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Marie Myung-Ok Lee
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The Evening Hero Hardcover – May 24, 2022

by Marie Myung-Ok Lee (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 176 ratings
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A sweeping, lyrical novel following a Korean immigrant pursuing the American dream who must confront the secrets of the past or risk watching the world he’s worked so hard to build come crumbling down.

Dr. Yungman Kwak is in the twilight of his life. Every day for the last fifty years, he has brushed his teeth, slipped on his shoes, and headed to Horse Breath’s General Hospital, where, as an obstetrician, he treats the women and babies of the small rural Minnesota town he chose to call home.

This was the life he longed for. The so-called American dream. He immigrated from Korea after the Korean War, forced to leave his family, ancestors, village, and all that he knew behind. But his life is built on a lie. And one day, a letter arrives that threatens to expose it.

Yungman’s life is thrown into chaos—the hospital abruptly closes, his wife refuses to spend time with him, and his son is busy investing in a struggling health start-up. Yungman faces a choice—he must choose to hide his secret from his family and friends or confess and potentially lose all he’s built. He begins to question the very assumptions on which his life is built—the so-called American dream, with the abject failure of its healthcare system, patient and neighbors who perpetuate racism, a town flawed with infrastructure, and a history that doesn’t see him in it.

Toggling between the past and the present, Korea and America, Evening Hero is a sweeping, moving, darkly comic novel about a man looking back at his life and asking big questions about what is lost and what is gained when immigrants leave home for new shores.
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  1. Print length
    448 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster
  4. Publication date
    May 24, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1476735077
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1476735078
  8. See all details
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The Evening Hero

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“This precise, watchful novel reveals the loneliness of the immigrant experience, even when cloaked in outward success… a novel about healers and healing, about unflashy, quiet heroism…[with] lyrical, lush, deeply felt prose… a soulful, melodic, rhapsodic novel.”—THE NEW YORK TIMES

“The novel also elucidates with remarkable feeling how war reverberates through a person’s lifetime—their body, mind, and memories—no matter how far in the past it may seem. This story is filled with as much heartache and healing as it is historical significance.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS

"An ambitious story charting the travails of an elderly immigrant doctor...Lee offers touching details...fans of immigrant stories will appreciate Lee’s labor of love."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Marie Myung-Ok Lee's The Evening Hero is a poignant story of a Korean immigrant father's heartbreaking belief in the myth of this country, capitalism, meritocracy and his disillusionment. By turns satirical and profound, The Evening Hero is a moving and captivating read.” —CATHY PARK HONG, New York Times bestselling author of Minor Feelings

"The Evening Hero is at once a hilarious, lacerating look at the American for-profit healthcare system and a profoundly moving examination of the long-term effects of war, trauma, and displacement on individuals, families, and cultures. I will never forget Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s evening hero, Dr. Yungman Kwak." —ANN PACKER, New York Times bestselling author of The Children’s Crusade

"The Evening Hero is an incredible achievement, a finely observed portrait of a man and the constant accrual of the past, the weight of family, of identity, of money, of home. Marie Myung-Ok Lee writes with such spirit and clarity, but it all resonates because of her skill with humor and the inevitable darkness brought on by the absurdity of the world. A brilliant book." —KEVIN WILSON, bestselling author of The Family Fang and Nothing to See Here

“Lee has created a poignant portrait of an aging immigrant doctor desperate to make sense of his history and find his place—within his marriage, his family, his community, his country. Filled with sharp insights into immigrant life and biting, satirical commentary on consumerism, this beautifully multi-layered novel will stay with me for a long time.” —ANGIE KIM, bestselling author of Miracle Creek

"A profound meditation on what happens to those of us who come to this country from elsewhere, what we gain and what we lose. Yungman is an indelible hero. Lee is a magnificent writer." —GARY SHTEYNGART, New York Times bestselling author of Little Failure

“The Evening Hero is a beautiful, lush, moving story of family, of Korean and American history, of the legacy of war, and of the trauma of displacement. With great wit and humanity, it skewers the medical-industrial complex and the deep inequity of contemporary America. But most of all this novel is a tender, complex, vivid portrait of Yungman, the indelible Evening Hero.” —DANA SPIOTTA, author of Wayward, Innocents and Others, and Eat the Document

"Heartfelt and keenly observed, The Evening Hero casts an urgent and insightful gaze on lived identity, positioned precariously at the intersection of past and future, homeland and adopted home." —ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN, author of Something New Under the Sun

"Astonishing line by line but also in the brilliant symmetry and epic sweep of the storytelling. Yungman's life has been torn in half by war, just as his home country Korea has been torn in half by war. Our Evening Hero's journey will entail trying to heal the invisible wounds of war and to make his life whole. Elegiac, fiercely intelligent, historically astute, full of hard won emotional truths and pathos, this book is a mesmerizing investigation into the mysteries of the human heart." —GABE HUDSON, author of Gork, the Teenage Dragon

“The Evening Hero rewards its readers threefold: it opens the world of Koreans and Korean Americans, it raises larges questions, and is a genuine page turner.” —MARY GORDON, author of Final Payments and Payback

“This is a tender and shrewdly comic look at immigrant life, family, and how our past informs the future.” —REAL SIMPLE

“Lee’s writing shines is in the details, as she flexes her creative muscles to fill Yungman’s story with historical accuracy and a true-to-life depiction of the depth of humanity. Wholesome and engaging overall, The Evening Hero ultimately results in a captivating tale of human struggle and survival.” —BOOKLIST

About the Author

Marie Myung-Ok Lee is an acclaimed Korean American writer and author of the young adult novel Finding my Voice, thought to be one of the first contemporary-set Asian American YA novels. She is one of a handful of American journalists who have been granted a visa to North Korea since the Korean War. She was the first Fulbright Scholar to Korea in creative writing and has received many honors for her work, including an O. Henry honorable mention, the Best Book Award from the Friends of American Writers, and a New York Foundation for the Arts fiction fellowship. Her stories and essays have been published in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, Salon, Guernica, The Paris Review, The Nation, and The Guardian, among others. Marie is a founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and teaches creative writing at Columbia. She lives in New York City with her family.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster (May 24, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1476735077
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1476735078
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 176 ratings

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Marie Myung-Ok Lee

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
176 global ratings
Thought-provoking
4 Stars
Thought-provoking
Q: Who is your hero?🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿Title: The Evening HeroAuthor: Marie Myung-Ok LeeGenre: Historical FictionAvailable: Now!🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿Synopsis in comments🌿My thoughtsThe Evening Hero is a well-woven exploration of family dynamics, immigration, class and healthcare issues. I really appreciated how history-rich the two timelines were. Learning about Yungman’s experience growing up in Korea provided so much insight into his reactions and why he became a doctor.This is one of the more difficult reviews I’ve written, mainly because this book dives all the way in on some really relatable and complex issues. It’s one of those books that gives a clear picture of other viewpoints and really makes you think. In fact, I will be thinking about this book for a long time.Really the most striking for me was both the evolution of healthcare while there being a big gap between basic care (like baby deliveries) versus those who nonchalantly do elective boutique procedures. The divide is so vast. It’s also concerning that hospitals are doing, in some cases, unnecessary procedures just to generate more money.Overall, The Evening Hero is a really impactful exploration of so many issues that it’s sure to stick with you and really challenge your own perspectives.A big thank you to Get Red PR for the opposition to read this book. The review expresses my own opinions.
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Top reviews from the United States

K. E. Nollet
5.0 out of 5 stars At the intersection of family and country
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2022
Verified Purchase
Only *after* reading The Evening Hero, I learned that Hibbing native Marie Myung-Ok Lee wrote this magnum opus over a span of 18 years. (Why? is a compelling back story.) Inasmuch as protagonist Dr. Yungman Kwak is at the far end of this life and career, the story itself spans many more years than the time Ms. Lee spent from start to finish.

Yungman Kwak grew up in a Korean past that is well established, albeit diversely interpreted. The contemporary America in which the novel opens could not have been predicted by Ms. Lee when she started writing. Artistic license allows Ms. Lee to assign specific dates to Dr. Kwak’s past, without explicitly writing any year after 2008. Thus, the five “Books” comprising this novel begin in 20XX, 20XX, 1949, 20XX, and 20XX. An astute reader can fine-tune those XXs, and any reader would surely recognize the unnamed American president.

The Evening Hero is like a complex, entertaining jigsaw puzzle. Some of the best pieces have to be stretched and compressed, but in the end, everything fits, and it is a deeply moving and informative novel. Minnesotans, especially Iron Rangers, might see through some of the fictional place names and geographic liberties that make Bloomington, MN not such a long drive from Da Range.

Other reviewers have taken issue with how Ms. Lee satirizes some disturbing intrusions into American medical practice. Yes, those parts annoyed me, but as a practitioner, perhaps I am more annoyed by the truth Ms. Lee is trying to convey with her satire. By the end, that annoyance dissolved, making room for deeper feelings about national and familial identities, which are, I think, what the novel was really about.

Disclaimer: Ms. Lee is the sister of two high school friends: Victor Lee, and his adverb brother Leonard. Their father, Dr. William Chae-Sik Lee (may he rest in peace), was a colleague and friend of my dad.
4 people found this helpful
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Kristen Claiborn
4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely Worth Reading
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2022
I know I’ve mentioned multiple times that I get most of the books I read from the Indianapolis public library system. I cannot stress enough how much I love that they have ebooks, I can access them through the online portal or an app called Libby. I had a hard time trying to convince myself that ebooks were a good idea, I spent years being a book purist and only reading physical copies. Then I met my husband, and after we started sleeping in the same bed, I realized I needed to do something different. I like to read in bed to help get sleepy, but physical books require an external light source, so I introduced myself to Kindle Unlimited from Amazon. While raving about it in one of my online book groups, one of the comments told me to check out the local library, and a whole new world of book access was opened for me. The only problem with the library books? Due dates. I don’t have the opportunity to extend my loans because I read highly anticipated new releases and there are always people waiting. This one came down to the wire…and I had to rush through it to finish before it went on to the next person.
Halfway through this book, I was ready to DNF and move on. I enjoyed the beginning, reading about Youngman in Minnesota, navigating his new status as a retired Md while trying to forge a relationship with his wife. It was intriguing and engaging, especially after he took a job with his son. But then we were sent back in time to his upbringing in Korea, and it was superbly boring. That is likely just me. I have an aversion to alternating timelines. However, I powered through, and it truly was enlightening to learn Youngman’s backstory. Not all of it played a huge part in the Minnesota part of the story, but it helped me understand both Youngman and his wife a little bit better.
Eventually, we’re sent back to present-day, with Youngman and his wife planning on a trip to North Korea with Doctors Without Borders. They were going home. Along the way, Youngman unburdens himself to his wife, finally. That seemed to be the tipping point in their relationship, when she realized how much he really did love her, and she gave in and decided to reciprocate. It was rather touching.
This story is very involved. It’s a sweeping, generational tale that covers half the globe. It includes a quirky doctor and his misguided son; an emotionally detached wife; family secrets that desperately need to be aired out; and a desperately needed trip back to where their story began. When I finished, I sat and contemplated how many stars to give this one. My initial thought was it needed three stars simply because of how long the flashback lasted. The longer I sat and contemplated, the more I realized this story needs at least a fourth star. The amount of energy and effort put into the story was mind-blowing. This author put her entire soul into this story, and she deserves that fourth star (not the highly-coveted fifth though, I mean, I did get bored). It’s definitely a book worth reading.
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Sofia A.
5.0 out of 5 stars An illuminating story of Korean immigrants
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2023
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I just finished The Evening Hero by Marie Myung-Ok Lee and it was excellent. Lee's writing is adventurous and novel, a blend between futurism brimming with social critique and rich, well researched history. By setting the present-tense of her characters in our near future, she illuminates the mind-boggling contrast between where immigrants begin and where they land. Her premise is spot on: often, immigrants are fleeing the battlegrounds and colonial exploits of the very Western nations that offer the only possibility of economic and social stability. She explores this reality through the characters of Dr. Kwak, his wife, and their son in their midwestern town of Horse's Breath.

Dr. Kwak is a child during the Korean War, his family caught along the arbitrary border between North and South, trying to maintain identity, culture, and purpose under first Japanese occupation and then amidst American Cold War battles. Kwak's ticket out, an American visa, results from his accidental and often demeaning service to US soldiers stationed in his home village. But the visa is tied to work and so his status in the US remains precarious until he lands at a tiny, under-resourced hospital in small town Minnesota. There, he is surrounded by white America, in all its puzzling, segregated conformity.

Lee's story is, at its core, the story of each of the members of Yungman Kwak's family navigating that reality, trying to figure out what self, family, and success might yet mean after having lost their ancestral home and context. But it's not like any other immigrant narrative I've ever read because of Lee's experimental structure. Really beautifully done.
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Minnesota Cook
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2022
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I had high hopes for this novel but it was problematical because the author chose to mix satire with serious matters of life and death. The satirical bits were annoying and distracting.
2 people found this helpful
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