Play Book Tag discussion

Nuclear Family by Joseph Han - 3* - My Review

It is not typical to find a story that focuses on the months leading up to the 2018 nuclear missile false alarm by North Korea. There are two main storylines, one involves a Korean American family running several restaurants in Hawai'i. The other concerns their eldest son's attempt to run across the Demilitarized Zone from South to North Korea. The Cho family’s restaurants start getting noticed after Guy Fieri visits. Daughter Grace is finishing college, working at the restaurant, and becoming addicted to drugs. Son Jacob has just moved to Seoul to teach English. After the DMZ incident, the family comes under suspicion and sales decline.

This book has an interesting premise, and I enjoyed parts of it, but the overall execution just did not work very well for me. The setup is well-done, including the family dynamics and descriptions of Hawaiian setting. I also liked the parts related to Korean history. However, it loses its way in the second half, with longs lists of items/names, redacted text (which I found puzzling and did not add to the story in any meaningful way), point or view transitions for no apparent reason, and supernatural intrusions into the storyline. I don’t regret reading it, but I am also not enthusiastic about it.