Nancy Kim

Nancy S. Kim (born 1966) is a Korean American novelist.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Los Angeles, she is a corporate lawyer in San Francisco, a Law Professor in San Diego, and the author of the novel Chinhominey's Secret.

Chinhominey's Secret

Chihominey's Secret is Nancy Kim's first novel.^[1] It tells the story of the Choi family, a Korean American family in West L.A. living with a haunting prophecy from 20+ years ago. Through the family, the novel examines the generational conflict between immigrant parents and their assimilated, Americanized daughters as their Korean grandfather comes to visit.^[1] The book's title is an intentional misspelling of the Korean word for "paternal grandmother", chinhalmeoni (친할머니).

Linda Richards, writing for January Magazine, praised it as "an engaging story, well told".^[2]

However, Philip Gambone of The New York Times was more critical, stating that "we're given melodramatic plot twists and scenes that serve no purpose ... and the dialogue often reads like a soap opera".^[3]

Chinhominey's Secret was a Booklist Editor's Choice for Best Adult Books for Young Adults for 1999.^[4]

Works

• Chinhominey's Secret, Bridge Works, 2001, ISBN 978-1-882593-49-1, OCLC 40043545