NEW YORK (AP) — Min Jin Lee's first novel since her million-selling “Pachinko” is a long book that grew out of a basic question: What do Koreans care most about?
“We’re obsessed with education, and it became my obsession over why Koreans care so much,” says Lee, whose “American Hagwon,” scheduled for Sept. 29, will likely be one of the year's most anticipated books. Hagwons are for-profit tutoring centers — sometimes likened to “cram schools” — where Koreans of all ages receive instruction for everything from English to guitar to cooking. Any language school or organization that gives private lesson music classes” can be considered a Hagwon, Lee says.
The author, 57, calls herself an “accidental historian,” a novelist who uses broad narratives to unearth the past, make sense of the present and explore race, gender and class among other issues. “American Hagwon” is the third of a planned quartet about Korea and the Korean diaspora that began with “Free Food for Millionaires” in 2007 and continued a decade later with “Pachinko,” a National Book Award finalist that was adapted by Apple TV+ into a series and has been translated into dozens of languages.
In 2024, The New York Times ranked “Pachinko” at No. 15 among the best novels of the 21st century.
Cardinal, a Hachette Book Group imprint, is calling her new release a deep look into “what happens when the rules shift, the world order becomes suddenly unrecognizable and benchmarks of success are no longer a guarantee.” In “American Hagwon,” Lee sets her story everywhere from Korea to Australia to Southern California as she tracks the journey of a middle-class Korean family upended by the Asian financial crisis and hoping to regain its bearings.
“Almost 10 years after Pachinko, Min Jin Lee continues to give shape to history’s seismic shifts in her fiction, refracting generational change through indelible, masterfully etched characters you can’t help rooting for,” Cardinal Publisher and Senior Vice President Reagan Arthur said in a statement.
A native of Seoul whose family emigrated to New York City when she was 7, Lee attended the elite Bronx High School of Science, studied history at Yale University and law at Georgetown University. She knows well the importance of preparation, and laughs as she remembers that her father has nicknamed her “the turtle,” because she is slow — but “very steady.” Her books take a long time, in part, because she puts so much work into them. Her stories are based not just on research and reflection, but on extended travel and interviews.
“I want to hold up a mirror to society, and, as the kids say, do a ’vibe check,” she says.
FILE - Min Jin Lee attends the GQ Global Creativity Awards in New York on April 6, 2023. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Renee Good ’s family is accusing federal immigration officers of killing the Minneapolis mother of three as she attempted to follow agents' instructions, and said Wednesday they have hired the same law firm that represented George Floyd ’s family to press for answers and accountability.
Her loved ones said in a statement they want Good, 37, remembered as “an agent of peace” and urged the public not to use her death as a political flashpoint, according to the Chicago-based firm Romanucci & Blandin. The firm said it is investigating Good's death and will release information in the coming weeks.
The family's decision to hire the firm came the same week the U.S. Justice Department said it sees no basis to open a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting. An FBI probe of Renee Good’s death is ongoing.
Roughly half a dozen federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned this week, and several supervisors in the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division in Washington gave notice of their departures, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Trump administration has defended the ICE officer’s actions, saying he fired in self-defense while standing in front of Good’s vehicle as it began to move forward. That explanation has been panned by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others based on videos of the confrontation.
Romanucci & Blandin said the family wants answers about the federal officers were doing on Jan. 7 in the neighborhood where Good was killed, as well as officers’ actions during the encounter and delays in medical aid after the shooting. The ICE agent who fired is Jonathan Ross, an Iraq War veteran who has served as a deportation officer since 2015.
Good’s partner, Becca Good, and other relatives say on Jan. 7 the couple had just dropped off their 6-year-old child at school and stopped to observe the law enforcement activity. Video shows a red SUV driven by Renee sitting perpendicular and blocking part of the road. She is pressing the horn repeatedly.
A short time later, a truck carrying immigration officers pulls up, two get out and one of them orders Renee Good to open her door. She reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as the officer says again, “get out of the car.” Almost simultaneously, Becca, standing on the passenger side and trying to open the door, shouts, “drive, baby, drive!”
The SUV pulls forward and gunshots are heard as an officer who in front of the vehicle opens fire.
“What happened to Renee is wrong,” the firm said, adding that they intend to share their findings “on a rolling basis” because they believe the community is not receiving adequate information elsewhere. The firm, which helped secure a $27 million settlement for Floyd’s family, is now representing Becca Good as well as Renee Good's parents and siblings.
Becca Good released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying the couple had stopped to support their neighbors: “ We had whistles. They had guns.” Becca Good and her family have not responded to calls and messages from The Associated Press.
Becca Good has referred to Renee as her wife. The law firm said Renee and Becca were “not legally married but were committed partners dedicated to their family."
People attend a candlelight vigil at US Embassy in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, for US Citizen Renee Good, who was shot by ICE in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
A person walks past signage for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
