What We Kept to Ourselves

August 14, 2023
Kim follows up The Last Story of Mina Lee with an ambitious if unwieldy look at the lives of the Korean-American Kim family: patriarch John; his wife, Sunny; and their children, college-age Ana and high school senior Ronald. The action kicks off in 1999 Los Angeles, a year after Sunny has left the family with little explanation. One afternoon, John discovers a body in the family’s backyard, and in the dead man’s hand is a letter addressed to Sunny. Police are quick to declare the death an accident and move on, but Ana and Ronald are eager to identify the deceased and find out what linked him to their mother. Flashbacks to the 1970s flesh out John and Sunny’s relationship, their early lives in Korea, and Sunny’s difficulty adjusting to America when she and John arrive in Los Angeles. Kim sets a laundry list of worthy themes in her crosshairs—including racial discrimination, police corruption, and the struggles of Asian women in and out of the family—and explores them sensitively, but sometimes stumbles in wedding those themes to the novel’s plot. The resulting speed bumps aren’t a deal-breaker, but they make it difficult to remain engaged in the central mystery. Still, strong prose and evident passion make this worthwhile. Agent: Amy Bishop, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.