Nuclear Family

In his debut novel, Han draws upon his life experience as a Korean American living in Hawai‘i to tell the story of the Cho family. Mr. and Mrs. Cho live with their two adult children—Grace, 21, and Jacob, 25. Their life centers on the family’s three Korean plate lunch restaurants, which are steadily gaining in popularity. Disenchanted with the restaurant business, Jacob moves to Seoul to teach English, where, unbeknown to the family, he becomes possessed by the spirit of his grandfather, who is desperate to return to North Korea. While in Seoul, Jacob’s grandfather makes a run for North Korea and ends up getting Jacob shot in the process. The fallout from this event has dramatic repercussions for the family’s business and personal lives. Listeners will appreciate actor and narrator Keong Sim’s (Dead to Me, Netflix) skillful portrayal of the characters’ varying degrees of English mastery as well as his authentic pronunciations of the Korean words that are sprinkled throughout.