American Seoul: A Memoir

Rho’s self-narrated debut memoir details her family’s immigration to the United States by way of Uganda and raises questions about the intersection of culture, self-discovery, and trauma. Rho’s journey was a hard one. Her father went to prison, and she was roundly rejected by her sisters and severely depressed mother, despite living a life as a “model minority” and becoming a doctor at the behest of her parents. She endured many horrible experiences, including childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a trusted tutor and a marriage to a likely sociopath, but she seems unable to communicate how she overcame her circumstances. Her biggest accomplishment seems to be leaving medicine, a profession she loathed. Listeners will empathize with the awful experiences that Rho endured, and her focus on various estrangements, poor family relationships, and discrimination during her career as a pediatrician makes for a grim listen. Both Rho’s content and her narrative style are choppy and off-putting, bouncing around in time and tone. Her narration seems focused on blaming those around her, which creates a lasting sense of hopelessness.