Book Club Discussion Questions
For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Korean War: A War with Many Names and our BookBrowse Review of The Kinship of Secrets.
Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!
In 1948 Najin and Calvin Cho, with their young daughter Miran, travel from South Korea to the United States in search of new opportunities. Wary of the challenges they know will face them, Najin and Calvin make the difficult decision to leave their infant daughter, Inja, behind with their extended family; soon, they hope, they will return to her.
But then war breaks out in Korea, and there is no end in sight to the separation. Miran grows up in prosperous American suburbia, under the shadow of the daughter left behind, as Inja grapples in her war-torn land with ties to a family she doesn't remember. Najin and Calvin desperately seek a reunion with Inja, but are the bonds of love strong enough to reconnect their family over distance, time, and war? And as deep family secrets are revealed, will everything they long for be upended?
Told through the alternating perspectives of the distanced sisters, and inspired by a true story,
The Kinship of Secrets explores the cruelty of war, the power of hope, and what it means to be a sister.
Discussion Questions
- In the opening chapter, Inja refers to her family in America as "shadow people" and as "ghost people to whom she was bound"
(4). Discuss what she means by this. In what ways are they alive to her, and in what ways are they not?
- On page 27, Najin writes a letter to her mother in which she
states "I know I have failed two daughters and I have failed my
husband. What use is it to regret leaving a baby? What use is it
for this evil mother?" What do you think Najin means when she
asks, "what use is it to regret leaving a baby"? And why do you
think she sees herself as "an evil mother"? In what different ways
do Najin and Calvin grapple with the separation of their family?
- The structure in the beginning of the book—which alternates
between the family in the U.S. and the family in Korea—allows
us to see the two girls grow up side by side. What did you make
of this? On page 59, Najin says, "I mustn't forget that each child
is a mirror of another in some way." How do Inja and Miran
make sense of and respond to their separation? How are their
responses similar? And how are they different?
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- How does the author develop themes of identity and belonging throughout the narrative?
- What role does the setting play in shaping the characters' decisions and relationships?
- Discuss how the ending reframes the events of the story. Were you surprised?
Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Mariner Books.
Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.