Name: Christine Bruce's review of Nuclear Family by Joseph Han
Item: Nuclear Family
Rating: 5
Author: Christine Bruce

Joseph Han

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 Hawaiʻi seems within reach after a visit from Guy Fieri boosts the profile of Cho’s 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 trying—and failing—to 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 won’t ever be able to return home, and Grace gets more and more stoned as she negotiates her family’s undoing. Struggling with what they don’t 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 Hawaiʻi, Joseph Han’s 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.

A Novel

Nuclear Family

Lindsay

To feel like no one and an aberration at the same time.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Christine Bruce

The Cho family is at the beginning of hard times when their son goes to South Korea to teach English, only to be tackled at the DMZ trying to cross into North Korea. What follows is the story of this family. The events leading to the attempt, and the fallout back home. With themes of colonialization, family connection, the myth of the model citizen, the loss of connection to identity as immigrants, and the ever present struggle the Koreas face, and that's only scratching the surface of what Han was able to delve into in Nuclear Family. Oh also there's ghosts.
This book was such a joy to read in every way. The way lines in Korean weren't always translated, how references to historic events were never explained, and how quickly and easily certain ideas were conveyed. Leaving it up to the reader to understand the reference or not. 
The way a quick off handed remark about an insta profile or a college class gives me every detail I need to know about certain characters. How the history of Korea was present and constant through the entire book, from ghosts who understood Japanese, to students who protested in the south. It was amazing to read it all and understand the references or occasional Korean dialogue,. It's also amazing to know there will be someone who reads this book and says "I don't understand that reference," for them to search it and learn something new about this country that so many people think they understand, but which is continually learning to survive as separate halves of a whole. 
The references to American imperialism are also constant and never subtle, but always appropriate and well phrased. They"re always well examined and painful. 
This book was both painful and refreshing. It was celebratory and informative. And it was such a beautiful exploration of family.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Nuclear Family by Joseph Han

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Nuclear Family by Joseph Han

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Nuclear Family by Joseph Han