American Hagwon
Cut along the dashed lines and pass the cards around the table.
Where were you when you read most of this book, and did you find yourself reading it slowly on purpose?
Think back to your own school years: was there a class, a tutor, or a cram-session that your family treated as a big deal? How did that feel at the time?
The Kohs keep starting over in new countries. Which of their small attempts at making a place feel like home (a meal, a routine, a job) stayed with you the most?
This is a book about education as love, pressure, and survival all at once. When in your life has someone pushed you hard because they cared, and how do you feel about it now?
Min Jin Lee writes parents with so much tenderness even when they falter. Was there a moment where you forgave a character before you expected to?
Moving from Korea to Australia to California, the family carries some things and lets others go. What would you refuse to leave behind if you had to move twice in one decade?
By the end, how did your feelings about what the parents gave up (and what they asked in return) shift from where they started? Try not to name specifics, just describe the change in you.
The book sits with the cost of ambition for a long time. Did you come away feeling more comforted or more unsettled about what we owe the people who raised us?