Shelter

Shelter is a family saga about 2 generations of a Korean American family in America.  Kyung Cho is a husband and father of one son with financial problems due to not being able to live within his means.  After considering selling his house and moving back in with his wealthy parents who he does not get along with, tragedy strikes his parents and they become dependent upon him.  Kyung tries to re-enter their lives as he takes care of them but he is rejected and does not know why.  He believes that he is doing his duty as a Korean son.

Shelter shows the cultural differences of Korean Americans.  The way they think about family life, community life, and religion is clearly shown.  While the author was born in South Korea she was raised in North Dakota by her immigrant parents just as Kyung was.  She obviously knows what she is writing about here.  The story moved along at a good pace and much of the tension was between how differently Kyung perceived his duties compared to what his parents actually expected of him.

This was a lovely debut novel from Jung Yun and I am looking forward to reading more from her.