This collection of eight stories—cynical and sympathetic by turns—represents the author’s attempt to document and understand the conflicts, resentments, hatreds, and anxieties of contemporary family life.

This collection of eight stories—cynical and sympathetic by turns—represents the author’s attempt to document and understand the conflicts, resentments, hatreds, and anxieties of contemporary family life. The title story depicts a mother’s busy day playing numerous roles—ashamed, fearless, or humble—depending on which member of her family she’s tending to. In “The Privacy of My Father,” a daughter tracks her father to Hong Kong in order to spy on what she thinks is an illicit affair. All in all, says Seo Hajin, family means deception—but these masks aren’t so easily removed.