DREAMT I FOUND YOU

A visit to a Korean American community within a New England beach town spirals into community scandal and romance.

Dahee Shin and her cousin Channing Shin, both 30, grew up hearing the story of Chunhyang and Mongryong, Korea’s version of the star-crossed lovers in Romeo and Juliet, a story characterized by a rigid class system and the threat of imprisonment. While Channing yearned for a love like Chunhyang and Mongryong’s, Dahee was more skeptical, seeing the story more as one of tragedy and implausibility than romance. Even as adults, while Channing is generous with her trust and eager for adventure, Dahee is guarded and cautious. When Channing is midway through a month-long babysitting gig in East End, the cozy community where she lived in early childhood and which Dahee grew up visiting, two pivotal things happen: Channing falls in love with a man named Minjae, and Kent Cho, a power-hungry local politician, begins relentlessly pursuing her. Dahee is unsatisfied with her life, and through her eyes, other characters often carry a sheen of perfection, from her beloved grandfather to more minor characters, like a couple named Alice and Jesse, who seem to her to be “living the dream.” Though Dahee describes that dream as “living with relatives, in a community that was familiar,” the thought also betrays her desire for companionship and romance. Themes of imprisonment, surveillance, social standing, and community swirl throughout, as well as questions around what it means to be loyal to families both biological and chosen. This is a story within a story, and the metanarrative allows Han to explore expectations of storytelling across different cultural contexts. The novel asks, what does “happily-ever-after” look like? What makes a story Korean versus American, and what, if anything, is lost in translation?

A charmingly told modern-day fairy tale.