Min Jin Lee, the author of 2017's bestselling Pachinko, has a new novel out now. American Hagwon centres on the Kohs, a well-off family brought down in the world after the Asian financial crisis, as they move from Seoul to Sydney and then California through the 1990s and early 2000s. For the Koh children, studious Bo, athletic DH and artistically minded Mido, education is not just aspiration but a continual struggle of re-evaluation and self-reflection, with the hagwon, a Korean cram school, standing for the promise of another life.
Speaking from her home in Harlem, New York, Lee said Australia 'offered a fascinating social experiment' in which to set much of the novel, especially as an alternative to the more ruthless aspects of American society. Her affections include HECS, TAFE, which she called 'genius', and mandatory voting. 'The sausage sizzle!' she added. By contrast, she described the US as a place where 'you have to bankrupt yourself to get your cancer treated' and 'if your employer doesn't give you the time to vote, you can't vote. To me, it's not a true democracy.'
Lee said her novels are 'Trojan horses', aimed at persuading readers to recognise 'the full humanity of people who have been very invisible' and to show the lie behind the promise that a selective education will protect you. 'You can have this highly selective education and yet end up working as a fried fish cook. You get old. No one wants you. I'm talking about being made obsolete in the era of capitalism,' she said.
She also described the novel's 'clean' writing, which she wants to be so precise 'that there's actually no room for misinterpretation'. American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee (4th Estate, $38) is available now.