![]() ![]() It is in the family’s return to Korea that the novel really breaks new ground, as Janie is forced to confront the effects of family history on her own life, and come to terms with her role in Hannah’s filial ambivalence. The reactions of Janie and Hannah to their tradition-bound parents-one dutiful, the other rebellious-also follows familiar tropes. Janie’s mother lost an older sister under mysterious circumstances that are never discussed. After the gruesome slaughter of his parents, Janie’s father was raised by an older sister. However, when a second crisis forces her parents to move back to Korea after 20 years in Michigan, the urgency of contacting Hannah increases.Īt the center of the novel is the legacy of the Japanese occupation’s violence, the Korean War and the subsequent division of the country. Haunted by her grandmother’s words, Janie resentfully searches this is just the latest instance of her sister’s manipulations. Their father demands that Janie find her, which is difficult since Hannah’s disappearance is clearly intentional. ![]() Janie is a graduate student in mathematics when her sister Hannah disappears from college, cutting off all communication with the family. ![]() So begins the beautiful debut novel Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung, a masterful exploration of generational tensions within a Korean family on two continents. The night her sister was born, Janie was warned by her grandmother to take good care of the new baby, since in their family, a sister disappears in every generation. ![]()
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