Jin Han

Jin Han is the main character and first person narrator of the novel. She is Korean American and her parents live in Seoul, Korea. Not long before the narrative present, Jin was living in New York with her college sweetheart and husband Philip Selig. While in New York Jin found some artistic success when she exhibited her recent triptychs at a New York gallery with the help of her contacts in the art world, Chi Qui and Nigel Hugh. However, after the exhibit closes, Jin leaves New York for San Francisco and plunges into a bout of creative stasis and personal depression. Although many reviewers called the work “Brutal, piquant farce. Knife-sharp wit” and “touching, unsparing,” Jin begins to realize that she “played it safe, at the photos’ cost” (86). She then buries the photos, refuses to look at them, and struggles to reignite her creative practice. She...