardcover edition.
- Publisher: Berkeley, California : Counterpoint, 2022.
Search for related items by subject
| Genre: | Ghost stories. Domestic fiction. Novels. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cookstown Branch | FIC Han | 31681010283521 | FICTION | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
Set in the months leading up to the 2018 nuclear missile false alarm, the members of a Korean family living in Hawai'i, when their son triesâand failsâto cross the Korean demilitarized zone, find themselves under suspicion, while their daughter gets constantly high as she witnesses her familyâs undoing. - Baker & Taylor
"Mr. and Mrs. Cho run a successful chain of Hawai'ian plate lunch restaurants, and their adult children are finding their way in the world: 21-year-old Grace is graduating in a few months, and 25-year-old Jacob is teaching English in Seoul. They're set to take over the restaurants when Umma and Appa retire. But when Jacob is captured by the South Korean government for attempting to run across the DMZ, the Chos' peaceful lives are shattered. What could possess Jacob to do something so stupid? The Chos don't know that Jacob has been literally possessed by his wily grandfather's ghost, don't know that Jacob is hiding his bisexuality and confusion over his identity as a Korean-American; they don't know that Grace is constantly stoned and plotting her escape from the island and her family's expectations. The children don't know the burdens of their immigrant parents. Joseph Han draws from Korean myth to explore the generational trauma experienced by families shattered by partition, and the impacts of Americanimperialism on the Korean peninsula. Nuclear Family is a spectacular debut novel--at once devastating and hilarious--about the memories that bind and divide families, and the yearning for home"-- - Random House, Inc.
Winner of the AAAS Book Award for Prose
APALA Adult Literature Honor Book
Shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize
Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A TIME Best Book of the Year
Set in the months leading up to the 2018 nuclear missile false alarm, a Korean American family living in Hawai'i faces the fallout of their eldest son's attempt to run across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea in this "fresh, inventive, and at times, hilarious novel" (Kaui Hart Hemmings, author of The Descendants)
Things are looking up for Mr. and Mrs. Cho. Their dream of franchising their Korean plate lunch restaurants across Hawai?i seems within reach after a visit from Guy Fieri boosts the profile of Choâs Delicatessen. Their daughter, Grace, is busy finishing her senior year of college and working for her parents, while her older brother, Jacob, just moved to Seoul to teach English. But when a viral video shows Jacob tryingâand failingâto cross the Korean demilitarized zone, nothing can protect the family from suspicion and the restaurant from waning sales.
 No one knows that Jacob has been possessed by the ghost of his lost grandfather, who feverishly wishes to cross the divide and find the family he left behind in the north. As Jacob is detained by the South Korean government, Mr. and Mrs. Cho fear their son wonât ever be able to return home, and Grace gets more and more stoned as she negotiates her familyâs undoing. Struggling with what they donât know about themselves and one another, the Chos must confront the separations that have endured in their family for decades.
Set in the months leading up to the 2018 false missile alert in Hawai?i, Joseph Hanâs profoundly funny and strikingly beautiful debut novel is an offering that aches with histories inherited and reunions missed, asking how we heal in the face of what we forget and who we remember.
