문학과 지성사

Going Home is Moon Ji Hyuck’s third short story collection, exploring the lives of Korean immigrants and students in the United States. Drawing on his own experiences as an international student in New York, Moon captures the search for home as both a physical and emotional journey.

The title story, “Going Home,” follows Hyeon, who joins an AI fiction writing experiment for a free ride to New York. His answers to the AI’s questions blur the line between truth and fiction, highlighting the uncertain nature of belonging. In “Air-made Biography,” Lee Hocheol’s story unfolds through the eyes of his American son-in-law on a flight to South Korea. After years in the U.S., Lee returns to a Korea that is at once familiar and foreign—questioning where home truly lies. In “Pink Palace Love,” an international student couple encounters the ghosts of their exes while on vacation. Their pasts continue to haunt them, making stability feel distant.

“Christmas Carousel” follows Emily, a girl once abandoned at Disney World and later adopted, who relives her abandonment to understand her mother’s actions. The narrator reflects on their own broken home and the desire to rebuild it. “Gold Brass Laundromat” explores the quiet comfort Young finds in a laundromat owner after a betrayal by a fellow student. Other stories, like “Viewing” and “Night Hawks,” examine alienation, broken relationships, and the harsh realities of immigrant life. “Sunshine in the Garden” depicts Neulbom’s search for meaning after studying theology. The collection closes with “Our Final Cut,” a fictional interview with a woman returning to Korea to claim her grandmother’s inheritance and confront her estranged father.

Through these nine stories, Moon Ji Hyuck reveals the shifting concept of home, capturing the challenges of forging identity and community in an unfamiliar land.