'A deeply moving story about the American Dream...riveting, truly frightening and brilliant' Patmeena Sabit, author of the Giller Prize finalist Good People

In a near-future United States, anyone appearing to be of East Asian descent is subject to strict rules, segregation and constant surveillance. Now, the authoritarian government has unveiled a new loyalty exam to test their commitment to so-called American values. The price of failure is high: being locked away with other "Oriental threats."
The Kim family's exam is the first time they will all be together since Sorah Kim walked out on her husband and daughter twelve years ago. Suddenly, the three must find a way to trust one another again, at least for the weekend. But the examination's opaque rules strain the family's already fragile bonds, forcing long-buried resentments, regrets, and unspoken dreams to the surface...

Through one family's harrowing journey, The Reasons complicates the American dream as it deftly interrogates racism, motherhood, and generational trauma on a human scale. Both propulsive and heartrendingly intimate, this prescient debut asks what it means to belong-to society and to the ones we love.
'Searing, tender and terrifying...an unforgettable vision of a future that might yet come to be' Yangsze Choo, New York Times bestselling author of The Fox Wife and The Night Tiger
'A bold and shattering work of imagination...a harrowing and timely debut' Bruce Holsinger, author of The Displacements and Culpability (Oprah's Book Club)