As I close the door behind me, I hear her saying to my grandfather that it's his fault, it's all his fault, he dragged her to Japan, he let my mother leave, and now he's driving me away.

Cover of the book has an endorsement which reads "quietly melancholic, softly textured, and roundly gorgeous." I laughed at the lit-con description but it's spot on. The story blends alienation, family drama, expectations,estrangement, being apart-of, and seemingly-asinine cultural norms together in a way that's just a slow burn throughout. No explosions, and why would there be, it's death by a thousand cuts instead

Choson – the unified Korea before the civil war split it. Zainichis have no knowledge of "north" and "south" Korea or the politics therein, usually just picking N/S because of family ties or adherence to tradition.

We are all people of Choson. People from a country that no longer exists

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