Han paints the quirks and preoccupations of old age as the secrets of her heroine jettison her across the world and right smack into another one, literally…[An] engaging tale of the complications of familial love.”
author of Masks Gloria Hatrick
Bold, original, and utterly captivating, The Apology is a sweeping intergenerational saga.”
author of Counterfeit Kirsten Chen
An intriguing, genre-bending novel that proves that the bonds—and grudges—of siblinghood exist beyond the grave. Insightful about secret-keeping and hopeful about the redemptive power of love, Jimin Han is a literary medium for imperfect families.
author of The Year of the Horses Courtney Maum
In The Apology , Jimin Han gives us a complex centenarian character motivated by love and family in Jeonga, the youngest of four wealthy Korean women. Han’s exquisite descriptions and unfolding of secrets kept me engrossed, even when Jeonga was at her most undesirable. Seriously, I did not want this book to end! Refreshing to have such a new take on tradition, reputation, and the smallness of our world.
author of New to Liberty and Peculiar Heritage DeMisty D. Bellinger
The Apology is a vividly rendered novel about the long life spans of secrets, featuring an unforgettable 105-year-old narrator who is as stubborn and proud as she is spirited. With depth, emotion, and total clarity of vision, Jimin Han has crafted a wonderfully moving story about love and loss, betrayal and forgiveness, and the lengths that one woman will go to in this world and the next to undo the mistakes of the past.
author of O Beautiful and Shelter Jung Yun
Jimin Han's The Apology is a captivating multigenerational story of love and secrets, forgiveness and redemption, and about how our decisions and actions can reverberate through time, touching the lives of others in ways we cannot anticipate. Han's clear-eyed insights and rich imaginative powers are on full and impressive display in this intricately-woven portrait of a fierce, determined, and wickedly funny matriarch at the end of her life (and beyond). An original and memorable novel. I did not want it to end!
author of Litany for the Long Moment and The Fish Mary-Kim Arnold
The sins of the parents revisited on the children—it’s an iconic theme but one that feels razor-sharp in Jimin Han’s new novel, The Apology . Jeonga Cha, a wealthy and prideful South Korean centenarian, gets a rude awakening when a decision of passion she made decades ago seems destined to cause catastrophe for her progeny. Her need to correct her mistake takes her around the world and even into the afterlife, where she confronts truths she never wanted to face as she pursues a better outcome. Unique and totally absorbing, The Apology is a story that delves into matters of family, love, tradition and harsh self-awareness as it exposes the secrets we hold from others – and those we keep from ourselves.
author The Lilac House and The Cranberry Inn Barbara Josselsohn
Han's remarkable story, at times hilarious, always gripping, took me on a journey with her unrelenting 105 year-old protagonist who refuses to let anything, even death, stop her from saving her family from the impending disaster she put into motion decades earlier. I couldn't stop reading until I reached the last word, and then I read it again.
author of Last Stop on the 6 and Rebels by Acciden Patricia Dunn
In The Apology, Jimin Han has proven herself to be an ace storyteller, observing the hilarious micro-interactions of her characters, while also taking us on an epic journey over many generations and many realms. As we view the world through the eyes of Jeonga, her 105 year old narrator, we may laugh at her self-absorption and blind spots, but Han manages to also make us feel the slights and stings she endures, and long for her redemption and peace.
“The Apology is a remarkable achievement, weaving together psychological suspense, Korean myth, and an intense scrutiny of family relationships as these are influenced by war and history. Calling to mind the scathing emotional precision of Elena Ferrante and the Korean gender and social critique of Han Kang, Jimin Han is a force to be reckoned with in this novel - and so is Mrs. Jeonga Cha, resourceful and brave matriarch, both in this life and the next.
author of White Dancing Elephants Chaya Bhuvaneswar
The Apology is an uncanny high wire act—arch, tender, mercurial. Jimin Han feels like Iris Murdoch’s heir here, even as this novel came from an artistry that is all her own. This is a story unlike any other of Korea and America, and of a mother’s love—majestic, a deathless avenger, shrewd and wild; an ajumma willing to do anything for her family, including defying death.
author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel Alexander Chee
Jimin Han has woven a marvelous, madcap novel of love and loyalty, the living and the dead, and a family that’s haunted—by the past, by war, by distance and silence carried on across generations. At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, The Apology tells the tale of Jeonga, a proud, isolated, deeply judgmental and wholly unforgettable centenarian matriarch whose dedication to keeping up appearances leads to her ultimate undoing—and her one chance at redemption. An epic, intricate, and wildly entertaining journey of reckoning and reconnection, across oceans and astral planes, The Apology is a powerful fable of family secrets and the lengths we go to keep them—and how the truth, in the end, will set us free.
author of Tomboyland Melissa Faliveno
What does it mean to be the keeper of the stories? What does it mean to be left behind? The Apology shows Jimin Han's talents as a skillful storyteller, interweaving questions of sisterhood and separation, generational secrets and ancestral love, through a singular and unforgettable centenarian voice.
author of The Leavers Lisa Ko
A riveting, hilarious, and moving tale of a woman on a journey through two countries, and two planes of existence. An authentic and wonderfully executed tale of secrets and their consequences.
author of Of Tales and Enigmas and the translator Minsoo Kang
What a superb story this is, unweaving the tangle of family history—and the wrongheaded honor that has walled out love—as this remarkable novel moves from the unguessable to the expansively imagined. It’s a maze of leaps—across boundaries beyond the known—as one woman grapples with the impossible question of how wrongs can be righted. A memorable and wonderfully original book.
author of Secrets of Happiness Joan Silber
Han’s riveting, multi-generational family epic is a wonder—a journey that takes us across continents and worlds, and plunges us into the deepest reaches of the human heart. In Jeonga, Han gives us the profoundly moving portrait of a family matriarch who must sacrifice all in her determination to save her descendants; in doing so, she also ultimately redeems herself.
author of Hope for the Worst Kate Brandt
Jimin Han’s The Apology delights and surprises at every turn—at every chapter, every page. The narrator is a cranky centennial! There are family secrets plus wonderful comedic passages in a novel that doesn’t shy from history or death. It's a comic novel with a serious touch, it's a serious novel with a comic touch, it's the rare combo, serious and comic all at once, deeply felt, deeply alive, brilliantly rendered and willing to explore the complicated affiliations that form along bloodlines, generational divides, class, and love. Also? A hell of a good read, generous with its ghosts both literal and figurative, told with wit and relish.
author of Best Worst American and Extended Stay Juan Martinez
06/05/2023
Han (A Small Revolution ) delivers an uneven ghost story involving a Korean matriarch’s interventions before and after her death. During the Korean War, widow Jeonga Cha’s 15-year-old son, Gwangmu, impregnates his teacher’s 16-year-old sister, Hayun. Jeonga, worried the news would bring scandal to her family, arranges for Hayun and the baby to settle in the U.S. She continues raising Gwangmu in Seoul until he leaves for school in Chicago, then reconnects with Hayun. In the present, when Jeonga is 105, she discovers Gwangmu and Hayun’s granddaughter Ellery is about to marry Jordan, a great-grandson of Jeonga’s long-estranged older sister Seona. (Neither Ellery nor Jordan knows they’re related, and Jeonga doesn’t know whether Seona is still alive.) Jeonga hastens from Seoul to the U.S., to visit Hayun and Ellery in San Francisco and Jordan in Ohio, hoping to stop the wedding. Then, while in Chicago to visit another relative, she is struck by a bus and killed. Awaking in the afterlife, Jeonga is desperate for a “second chance,” and attempts to reconcile with various family members. The novel sags from a few too many side plots, but the feisty and misanthropic Jeonga is a captivating narrator (“I hated people. They had always been terrible”; “You think old ladies can’t run? We certainly can”). Though bloated, this tragicomedy has its charms. Agent: Cynthia Manson, Cynthia Manson Literary Agency. (Aug.)
"The Apology… is a lovely, caustic and trauma-soaked example of the new literary embrace of actual ghosts."—The Chicago Tribune The New York Times The Apology is] a satisfying tale with vivid relationships that will keep readers curious about this complex family shaped by war, loyalty, class-consciousness, and love.”—Booklist The Apology is an imaginative work that draws upon traditional Korean Buddhist beliefs about the afterlife to explore the long-term consequences of decisions made under the value system of a different era.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune The Apology is a life-affirming story about finding family and making amends."—Apple Books The Apology is an uncanny high wire act—arch, tender, mercurial. Jimin Han feels like Iris Murdoch’s heir here, even as this novel came from an artistry that is all her own. This is a story unlike any other of Korea and America, and of a mother’s love—majestic, a deathless avenger, shrewd and wild; an ajumma willing to do anything for her family, including defying death.”—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel The Apology shows Jimin Han's talents as a skillful storyteller, interweaving questions of sisterhood and separation, generational secrets and ancestral love, through a singular and unforgettable centenarian voice." —Lisa Ko, author of The Leavers Joan Silber, author of Secrets of Happiness The Apology is a vividly rendered novel about the long life spans of secrets, featuring an unforgettable 105-year-old narrator who is as stubborn and proud as she is spirited. With depth, emotion, and total clarity of vision, Jimin Han has crafted a wonderfully moving story about love and loss, betrayal and forgiveness, and the lengths that one woman will go to in this world and the next to undo the mistakes of the past."—Jung Yun, author of O Beautiful and Shelter Courtney Maum, author of The Year of the Horses Matthew Salesses, author of The Sense of Wonder and Craft in the Real World The Apology is a captivating multigenerational story of love and secrets, forgiveness and redemption, and about how our decisions and actions can reverberate through time, touching the lives of others in ways we cannot anticipate. Han's clear-eyed insights and rich imaginative powers are on full and impressive display in this intricately-woven portrait of a fierce, determined, and wickedly funny matriarch at the end of her life (and beyond). An original and memorable novel. I did not want it to end!”—Mary-Kim Arnold, author of Litany for the Long Moment and The Fish and the Dove The Apology delights and surprises at every turn—at every chapter, every page. The narrator is a cranky centennial! There are family secrets plus wonderful comedic passages in a novel that doesn’t shy from history or death. It's a comic novel with a serious touch, it's a serious novel with a comic touch, it's the rare combo, serious and comic all at once, deeply felt, deeply alive, brilliantly rendered and willing to explore the complicated affiliations that form along bloodlines, generational divides, class, and love. Also? A hell of a good read, generous with its ghosts both literal and figurative, told with wit and relish."—Juan Martinez, author of Best Worst American and Extended Stay Gloria Hatrick, author of Masks Kate Brandt, author of Hope for the Worst The Apology tells the tale of Jeonga, a proud, isolated, deeply judgmental and wholly unforgettable centenarian matriarch whose dedication to keeping up appearances leads to her ultimate undoing—and her one chance at redemption. An epic, intricate, and wildly entertaining journey of reckoning and reconnection, across oceans and astral planes, The Apology is a powerful fable of family secrets and the lengths we go to keep them—and how the truth, in the end, will set us free.”—Melissa Faliveno, author of Tomboyland The Apology . Jeonga Cha, a wealthy and prideful South Korean centenarian, gets a rude awakening when a decision of passion she made decades ago seems destined to cause catastrophe for her progeny. Her need to correct her mistake takes her around the world and even into the afterlife, where she confronts truths she never wanted to face as she pursues a better outcome. Unique and totally absorbing, The Apology is a story that delves into matters of family, love, tradition and harsh self-awareness as it exposes the secrets we hold from others – and those we keep from ourselves."—Barbara Josselsohn, author The Lilac House and The Cranberry Inn The Apology , Jimin Han gives us a complex centenarian character motivated by love and family in Jeonga, the youngest of four wealthy Korean women. Han’s exquisite descriptions and unfolding of secrets kept me engrossed, even when Jeonga was at her most undesirable. Seriously, I did not want this book to end! Refreshing to have such a new take on tradition, reputation, and the smallness of our world."—DeMisty D. Bellinger, author of New to Liberty and Peculiar Heritage The Apology, Jimin Han deftly threads a comedic line through a multigenerational family chock full of grievances and perceived slights. The impudent yet vulnerable narrator Jeonga shows us something she’d never reveal to her sisters: her pain and her joy. She’ll fight to the death—and beyond—to do what she thinks is right, and she’ll win the hearts of readers while doing so." —Ed Lin, author of Ghost Month Minsoo Kang, author of Of Tales and Enigmas and the translator of the Penguin Classics edition of The Story of Hong Gildong Deborah Zoe Laufer, author/playwright, End Days, Informed Consent, Be Here Now “The Apology is a remarkable achievement, weaving together psychological suspense, Korean myth, and an intense scrutiny of family relationships as these are influenced by war and history. Calling to mind the scathing emotional precision of Elena Ferrante and the Korean gender and social critique of Han Kang, Jimin Han is a force to be reckoned with in this novel - and so is Mrs. Jeonga Cha, resourceful and brave matriarch, both in this life and the next.” —Chaya Bhuvaneswar, author of White Dancing Elephants Michael J. Seidlinger, author of Anybody Home? and Scream (Object Lessons) Patricia Dunn, author of Last Stop on the 6 and Rebels by Accident The Apology is a sweeping intergenerational saga, delivered by one of the sharpest, most memorable voices I've ever read. A stunning new novel by a writer whose work I've long admired.”—Kirstin Chen, author of Counterfeit
Kathleen Kim's magnificent performance brings out the complexity and drama of this outstanding saga, which crosses cultures through generations and extends into the afterlife. Kim is the compelling voice of Jeonga Cha, a strong-willed woman who is haunted by decisions she made based on pride and her need to maintain her family's honor. Generations later, as a ghost, Jeonga Cha must rectify the consequences of her actions. Kim's Korean American accent provides an authenticity that immerses listeners in this novel. The wide range of emotions in her evocative narration deftly reveals Jeonga Cha's evolving voices as a woman, daughter, mother, sister, and grandmother throughout the intersection of political and cultural divides during her lifetime. Fans of BESTIARY by K-Ming Chang may find this divine, supernatural listening experience particularly intriguing. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kathleen Kim's magnificent performance brings out the complexity and drama of this outstanding saga, which crosses cultures through generations and extends into the afterlife. Kim is the compelling voice of Jeonga Cha, a strong-willed woman who is haunted by decisions she made based on pride and her need to maintain her family's honor. Generations later, as a ghost, Jeonga Cha must rectify the consequences of her actions. Kim's Korean American accent provides an authenticity that immerses listeners in this novel. The wide range of emotions in her evocative narration deftly reveals Jeonga Cha's evolving voices as a woman, daughter, mother, sister, and grandmother throughout the intersection of political and cultural divides during her lifetime. Fans of BESTIARY by K-Ming Chang may find this divine, supernatural listening experience particularly intriguing. M.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
2023-06-21
Hak Jeonga dies at the age of 105, killed by a bus in Chicago. Narrating from the afterlife, she fills in the events leading up to the accident. Ten days prior, she’d received a letter from Joyce, the granddaughter of her estranged sister, Seona, who’d eloped to North Korea when she was young and never saw her family again. The letter, as it turns out, is a request for money: Joyce’s son, Jordan, is terribly ill, and they need to raise $70,000 for an experimental treatment. What concerns Jeonga most in the letter, however, is the brief reference to Jordan’s fiancee, Ellery Arnaud. Ellery is also the name of Jeonga’s illegitimate great-granddaughter. After some sleuthing confirms that Ellery Arnaud is indeed her descendant, Jeonga proceeds to plan a trip to America, ostensibly to give the money to Joyce in person, but in reality, to try to forestall Jordan’s marriage to Ellery. The narrator, in spite of her old age, speaks like a child. The sentences are short, simple, and prosaic, the sentiments immature. The novel relies too much on the uniqueness of the narrator’s identity as an elderly Korean woman without doing the work to make her convincing. One wishes that the plot could be the novel’s saving grace, but this is not the case. The stakes feel low, and as a result, the plot crawls, filled with geographical movement (from Seoul to San Francisco to Chicago to the afterlife) but lacking in emotional depth. The catharsis, when it comes, feels cheap, sagging with thinly rendered apologies.
An unwieldy novel about family reconciliation.
