Book Summary and Reviews of Shelter by Jung Yun

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CarolK

Shelter
Kyung Cho and his wife, Gillian, are in over their heads financially. Things are so bad that they are facing the reality that their home must be sold. As a reader I felt the doom as the realtor, Gertie, delivers the stark news that the sale of their house may not bail them out. Gertie seems uninterested in this lower class sale and becomes even more distracted by something in the Cho’s backyard. All three can’t believe their eyes. It’s a woman, a naked woman at that, and the real shocker is that it appears to be Kyung’s mother, Mae. On reaching her, Kyung sees she is bruised, and dirty and is begging for help. This beginning sets the tone of what can only be seen as a plummeting course of disaster.

I found this story of a dysfunctional family sad, fascinating and haunting at the same time. Kyung and his family immigrated to America from Korea when he was a young boy. The author, Jung Yun is quick to point out that Koreans are not the sum of her characters but I feel culture definitely plays a role in who these characters are, how they live and their interrelationships in family. They need not be Korean though. This could be any first or second-generation nationality bringing their cultural mores to America and adapting to life here.

Shelter is a story immersed in secrets kept, guilt, duty, abuse, love and hate. It explores how all of these define Kyung and his family and the context of home. The title itself found me contemplating the meaning of the word. Is shelter the home, the protective sanctuary it should be? Shelter, with its clash of culture and family conflict has the forlorn tone of another favorite book of mine, The House of Sand and Fog, and may appeal to those who found that book a compelling read.

Jung Yun has written an outstanding, intricately woven, debut. It begs reflection and discussion.

Maggie R. (Canoga Park, CA)

Shelter
Another excellent book that takes the reader into the inner workings of a complicated family. At once painful and familiar, the emotions and relationships of Kyung, his wife and parents are exposed following a horrendous violation. Highly recommended.

Donna W. (Lansing, NY)

Skeletons in the closet...
Well written and hard to put down. Great character development through the melding of an Americanized son with his traditional, Korean parents.

The family tragedy brings a great many forces to a head, and brings to life all of the myriad of flaws of this family.

Family secrets culminate in mixed emotions throughout the maladjusted family dynamic. A grown man comes to grips with the raw emotions experienced throughout his childhood as he tries to make sense of it all...

Sheila B. (Danvers, MA)

Riveting family study
A damaged family fraught with secrets---until it blows wide open. Unspeakable acts behind closed doors; survivors and victims. Realistic reactions to terrible events. I liked this book a LOT as it is a study in man's inhumanity to man and its effects on the children and the children of those children.

Rose N. (Saginaw, MI)

Shelter
Kyung Cho is a Korean-American college professor with a young family and a lot of debt who has always tried to 'fit in'. He grew up with cold and abusive parents, Jin and Mae, who live in luxury near Kyung and have had little to do with the Cho family through the years. When his parents experience a horrible tragedy and must move in with the Chos, Kyung's life slowly begins to unravel. He is astounded and envious of the love with which his father, Jin, enfolds his son, Ethan...love that has always been withheld from Kyung. Kyung is unable to feel the love and sympathy that he knows he should feel toward his parents. He is also unable to accept the fact that his parents are sharing his home and his family as they have never cared to do in the past. Kyung's life begins spinning out of control.

This is a compelling and emotional story of love, loss, guilt and forgiveness. This is a book ripe for sharing and discussion.

Carolyn V. (Douglass, KS)

Shelter
I classify books as "Easy to put down" or "Easy to pick up". Shelter is an easy to pick up book. You wanted to get back to it to find out how the defining event of the novel came to be.
I wanted to read this book for the characters – a birth family, a mother, a son, a father, a son's married family. The characters were well done; you got to know them and the reasons for their behavior. It is true that children really never know their parents. There is so much more to a life than parenting. The sense of duty and independence on the part of the son were believable and sympatric.
The ending was hinted at so it wasn't just a surprise out of nowhere. I appreciate a novelist's ability to cause use to say to ourselves, "I should have seen that coming!"
I have wondered how plausible the ending scene with the father and son really was, given the lack of emotional expression within their culture. After reflection I have decided that it was plausible, but it makes me want to know about their life after the end of the novel. Highest praise for a novel is when I keep thinking about it after I have finished reading it

...23 more reader reviews