Self-determination is bitter and sweet in Lisa Lee’s debut novel, ‘American Han.’
On this episode of Fully Booked, Lisa Lee joins us to discuss American Han (Algonquin Books, March 31), a powerful debut novel in which each member of a successful Korean American family comes to a respective crossroads. “A long simmering tragedy unfolds in the Kim family of California from the 1980s to the early 2000s,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of the novel, which is narrated by daughter Jane. “Lee’s self-aware, relentlessly honest narrator feels absolutely real, and her story cuts deep.”
Here’s a bit more from our review of American Han: “The title of Lee’s heartrending debut novel employs a Korean word that isn’t defined in the text. Most sources describe ‘han’ as a collective feeling of sorrow, resentment, regret, and internalized anger stemming from the historical experience of suffering; the story of the Kims expresses this complex emotion in a number of ways.…The novel opens in December 2001, when Jane Kim’s mother shows up unexpectedly at her apartment in San Francisco, announcing she’s planning to move into town from Jane’s childhood home in Napa. Jane is not happy to see her.…Lee captures the culture of the Korean diaspora both with small details…and with broader brush strokes.…[Her] refusal to find comedy in the Kims’ personalities and predicament is rare, and extremely effective.”
Lisa Lee is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including the Marianne Russo Emerging Writer Award from the Key West Literary Seminar, an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Center for Fiction, and a Pushcart Prize. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, VIDA, North American Review, Sycamore Review, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston and a Ph.D. in creative writing and literature from the University of Southern California. She lives in Los Angeles.
In a stimulating conversation, Lee and I discuss the Kim family (Jane; her brother, Kevin; their mother and father), their respective goals and dreams, and the exploration of immigrant rage through fiction. Lee addresses the complexities of depicting anger, drawing from her own experience, and the distinction between “Korean han” and “Korean American han.”
At the end of our interview, Lee recommends to listeners a novel she recently read. Follow @kirkus_reviews on Instagram, DM us the title of that novel (along with your email and location), and you’ll be entered in a drawing to receive a $100 Visa gift card, courtesy of Kirkus.
Fully Booked is produced by Jessica Lockhart and Megan Labrise.
