American Han by Lisa Lee

This book is really good and a little bit hard going. It is the author's debut novel and it has a rawness to it that she might lose with time, but has a certain wisdom to it. The Korean word “han” is difficult to translate precisely into English, but the concept revolves around a profound sadness, regret, resentment and a loss of a collective identity that arises from historical injustice, such as occupation, war, and separation. It is, in other words, a generational trauma with Korean characteristics. It is set during the time of the first tech boom, and is anchored in the despair and rancor that defines the Kim family of the San Francisco Bay. Jane Kim is a third year law student at a second tier law school in San Francisco, when her mother leaves her father and her brother gets into big trouble for police brutality. It is a story of change, and change at a time when it is unusual. All four of them are unhappy in the life they have thus far forged, and so they step out into the less secure unknown in search of happiness.