An 105 year old character isn't something you see everyday and it is definitely what made me want to pick this up. I questioned myself because I don't always love ghosts, but Han pulls it off masterfully. A beautiful work of historical fiction that will educate you and make you think!

While this title has an engaging and interesting main character it was slow enough to progress the story that I found myself putting it down in favor of reading something else. Perhaps I'll pick it up again and try to finish it at another time.

"The Apology" by Jimin Han is a sweeping intergenerational saga that weaves together a rich tapestry of family history, cultural identity, and the weight of past decisions. Set in South Korea, the novel follows the journey of a 105-year-old woman named Hak Jeonga, who, after receiving a letter, finds herself thrust into the afterlife, determined to prevent a curse from wreaking havoc on future generations.

Hak Jeonga's life has been marked by difficult choices made to protect her family's reputation and honor. The consequences of one such decision, made years ago when she sent her daughter-in-law to America, ripple through time and threaten to unravel the bonds between family members. As the story unfolds, readers are taken on a journey that spans decades, delving into the days of Japanese colonialism, the Korean War, and the diaspora experience.

The narrative is a skillful blend of ghost story and family saga, masterfully told through the unique and strong-willed voice of Hak Jeonga. The novel explores the complexity of relationships, particularly between mothers and daughters, sisters, and the ties that bind generations together. The characters are vividly drawn, each with their own struggles, desires, and secrets that contribute to the intricate web of the story.

Jimin Han's writing is evocative and emotionally resonant, capturing the nuances of the characters' emotions and the historical contexts in which they exist. The themes of forgiveness, redemption, and the search for identity run deep throughout the narrative, inviting readers to reflect on their own lives and the choices they make.

"The Apology" is a poignant and thought-provoking exploration of family dynamics, cultural heritage, and the enduring impact of decisions made across generations. With its rich storytelling and unforgettable characters, the novel is a testament to the power of storytelling to illuminate the complexities of the human experience.

This surprising, amusing, illuminating book has many faces. Is it a ghost story, a character study, a mystery? Whatever lens it is viewed through the story of Korean centenarian sisters travelling, complaining, and experiencing love and loss. These are characters that I wanted to follow, worlds (before and after death) that were so interesting and effectively captured. Actions inspired by love, doubt, and disorientation, regrets, culture, age, and anger led me along, informing the story.

I think I enjoyed the first half of the book a bit more than the second half. I really enjoyed learning about the family and culture of South Korea. I wish we had learned more about a particular character's life in North Korea a bit more but it was still interesting to learn the differences between American and Korean culture, such as the naming practices and traditions. The second half of the book dealt with a lot of family drama overseas in the United States and what our main character was attempting to do but the plot didn't hold my attention and I found myself wanting to just learn more about the family dynamics between the sisters. Definitely worth a read though. I found the writing style engaging and the main character's narrative definitely held my interest throughout.

I love a generational drama, and Jimin Han creates a strong sense of Jeonga's family and the sense of loyalty and fidelity within this sphere. My favorite parts of the novel are those when Jeonga is alive and playing the role of snooty, controlling sammonim even while traveling with her fellow centenarian sisters and her personal assistant. I also appreciate how well the cultural elements of family and aging in Korea are depicted even after Jeonga dies. The afterlife scenes are a bit on-the-nose in Han's insistence on squeezing out Jeonga's titular apology, but they fit within the "family first" theme of the novel.

This book was wonderful! You should definitely give it a read if you are interested in a 105-year-old woman who is thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come. It was so good and I think anyone could read this one!

At 105 years old, Jeonga Cha has spent most of her life hiding the secrets of her family. On one fateful day, far from her home, she chases those secrets into the afterlife. And she won't know peace until she can make amends for some of the decisions she made.

I really enjoyed the story Jimin Han created in The Apology. The first half of the book is rife with the tension of secrets threatening to come to life. The second half takes place in an ethereal, orange scented afterlife. It's a beautiful story about the consequences of our decisions on those we love and those that follow. I particularly loved getting to learn more about the role of ghosts in Korea folklore.

While I loved the story, the writing left me a little wanting. Jeong and her sisters, Mina, Aera and Seona were such interesting characters but they lay flat on the page. I didn't feel a connection to any of them nor did I come to care for any of the other secondary characters. Sentences felt choppy and themes were repetitive and sometimes, a little too on the nose.

Still, Han told a story that was both interesting and beautiful.

Growing up, one of the most profound novels I had read was Mitch Albom’s Five People You Meet in Heaven, and it had stayed with me for a long time. The idea that one had a chance to redeem themselves in the afterlives and face the mistakes they had made when they were living. And, it made me believe in the afterlife - it’s something I have always believed in. So, I was beyond excited to have the opportunity to read @jiminhanwriter‘s The Apology - an intergenerational saga told by a 105-year-old South Korean matriarch, Hak Jeonga, who is responsible for the fate of her immediate family. Her choices come to haunt her when she makes the ill-fated decision to send her daughter-in-Law to America to cover up an illegitimate birth.

In this female-centric novel, we see how the major historical events that have occurred in Korea play a role in breaking up her family as her sister Seona elopes to North Korea and she is never heard of again until her own passing. As the story evolves and Jeonga seeks to redeem herself, she is confronted with her difficult past and the mistakes she has made that lead to the uncovering of a family secret. Filled with humor, family trauma, and the stories from the Korean Diaspora, this novel is a must read as it is indeed a part-ghost story, and part-family saga. Perhaps, my most favorite part of the novel was when Jeonga was trying to communicate with her aide, Chohui through an American shaman/psychic, and there was a lot of miscommunication and humor interweaved through the interaction. This moment reminded me of how when we grief and mourn our loved ones we have lost, we always seek to make a connection with them to perhaps hear their voice, redeem our relationship or seek forgiveness. A solid 5 star ✨ and a must-read!

The novel released on August 1st, and an insightful look at into the Korean cultural beliefs about spirituality and afterlife - a must read! Photos taken at Barnes and Noble book store in Milford and Glastonbury, CT!

Thanks you @jiminhanwriter, @littlebrown, and @hachetteus for the gifted copy!

#TheApology #JiminHan #LittleBrown #HachetteBooks ndCo

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy of this book. The summary of this book looked so inviting, but the story gets too into history for me. Probably not the fault of the author, but I was not a fan. If you like historical fiction, this book would probably be a great choice as it is well written and an interesting story.. 3 stars

This is an intriguing story about centenarians and long-held secrets. The tale of Korean sisters spans almost a hundred years, from pre-Korean conflict to modern times. The Jeonga has always tried to do the correct thing for the family, avoiding conflict and scandal.

This has led to keeping secrets, the kind 23 and Me can uncover. When those secrets are about to create a family crisis she travels to the US, along with her two older sisters, to resolve things. Unfortunately, she is hit by a bus so she has to work to help her family from the afterlife. For me, the first quarter was slow going but by the time I was a third of the way into the book I was fully engaged and excited. I felt like she was teaching me life lessons on every page--how to be practical but generous, how to revisit one's past and how to make reparations when they are due.

Unfortunately, "The Apology" was a "did not finish" for me. I got about 100 pages in, and the themes and the characters got on my nerves. I think having main characters over 100 years old put the story out of touch for me.

family saga and ghost story all rolled into one? sign me up! the apology was a lot of fun to read and i loved the dynamics of the sisters. fairly short, sweet, and easy to read. excited to see more from jimin han in the future!

Part ghost story and part family saga, The Apology explores how decisions can affect our lives, and those of our loved-ones, for generations to come. In modern-day South Korea, 105 year old Hak Jeonga lives a comfortable, but lonely life. Many years earlier, she made a decision that cost her a relationship with her only child and, subsequently, his family. Now, generations later, her decision is about to result in some serious consequences. Jeonga travels to America to try to right her earlier wrongs and, in the process, has a chance to revisit her long life. This is a beautiful story with an interesting concept, but I ultimately found it unsatisfying. The central conflict/problem just didn't seem that dire and the conclusion was anti-climactic.

I love the LitHub article where Jimin Han refers to Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread — a very unlikely source of inspiration!

I was most looking forward to the intergenerational aspect of this book, but it only made its way onto the page through the reflections and memories of the MC.

What was clear throughout the story is how dedicated Jeonga was to maintaining the status quo of family name and reputation, never once considering the happiness or mistakes that young people are prone to make.

The spirit world aspect was enjoyable even as I would have preferred an actual resolution with the whole family as that to me would have been better in terms of moving towards forgiveness and mending the errors of the past.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Jimin Han’s The Apology is the story of Jeonga who wanders through the afterlife at 105 years old. She remembers her life in South Korea and the decisions that she made for both herself and her relatives that permanently altered their family dynamics. Han’s writing features strong thematical elements of regret and a desire to make amends for past wrongdoings, especially regarding Jeonga’s treatment of her older sister, Seona. This work is a captivating narrative centred on achieving familial redemption.

Hak Cha Jeonga, a 105-year-old matriarch of a wealthy Korean extended family, travels to the US to offer financial assistance for the seriously ill descendant of her estranged sister–and to prevent his marriage to her own illicit descendant. On the way, she is hit by a bus and killed–but even death does not end her desperate attempts to preserve her family secrets and prevent the marriage. In this novel that ranges from her memories of Korea under Japanese occupation to the present day, Jeonga must come to terms with the choices she has made and the damaging effects that have rippled down through her family over the decades.

THE APOLOGY is an engaging look at the inner and outer worlds of a wealthy Korean centenarian and her family relations. I was continually interested in Jeonga’s life and history. However, I did become a bit frustrated with the slow unfolding of the narrative and the huge weight Jeonga placed on preventing this marriage between family members who are, in actual fact, quite genetically distant from each other. This is consistent with her character and her cultural background, but–coupled with the relatively slow plot–may keep some readers from feeling dramatically compelled by Jeonga’s problems.

The supernatural “ghost story” elements are not as prominent as the book’s promo copy led me to expect: about 60 percent of the novel traces the living Jeonga’s backstory and the days leading up to her death. A fair amount of the remaining section is a slow movement through the mechanics of the afterworld, with very little time devoted to the ghost Jeonga’s interactions with her living descendants. For me, these authorial choices were a bit disappointing. Still, the novel kept me engaged all the way through, and I found myself consistently interested in Jeonga’s character and world.

A worthwhile read for people interested in family relations over time, Korean history in the World War II and postwar era, and how social pressures and the choices we make echo down through the generations.

A letter meant for her older sister Mina compels 105-year-old Jeonga Cha to reflect upon her past and make hasty plans to travel to the United States. Decades ago, Jeonga made a decision in the interest of her family’s reputation, sending her only son’s illegitimate child and the child’s mother to the United States – a fact that she has kept a secret from her sisters. Jeonga is the youngest of four sisters. One of her sisters, Seona, eloped with her lover and settled in North Korea, and she has not seen or heard from her in over eighty-nine years. Much has transpired in her life since then, but Jeonga has remained set in her ways. But when that decision from the past comes back to haunt her and potentially impact the lives of both her and Seona’s branches of the family, she knows that she has to take charge of the situation, right her wrongs and take responsibility for her actions. But after reaching the United States with two of her older sisters and her assistant Chohui. she meets with a fatal accident before she can share her secret and the narrative follows Jeonga as she tries to find a way to communicate with her loved ones from the afterlife.

Spanning several decades and revolving around themes of family, sisterhood, secrets, self-acceptance and forgiveness, The Apology by Jimin Han combines historical fiction and intergenerational family drama with elements of surrealism and a good dose of humor. The narrative is presented from Jeonga’s first–person perspective. I loved the premise of this novel and I found the protagonist and her sisters to be interesting characters. The bickering and banter made for some entertaining reading. The promise of a story with a centenarian main character and her family set during the Korean War was enticing. However, despite the promising premise and interesting cast of characters, I did not enjoy this novel as much as I expected. A deeper exploration of the historical context and the impact of the Korean War on the lives of Jeonga’s family was missing and I found the writing to be a tad choppy with the transitions between past and present timelines abrupt, which messed with the flow of the story as did the uneven pacing. The afterlife segment of the narrative is well - written and I appreciated the humor the author injects into the narrative as we follow Jeonga as she tries to communicate with her loved ones. Overall, while I was entertained and appreciated the underlying message of this story, I wasn’t quite invested in the characters and the unraveling of the secret as it is gradually revealed to us wasn’t quite compelling as it was initially made out to be. Having said that, I do feel the author has promise and would be eager to read more of Jimin Han’s work in the future.

Many thanks to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Jimin Han's THE APOLOGY is definitely one of my top reads for 2023. I was immediately drawn into the compelling narrative voice from the first few pages and was reluctant to take breaks from reading. The blurb says the story is told from "the singular voice of a defiant, funny, and unforgettable centenarian" and it did not disappoint. It was really refreshing to have the story told from an older voice--and well, like Olga Tokarczuk's DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD. The non-linear structure was also executed brilliantly and everything just unfolds wonderfully. Heartbreaking and heartwarming all in one. Han's novel deserves to not only be enjoyed but studied in classrooms. I truly loved this.