Good Family, Paperback

This collection of eight stories--cynical and sympathetic by turns--represents the author's attempt to document and understand the conflicts, resentments, hatreds, and anxieties of contemporary family life. The title story depicts a mother's busy day playing numerous roles--ashamed, fearless, or humble--depending on which member of her family she's tending to. In "The Privacy of My Father," a daughter tracks her father to Hong Kong in order to spy on what she thinks is an illicit affair. All in all, says Seo Hajin, family means deception--but these masks aren't so easily removed.

About the Author:

Seo Hajin was born in 1961 in Youngcheon, North Kyungsang Province. She studied Korean literature at Kyunghee University in Seoul, Korea, and is currently a assistant professor of Korean Literature at the same school.