American Han by Lisa Lee

 

Publisher: Algonquin Books

On Sale Date: March 31 2026

Pages: 288

I reviewed a digital review copy from the publisher

Jane Kim and her brother Kevin grew up in the 80's in the San Francisco area. They where two children who worked hard to make their demanding Korean parents proud. They where both gifted and excelled in tennis and other activities. Later on, Jane went to law school and Kevin almost became a professional tennis player, but then became a policeman. Jane was supposed to become successful after law school, which in her mom's expectations also includes owning a home, have a succesfull husband and children. But Jane has stopped going to law school and it is not very clear what she is doing in life in the story. Her mom is still a demanding woman, and her absent father, who had many businesses in the past, is going from one business to another and has become a truck driver. Ther family is unraveled and the futures of Jane and Kevin too, especially when Kevin is involved in a violent incident in his function as a policeman and goes missing.

American Han is a beatifully written novel about a Korean family in between cultures. Jane is a strong main character, and the characters of her mother and brother and father too. The parents had certain high expectations for Jane and Kevin, but find out that real life goes different then expected sometimes. Jane's mother is still pushing her daughter to the perfect life she has in mind for her. It is a bit unclear though what Jane does for a living now she stopped going to law school, that is something that I missed in this story or was just so small in the storyline that you look it over quickly as a reader. The story is switching in time periods, from the past when Jane and Kevin where little and the author connects it to the present time. Overall I found this a nice and entertaining read.