Joseph Han

audio fiction (~7.5 hrs)

Korean-Americans operating a family restaurant chain in Honolulu are shocked to discover their son/brother (teaching abroad in South Korea) has inexplicably attempted to make a run over the DMZ towards North Korea. Told in shifting viewpoints (with skillful and absorbing narration by Keong Sim, with accurate-sounding Korean and native Hawai'ian accents) from the weed-addicted sister to other members of the family, including the spirit of the estranged grandfather who show more was compelling the young man to act in such a foolishly brazen way. show less

I enjoyed many elements of this, but other parts really didn't work for me. Positives: Hawaiian local color, Korean history, family dynamics. Negatives: [redacted], longs lists of names, magical realism and ghost elements. I did mostly enjoy the writing and characters, but some parts really just didn't resonate with me, or have much impact.

The many perspectives started to make the story feel unfocused.
Everything to do with the ghosts and afterlife was unnerving in a way that I enjoyed and it tied in well with the family trauma and dysfunction the author addresses. But the structure of the book and the attempts to follow so many characters and do so much got in the way of really caring for the Chos individually.

I don't know where to begin on just how amazing this book was and that you absolutely need to read this.

Nuclear Family is such a smart and well written that I was sucked in straight away and I got annoyed with myself everytime I had to put it down; I needed to know what happened next.

I liked how the book switched between characters, and I really loved that the POV in some chapters would switch to second person from third. I haven't come across too many books that do second person POV so it show more was really cool to see a scene unfold through the characters' eyes like that. I kind of wish it happened more often in the book, but I loved it nonetheless.

Overall this was a fantastic debut novel that had some great commentary. show less