Book Review: ‘Inheritance’ by Jane Park

Anne (Eun-ah) has built the perfect life. Working as a successful lawyer in New York, she enjoys luxuries that her family never experienced when she and her brother were younger. Her family emigrated to Edmonton from Korea when the two were children, then moved to Crow Plains once their father bought a grocery store in the area. 

Edmonton-born author Jane Park writes her debut novel in a memoir style. The narrative switches between the present of Anne’s life and anecdotes from her childhood. Ever since returning to Edmonton for her father’s funeral, Anne is overwhelmed with grief. Inheritance is the journey of how she processes her childhood traumas to eventually discover what she really wants in life. The flashbacks illustrate Anne’s experiences growing up in a white-dominated neighbourhood and how her entire family suffered from the racist attitudes of the townsfolk. Being young and impressionable, Anne assimilated to be more like her peers. As a result, she lost her Korean language skills and cultural knowledge along the way.

This novel is a five-star reading experience because each chapter feels so intensely personal and vulnerable. At first glance, the book appears to be a work of non-fiction because of how detailed each anecdote is. Park isn’t afraid to write her characters as flawed, despite their good nature — a realistic part of human life.

Anne’s father is clearly a hard-working man who has the best intentions in giving his children a stable future. But, inadvertently, it’s because of him that Anne’s brother Charles suffers misfortune in adulthood. This is another thing Park gets right — immigrant parents holding their children to rigid standards while being unaccepting of other ways their children can become successful. Charles had the potential to be huge in the computing industry. But, because his parents did not understand the value of such a career, his father broke his computer.

Anne, who has always done all she could to please her parents, is not as dissident as her brother. She gives up her passion for drawing to go into law. But by the end of the novel, she reflects on the adverse consequences this brought her — that her life has “never been [hers.] It’s built on a lie.” Prioritizing how her family and classmates perceived her fuelled her drive for both success and conformity. She goes as far as to plagiarize Charles’ coding project to win the science fair and ostracizes the only other Asian girl in her class. 

The complicated relationship between wanting to be accepted and staying true to oneself is a major theme of the novel. The bullying and abuse that’s written capture the pain, hurt, and confusion that our main characters experience while also feeling gratitude for their parents’ sacrifices. The writing is deeply emotional, and Park is an expert at describing Anne’s thoughts and the Canadian-immigrant experience overall. 

What makes this novel so excellent is its bittersweet ending. Inheritance ends in a way that leaves readers moved by its honesty and harsh-reality. Healing isn’t a linear journey. We all need to make the difficult choice of either putting ourselves or others first.

Overall, Jane Park’s debut novel Inheritance is one of this year’s best novels. The writing and plot are easy to follow, yet impactful. She also gives plenty of shout-outs to her hometown, Edmonton, with mentions of the Glenora neighbourhood and the University of Alberta. It’s a read that is bound to hit home for many Canadians and touch parts of your heart you didn’t know were there.