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American Hagwon
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At last, the National Book Award finalist and NYT bestselling author of Pachinko returns with a breathtaking contemporary epic: Min Jin Lee has written a masterpiece by turns sweeping and intimate, one that reckons with ambition and moderation, lust and loyalty, personal dreams and familial duty.
In schools and churches, hotel rooms and nail salons, law firms and fried-fish shops; in cramped, dingy apartments and luxury, gated communities, the men, women, and children in American Hagwon struggle to find satisfaction and meaning in a world that seems to grow less forgiving with each passing year.
Once comfortably middle class in Korea, John and Helen Koh and their three children—Bo, DH, and Mido—find their lives upended, first by a shocking betrayal by John’s oldest friend, then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Desperately striving to regain their footing, they leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in Southern California—where new vistas of opportunity open up for the children as their parents, strangers in a strange land, must adjust to a new life in which their experience and education mean little, and they set their sights on whatever it takes to provide for their children’s futures.
The Kohs, their friends, relatives, and even their foes move in and out of each other’s lives as they navigate new courses across the years, always nursing the almost all-consuming faith that education will lead the next generation to success and security. In American Hagwon, Min Jin Lee has crafted an unforgettable, panoramic novel where the smallest of gestures can have enormous repercussions, where the bonds of family and of memory twist and fray but rarely break, and where willful self-sacrifice—for the benefit of loved ones and even strangers—is a kind of prayer.
In schools and churches, hotel rooms and nail salons, law firms and fried-fish shops; in cramped, dingy apartments and luxury, gated communities, the men, women, and children in American Hagwon struggle to find satisfaction and meaning in a world that seems to grow less forgiving with each passing year.
Once comfortably middle class in Korea, John and Helen Koh and their three children—Bo, DH, and Mido—find their lives upended, first by a shocking betrayal by John’s oldest friend, then by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Desperately striving to regain their footing, they leave Seoul for Sydney and eventually settle in Southern California—where new vistas of opportunity open up for the children as their parents, strangers in a strange land, must adjust to a new life in which their experience and education mean little, and they set their sights on whatever it takes to provide for their children’s futures.
The Kohs, their friends, relatives, and even their foes move in and out of each other’s lives as they navigate new courses across the years, always nursing the almost all-consuming faith that education will lead the next generation to success and security. In American Hagwon, Min Jin Lee has crafted an unforgettable, panoramic novel where the smallest of gestures can have enormous repercussions, where the bonds of family and of memory twist and fray but rarely break, and where willful self-sacrifice—for the benefit of loved ones and even strangers—is a kind of prayer.
656 pages, ebook
Expected publication September 29, 2026
About the author
Min Jin Lee
16 books9,058 followersMin Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko (Feb 2017) is a national bestseller, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and an American Booksellers Association’s Indie Next Great Reads. Lee’s debut novel Free Food for Millionaires (May 2007) was a No. 1 Book Sense Pick, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, a Wall Street Journal Juggle Book Club selection, and a national bestseller; it was a Top 10 Novels of the Year for The Times of London, NPR’s Fresh Air and USA Today.
Min Jin went to Yale College where she was awarded both the Henry Wright Prize for Nonfiction and the James Ashmun Veech Prize for Fiction. She attended law school at Georgetown University and worked as a lawyer for several years in New York prior to writing full time.
She has received the NYFA Fellowship for Fiction, the Peden Prize from The Missouri Review for Best Story, and the Narrative Prize for New and Emerging Writer. Her fiction has been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts and has appeared most recently in One Story. Her writings about books, travel and food have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Times Literary Supplement, Conde Nast Traveler, The Times of London, Vogue (US), Travel + Leisure (SEA), Wall Street Journal and Food & Wine. Her personal essays have been anthologized in To Be Real, Breeder, The Mark Twain Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Work, One Big Happy Family, Sugar in My Bowl, and The Global and the Intimate: Feminism in Our Time. She served three consecutive seasons as a Morning Forum columnist of the Chosun Ilbo of South Korea.
Lee has spoken about writing, politics, film and literature at various institutions including Columbia University, French Institute Alliance Francaise, The Center for Fiction, Tufts, Loyola Marymount University, Stanford, Johns Hopkins (SAIS), University of Connecticut, Boston College, Hamilton College, Hunter College of New York, Harvard Law School, Yale University, Ewha University, Waseda University, the American School in Japan, World Women’s Forum, Korean Community Center (NJ), the Hay Literary Festival (UK), the Tokyo American Center of the U.S. Embassy, the Asia House (UK), and the Asia Society in New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong. In 2017, she won the Literary Death Match (Brooklyn/Episode 8), and she is a proud alumna of Women of Letters (Public Theater).
From 2007 to 2011, Min Jin lived in Tokyo where she researched and wrote Pachinko. She lives in New York with her family.
Min Jin went to Yale College where she was awarded both the Henry Wright Prize for Nonfiction and the James Ashmun Veech Prize for Fiction. She attended law school at Georgetown University and worked as a lawyer for several years in New York prior to writing full time.
She has received the NYFA Fellowship for Fiction, the Peden Prize from The Missouri Review for Best Story, and the Narrative Prize for New and Emerging Writer. Her fiction has been featured on NPR’s Selected Shorts and has appeared most recently in One Story. Her writings about books, travel and food have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Times Literary Supplement, Conde Nast Traveler, The Times of London, Vogue (US), Travel + Leisure (SEA), Wall Street Journal and Food & Wine. Her personal essays have been anthologized in To Be Real, Breeder, The Mark Twain Anthology: Great Writers on His Life and Work, One Big Happy Family, Sugar in My Bowl, and The Global and the Intimate: Feminism in Our Time. She served three consecutive seasons as a Morning Forum columnist of the Chosun Ilbo of South Korea.
Lee has spoken about writing, politics, film and literature at various institutions including Columbia University, French Institute Alliance Francaise, The Center for Fiction, Tufts, Loyola Marymount University, Stanford, Johns Hopkins (SAIS), University of Connecticut, Boston College, Hamilton College, Hunter College of New York, Harvard Law School, Yale University, Ewha University, Waseda University, the American School in Japan, World Women’s Forum, Korean Community Center (NJ), the Hay Literary Festival (UK), the Tokyo American Center of the U.S. Embassy, the Asia House (UK), and the Asia Society in New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong. In 2017, she won the Literary Death Match (Brooklyn/Episode 8), and she is a proud alumna of Women of Letters (Public Theater).
From 2007 to 2011, Min Jin lived in Tokyo where she researched and wrote Pachinko. She lives in New York with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Want to Read
January 15, 2026I pre-ordered! This book will be released in 2026 from Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires (both of which I loved!).
April 27, 2026
I read Pachinko when it came out in 2017 and it remains one of the best family sagas I've ever read. Almost ten years later, American Hagwon now joins it. Min Jin Lee took her time with this one and readers will reap the benefits of unraveling every layer. Prior to reading this, I didn't know what a hagwon was. James Baldwin told and Lee reminds us that "as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated". Lee examines this for profit/pro cramming private supplemental education system by looking at the ways it affects a child and a parent's psyche all while questioning what education is really "for".
American Hagwon is epic in scope, following the members of the Koh family from 1992-2007 across multiple international moves. Helen and John Koh, like all parents, want the best for their children. They want to see all three successful and happy. When the father is betrayed and soon after the South Korean IMF financial collapse occurs, the family is no longer comfortably in the middle class. What does this mean for the futures of the three children when money seems to be...everything.
American Hagwon has so much to say about ambition, satisfaction, and what drives these ideas. There is a whole lot of blind faith in the education system. If my kids go to the best school and then go to the best hagwon, surely they will come out on top, right? When there isn't room for everyone at the top, when siblings or friends are pitted against each other, what is the fallout? When education feels like a transaction more than anything, what happens if I don't get my expected return on investment? There is no one answer to these questions, but Lee offers us multiple to chew on through each character.
The Koh family will be some of the most memorable characters I read all year. Their devotion and sacrifice to one another is stunning. The official description of American Hagwon calls this loyalty something like a prayer, and I think that is perfect. While this doesn't publish until September, that gives you plenty of time to read Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires in anticipation.
American Hagwon is epic in scope, following the members of the Koh family from 1992-2007 across multiple international moves. Helen and John Koh, like all parents, want the best for their children. They want to see all three successful and happy. When the father is betrayed and soon after the South Korean IMF financial collapse occurs, the family is no longer comfortably in the middle class. What does this mean for the futures of the three children when money seems to be...everything.
American Hagwon has so much to say about ambition, satisfaction, and what drives these ideas. There is a whole lot of blind faith in the education system. If my kids go to the best school and then go to the best hagwon, surely they will come out on top, right? When there isn't room for everyone at the top, when siblings or friends are pitted against each other, what is the fallout? When education feels like a transaction more than anything, what happens if I don't get my expected return on investment? There is no one answer to these questions, but Lee offers us multiple to chew on through each character.
The Koh family will be some of the most memorable characters I read all year. Their devotion and sacrifice to one another is stunning. The official description of American Hagwon calls this loyalty something like a prayer, and I think that is perfect. While this doesn't publish until September, that gives you plenty of time to read Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires in anticipation.
Want to Read
March 27, 2026Excited for this, but $47 CAD ($36 USD) is honestly a criminal price tag...Thank god the library exists
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Want to Read
January 14, 2026HUGE news for me personally!!!
April 7, 2026
Review of advance copy-
Beautifully written. 700+ pages was not long enough…I still want more!
Beautifully written. 700+ pages was not long enough…I still want more!
Want to Read
March 4, 2026i met Min in ATL yesterday and literally am counting down the days until this comes out. What a remarkable, extraordinary human she is.
Want to Read
February 6, 2026i've never been this excited for a book in my life.
May 19, 2026
Wow. Heartbreaking that I’ll probably have to wait another decade for a new Min Jin Lee novel. Simple in scope yet sprawling. Epic yet intimate. I fell in love with these characters, and I learned so much about the Korean financial crisis, as well as the cultural pressure many Koreans face in educational circles. I’ve been really busy over the past few weeks, so I’ve read this a lot slower than I normally would have. Typically when this happens, I find myself growing impatient and desiring to move on to a different story. However, I was more than content to linger in this story and get to know these characters.
May 4, 2026
My first Min Jin Lee novel!
April 17, 2026
I was lucky enough to receive an early copy of this book and it’s exceptional! There is an incredible cast of unique characters that span three generations and two cultures to create a deeply moving story about the importance of family, class and education. My favorite part about this book is that there is almost no clear protagonist. While you could argue it’s Mido, there is so much detail and back story to all of the characters that I became engrossed in all of their outcomes. The Korean diaspora explored in this novel was phenomenal and I enjoyed how it was covered in multiple parts of the US, Australia and even England. I learned a lot about Hagwon culture and the pressure of elite education, which while not unique to Koreans, is layered due to the Hagwon setup. It’s a long book, but worth every page. This is one of my favorite books of the year so far!
Want to Read
February 28, 2026the author of my favorite book is writing another decades-spanning historical fiction and was given 5 stars by my favorite author............ im so excited for this u have no idea
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A novel spanning Seoul, Sydney, and Southern California that somehow felt like coming home, even though I’ve never lived in any of those places. American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee is a masterclass in the nuances of the Korean immigrant experience exploring themes of motherhood, family devotion, sacrifice, and the power of education. As a Korean American who was born and raised in the United States, this book felt comforting. The infusion of Korean culture and tradition is thoughtfully crafted and felt effortless to read.
The author showcases the difference between Western and Korean societies in the hunger for education. In the West, personal ambition is often the root motivator of becoming educated. But Korea’s hyper-obsession with education is more layered than that. Amid the instability of Japanese colonization and later, rapid industrialization after the Korean war, gaining knowledge was one of few things many Koreans were able to turn to for purpose and cultural retention. At the start of the book, I was frustrated by these parents spending money they could not afford on extra schooling due to the idea that a mother's worth is measured in her child’s test scores or what university they end up at. But following the family move countries and rebuild their lives in an unfamiliar place moved me because it made me feel for my parents and think about their struggles and strength, navigating the same thing at a young age. The characters worked so hard and made sacrifices for each other out of survival and love. Spreading the importance of learning is an act of love and they continued to pay it forward.
Min Jin Lee touched on a complicated, relatable feeling among Koreans who move away from home and come back to an unfamiliar place. There is a sense of tension between Koreans who are “stuck” in Korea with its strict culture and those who leave to explore new opportunities, but then don't feel at home anywhere. I grew up not feeling 100% at home anywhere because I felt disconnected from my Korean roots, but Lee’s perspective allowed me to see it from the other point of view. I am grateful for my family’s choice to start a new life away from home, and my Korean roots live on through the sharing of stories and customs within my family.
I loved how Lee used Korean words without translation, trusting the reader to understand them through context clues. It felt like having a piece of my family with me while I read. There were certain English phrases I read with my eyes but heard in Korean. A parent asks their child “did you eat” and it instantly takes me back to all the times my parents ask “밥 먹었어?”, the ultimate expression of love from Korean parents. A simple detail of regular visits to the Korean drama video rental store took me back to middle school when I followed my mom to our local store in San Jose, California every week.
I never felt like the story dragged and was curious how all the characters’ stories ended. The novel’s ending is sweet and quiet, with a moment that embodied the family’s love for each other throughout the entire story. It was incredibly fitting for this book that never felt loud or dramatic and I teared up on the last page, wishing I got even more time with the Koh family. Thank you, Min Jin Lee, for one of the most meaningful reading experiences I’ve had in years. I’m excited for readers to discover this book when it releases this fall. It will resonate with those who love character-driven novels, intricate family sagas, and stories that explore the complexities of the immigrant experience. In the meantime, I’ll check out Lee’s backlist and eagerly await what she writes next.
The author showcases the difference between Western and Korean societies in the hunger for education. In the West, personal ambition is often the root motivator of becoming educated. But Korea’s hyper-obsession with education is more layered than that. Amid the instability of Japanese colonization and later, rapid industrialization after the Korean war, gaining knowledge was one of few things many Koreans were able to turn to for purpose and cultural retention. At the start of the book, I was frustrated by these parents spending money they could not afford on extra schooling due to the idea that a mother's worth is measured in her child’s test scores or what university they end up at. But following the family move countries and rebuild their lives in an unfamiliar place moved me because it made me feel for my parents and think about their struggles and strength, navigating the same thing at a young age. The characters worked so hard and made sacrifices for each other out of survival and love. Spreading the importance of learning is an act of love and they continued to pay it forward.
Min Jin Lee touched on a complicated, relatable feeling among Koreans who move away from home and come back to an unfamiliar place. There is a sense of tension between Koreans who are “stuck” in Korea with its strict culture and those who leave to explore new opportunities, but then don't feel at home anywhere. I grew up not feeling 100% at home anywhere because I felt disconnected from my Korean roots, but Lee’s perspective allowed me to see it from the other point of view. I am grateful for my family’s choice to start a new life away from home, and my Korean roots live on through the sharing of stories and customs within my family.
I loved how Lee used Korean words without translation, trusting the reader to understand them through context clues. It felt like having a piece of my family with me while I read. There were certain English phrases I read with my eyes but heard in Korean. A parent asks their child “did you eat” and it instantly takes me back to all the times my parents ask “밥 먹었어?”, the ultimate expression of love from Korean parents. A simple detail of regular visits to the Korean drama video rental store took me back to middle school when I followed my mom to our local store in San Jose, California every week.
I never felt like the story dragged and was curious how all the characters’ stories ended. The novel’s ending is sweet and quiet, with a moment that embodied the family’s love for each other throughout the entire story. It was incredibly fitting for this book that never felt loud or dramatic and I teared up on the last page, wishing I got even more time with the Koh family. Thank you, Min Jin Lee, for one of the most meaningful reading experiences I’ve had in years. I’m excited for readers to discover this book when it releases this fall. It will resonate with those who love character-driven novels, intricate family sagas, and stories that explore the complexities of the immigrant experience. In the meantime, I’ll check out Lee’s backlist and eagerly await what she writes next.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
In the first chapter of this novel, Helen Koh has three envelopes, one for each of her children, filled with money. This money will cover their clothes and supplies, but mostly it is for their school fees and educational expenses. Finding themselves back in Korea after several years away, the Koh family will find that this system they've relied on is no longer able to provide what they need. In Korea the children are already behind their classmates, the expectations are much higher, and everyone studies not just for school but in Hagwons on evenings and weekends where they receive additional work and instruction. In the first few pages, Lee lays out for us exactly what we will be considering for the rest of the novel--the expectations around education and the financial burden of meeting it.
In so many books I read, it's like money doesn't exist. Even when we are told a character is broke, they rarely seem to act broke except for when it's convenient for the story, they rarely think all that much about money. It is common for a character strapped for cash to vaguely consider their maxed out credit cards and then ignore them for the rest of the story. Those maxed out credit cards never seem to come due. In American Hagwon, money is a real thing and it's reassuring to me to see how much these characters consider it, talk about it, plan around it. (Recession indicator? Possibly.) This is a book about sacrifice, about characters who give up their own comfort to provide for others. And this is not just talk, it is real effort, with care and love of family often attached.
It is beautiful to follow the Koh family through many years, as the children become adults, as the parents grow old. If anything, they are all a bit too saintly, too self-sacrificing, too generous and kind. I would have liked it a bit more if one of them had developed an addiction or done something thoughtless and unwise, by the time you have been with them for 500 pages you do start to wonder if they have ever made mistakes. This moral clarity, the black and white world of these characters, also extends to the villains. The chief antagonist may eventually have her motives explained, but she is so consistently evil, so selfish and vain and greedy, that I was actually hoping she would have a redemption arc.
The morality of the book may be simple, but the paths of these characters are not. This is an expansive novel with dozens of characters, as the Koh family moves farther out into the world, the story expands into the lives of their friends and neighbors. All along the way these questions of money and education linger, returning again and again. The obsessive Korean system with its hagwons, the question of whether there is a better way to teach students, the generational and cultural divides between those who want change and those who want tradition. It is a very Korean book and a very American one as well, moving between the two countries (with the occasional stop in Australia) and the Koh's are a unique family who are able to move between these countries and understand how each of them work.
There is something old about this novel, rather Dickensian. Not just in the structure and character, but in the prose, which has an old-fashioned straightforwardness to it. Even though I prefer books where the moral universe is more relative, there is an appeal to people who are good, to spending time with the Koh's who only argue with each other when it is about who will sacrifice and who will be the one sacrificed for. It hits different to read this kind of novel now than it would have 20 years ago.
Lee is, truly, a treasure. This is the 3rd of 4 novels in her loosely connected Diaspora Quartet and I will be anxiously awaiting the 4th.
In so many books I read, it's like money doesn't exist. Even when we are told a character is broke, they rarely seem to act broke except for when it's convenient for the story, they rarely think all that much about money. It is common for a character strapped for cash to vaguely consider their maxed out credit cards and then ignore them for the rest of the story. Those maxed out credit cards never seem to come due. In American Hagwon, money is a real thing and it's reassuring to me to see how much these characters consider it, talk about it, plan around it. (Recession indicator? Possibly.) This is a book about sacrifice, about characters who give up their own comfort to provide for others. And this is not just talk, it is real effort, with care and love of family often attached.
It is beautiful to follow the Koh family through many years, as the children become adults, as the parents grow old. If anything, they are all a bit too saintly, too self-sacrificing, too generous and kind. I would have liked it a bit more if one of them had developed an addiction or done something thoughtless and unwise, by the time you have been with them for 500 pages you do start to wonder if they have ever made mistakes. This moral clarity, the black and white world of these characters, also extends to the villains. The chief antagonist may eventually have her motives explained, but she is so consistently evil, so selfish and vain and greedy, that I was actually hoping she would have a redemption arc.
The morality of the book may be simple, but the paths of these characters are not. This is an expansive novel with dozens of characters, as the Koh family moves farther out into the world, the story expands into the lives of their friends and neighbors. All along the way these questions of money and education linger, returning again and again. The obsessive Korean system with its hagwons, the question of whether there is a better way to teach students, the generational and cultural divides between those who want change and those who want tradition. It is a very Korean book and a very American one as well, moving between the two countries (with the occasional stop in Australia) and the Koh's are a unique family who are able to move between these countries and understand how each of them work.
There is something old about this novel, rather Dickensian. Not just in the structure and character, but in the prose, which has an old-fashioned straightforwardness to it. Even though I prefer books where the moral universe is more relative, there is an appeal to people who are good, to spending time with the Koh's who only argue with each other when it is about who will sacrifice and who will be the one sacrificed for. It hits different to read this kind of novel now than it would have 20 years ago.
Lee is, truly, a treasure. This is the 3rd of 4 novels in her loosely connected Diaspora Quartet and I will be anxiously awaiting the 4th.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
American Hagwon follows a Korean family, the Kohs, as they seek success and happiness for their children. As Mido, DH, and Bo grow up through the 1990s and early 2000s, the Kohs seek opportunities, move overseas several times, experience deep betrayal and challenges, and are forced to examine for themselves what success and achievement and loyalty mean.
A hagwon is a supplemental academic program common in Korea (and elsewhere, for Korean expats and immigrants) to help children boost their scores and increase the likelihood of acceptance into prestigious universities. In addition to being a layered family saga, the novel asks tough questions of the modern pursuit of success through our children: what’s an education really for? What happens when “getting in” at any cost is more valued than what is learned? What is sacrificed when we focus on a narrow window of time and rite of passage as a measure of a person’s (or a family’s) worth?
It’s a hefty book at 700+ pages as we follow the family and their network of friends and colleagues through their twists and turns of fate, but it’s worth the time (though I think could have been edited more tightly), written my Min Jin Lee, author of the fabulous 2017 novel Pachinko.
The book will be released in September 2026.
A hagwon is a supplemental academic program common in Korea (and elsewhere, for Korean expats and immigrants) to help children boost their scores and increase the likelihood of acceptance into prestigious universities. In addition to being a layered family saga, the novel asks tough questions of the modern pursuit of success through our children: what’s an education really for? What happens when “getting in” at any cost is more valued than what is learned? What is sacrificed when we focus on a narrow window of time and rite of passage as a measure of a person’s (or a family’s) worth?
It’s a hefty book at 700+ pages as we follow the family and their network of friends and colleagues through their twists and turns of fate, but it’s worth the time (though I think could have been edited more tightly), written my Min Jin Lee, author of the fabulous 2017 novel Pachinko.
The book will be released in September 2026.
Review of advance copy received from Author
There are meticulous, beautifully crafted layers to Min Jin Lee's latest novel, American Hagwon. It is, on the surface, an engrossing story about a Korean family and their resilience as forces beyond the control alter the trajectory of their lives. But it is, at its core, a story about striving, the complexities of the hagwon system, and a cultural pressure to succeed at any cost. As Lee's story unfolds, and we get to know a sprawling cast of characters across three continents, the impressive scope and scale of this new epic reveals itself in astonishing ways. She brings grand ambition, fierce heart, and the tenderest hope to a novel I didn't want to end.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This multi layered family epic explores the Korean diaspora around the world. It's so easy to become fully immersed in the Koh family and their extended and found family's journey. This is rich and complex, not only in the relationships but around hagwons and the pressure to succeed. So many discussion points but it's hard not to fall in love with these characters.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy
The prose is magnificent and I cried at a scene in the first quarter of the book. This generational story is incredibly moving and you become so invested in all the characters.
The parent’s emotional journey especially hooked me and as a child of immigrants myself I just felt myself wanting to read more and more of that aspect (greedy I know).
I so so enjoyed the read and would highly recommend. Don’t be intimidated by the length, I finished the book in a week.
The parent’s emotional journey especially hooked me and as a child of immigrants myself I just felt myself wanting to read more and more of that aspect (greedy I know).
I so so enjoyed the read and would highly recommend. Don’t be intimidated by the length, I finished the book in a week.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
It’s a beautiful thing to be able to see one’s lived experiences reflected back to you in work that seemingly has nothing to do with you. That is the power of the human condition and MJL is one of the few authors I’ve come across that completely masters this. I will read anything she will write from now until the end of time because her poignant narratives, indelible worlds & mercurial characters mark her as a sui generis talent.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
This book was well worth the wait, and every bit as good as Pachinko. Lee is back with another immersive family saga spanning 3 continents and a cast of characters that would be hard to forget. A commentary on education, class, and ambition. I loved it.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
wow
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
An intricate, extraordinary epic tale about surviving the burdens placed on families out of love and the promise of a better future.
Min Jin has done it again, crafted a story of immigration that you won’t forget.
Min Jin has done it again, crafted a story of immigration that you won’t forget.
Want to Read
May 4, 2026I neeeeed this book. NEED
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews