American Hagwon

Set across Seoul, Sydney, and Orange County, California, between 1992 and 2007, the novel follows the Koh family, Korean immigrants whose lives are shaped by the pressures of education, downward mobility, and the sacrifices parents and children make for one another.

In 1992, John Koh, a quiet, principled manager at Han River Industrials & Trading (HRI), relocates his family from Sydney to Seoul at the directive of his boss and close friend, Taehun Shin. John's wife, Helen, a resourceful Ewha University graduate, manages the household finances. Their three American-born children, Bo, DH, and Mido, struggle to adjust to Korean schools. Mido, 13, is extremely quiet and socially withdrawn. At her new middle school, the homeroom teacher strikes her palms with a brass ruler for answering a math problem incorrectly. Yun Kim, the class president, befriends Mido and introduces her to Eagle Academy, a prestigious English-language hagwon (private tutoring center) run by Korean American educator Tom Song. Sean Morgan, a Black, Yale-educated instructor, assesses the Koh children and advocates for their admission. Tom arranges for DH, the athletic middle child, to attend Phillips Andover Academy on a scholarship secretly funded by Renee Cha, the wealthy mother of Peter Son, another student heading to Andover.

Helen's older sister, Sonya, pressures Helen to enroll the children at Eagle. Sonya and Helen grew up as virtual orphans after their parents repeatedly abandoned them. Sonya married Yong-gil, the nephew of Chairman Hong-gyun Mun, a powerful real estate magnate, in a match the Chairman arranged, choosing his loyal secretary as his nephew's bride.

Shin asks John to fire Danbi Jung, a young HRI employee with whom Shin is having an affair. When John attempts the dismissal, Danbi rips open her blouse, exposes herself, and screams, framing John for assault. He is placed on unpaid leave. Helen appeals to Shin's wife, Mary, who uses her connections to secure John a demoted position back in Sydney. The family has been in Seoul only 17 months.

Bo, the eldest child, stays behind to retake the Suneung, the national college entrance exam, living in a gosiwon (tiny rented study room) funded by Sonya. During this period, Yun's family loses their fortune and immigrates to Orange County. While spending a summer in Sydney, Mido briefly meets Tek, an older Korean Australian student who later becomes her boyfriend.

Bo fails the Suneung three times. The night before his third attempt, he rushes a gosiwon friend to the hospital after an accidental medication overdose, leaving him too exhausted to perform. Sonya persuades him to move to California and work for Lion Han, Yun's boyfriend, a Princeton graduate who owns Exodus Academy, a hagwon in Cypress. The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis devastates the Kohs. Helen loses her job in Sydney, and Shin flies there to shut down John's division. With funding from Chairman Mun, channeled through Sonya, the family relocates to Cypress. John takes a kitchen job at a fried seafood shop. Helen works sales at a Korean store. Mido drops out of the University of Sydney, where she had joined the drama society and discovered an unexpected talent for playwriting, to work at Exodus as a tutor.

Yun and Lion elope. Lion hires Peter Son, now DH's close friend from Andover, as a math tutor after Peter transfers from Yale to Pomona College. Mido grows concerned about Ginny Noh, an 11-year-old student whose parents can no longer afford her homestay fees, and Lion and Yun take Ginny into their home.

As the family stabilizes, Bo enrolls at Fullerton College, discovers psychology, and transfers to UCLA. DH enters Columbia Law School. Lion opens Fortress Academy, a larger hagwon in Irvine, with Peter and Mido as co-managers. Mido, now earning significant income through tutoring and college consulting, decides to delay her own education to fund Bo's doctorate and DH's law school debts. She becomes known as "the Surgeon" for her exacting essay coaching. Tek visits and proposes marriage, urging Mido to return to Sydney. She refuses, unable to leave her family.

At Gospel Presbyterian Church, Shin and Danbi, now living in California, are nominated as deacons. John is also nominated as an elder, recognized for his integrity. Helen is then diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer that has spread to her liver and bones. The family has no health insurance. Sonya flies from Seoul, takes charge of the household, and buys the family a townhouse using money the Chairman provides. Helen blesses her children and distributes her few pieces of jewelry before dying on December 29, 2000, at age 51. Tek visits after the funeral, and Mido ends their relationship, reaffirming her commitment to stay in California.

In Seoul, Sonya begins a love affair with the Chairman, who restructures his estate to give her company stock as insurance against Yong-gil's infidelity. When Yong-gil grows suspicious and forces himself on Sonya, the Chairman strikes her in anger the next morning, then immediately regrets it. Sonya flees to California but eventually returns under a negotiated settlement.

Back in California, John manages Rose Salon, a nail salon Sonya purchases, with Yun's mother, Nari, as his co-manager. On Mido's 27th birthday, Peter kisses her, and they begin a secret relationship. Peter tells Mido he does not believe in marriage because it would draw him back to Korea and his powerful family's expectations. Mido accepts, though the arrangement creates tension.

Danbi, now a church elder alongside Shin, begins an affair with fellow elder George Hong, a wealthy real estate developer who teaches her to flip houses. She borrows from insurance premium accounts and the church's building fund to finance increasingly expensive properties. When her largest flip falls through, she cannot repay the $1.05 million George borrowed from the church fund. The Finance Committee discovers the missing money, and both Danbi and George are arrested. Shin, implicated as CEO of the insurance agency, faces investigation. His wife Mary flies from New Jersey with divorce papers. Shin signs them only after Mary agrees to ask John to speak with him. Shortly after, Shin leaves his young daughter, Anna, with John and takes his own life.

John and Bo care for 9-year-old Anna. Renee proposes that Lion open a Fortress location in Seoul, and Peter and Mido move there to run a pilot program enrolling 50 students selected by lottery. DH, with Renee's help, takes a position at a Seoul law firm. In Seoul, Mido reunites with Tek, who criticizes hagwons and urges her to quit. She defends her work and tells him not to contact her again. When a powerful parent whose son was not selected insults Mido for lacking a degree, calling her a fraud, and the mother offers a cash bribe, Peter and Mido refuse. Afterward, Mido quietly offers to help the rejected boy and his friend with their applications for free.

Mido tells Peter she wants to return to California, finish her degree, and have children. Peter tells her he wants children too. In the novel's final scene, John sits at the kitchen table beside Anna, who has asked to stay in his home while she waits for her mother. The widower and the child sit together in quiet companionship, reading side by side.