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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I was unsure about this book on the first chapter or two, thinking it was too much fantasy for my liking and not believing that I could be immersed in the story.
However, once the book got underway and I started to meet all the different characters, I loved it. In fact, I couldn't wait to pick my kindle up and read more. I was eager to read what would happen next, especially on regards to the protagonist and to answer the question about whether she'll ever be reunited with her lost parents...
It's such an unusual book. Never read anything like it, but it's very clever because of this. I enjoyed it immensely.
However, once the book got underway and I started to meet all the different characters, I loved it. In fact, I couldn't wait to pick my kindle up and read more. I was eager to read what would happen next, especially on regards to the protagonist and to answer the question about whether she'll ever be reunited with her lost parents...
It's such an unusual book. Never read anything like it, but it's very clever because of this. I enjoyed it immensely.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Pregnancy
Minor: Body shaming, Abandonment
“We don’t need magic to make our wishes come true. It’s an ability innate in all of us. It comes from the courage and the privilege given by those who love us even as we make mistakes and get hurt in the process. It’s not magic given exclusively to the chosen ones, but something both you and I have.”
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise of this story is great but the writing feels strangely amateur and awkward. There’s a lot of “and then this happened and then” rather than an actual narration. It’s an OK story overall, a quick read in an evening.
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This review might not sit well with everyone, but here’s my take. The Marigold Mind Laundry—a Korean healing fiction—didn’t quite work for me. I struggled to enjoy it and found it rather disjointed, with too many unanswered questions. While I understand that magic doesn’t always have to be logical, this story stretched believability to an extreme, leaving major gaps in its world-building.
- A child unable to control her powers accidentally wishes away her parents and then immediately spends centuries looking for them in different decades—but how? The book vaguely mentions that she lives for a few decades in each life before transitioning to another. But is she time-traveling? How? Where did she learn that? The world she enters is modern one with YouTube and mobile phones, and how is she always proficient in using them? What happened in the previous travels? It just felt inconsistent.
- She grows up in a supposedly magical village for 17 years, yet she does not know about its magic? The story suggests that all villagers have special powers and even attend schools to develop them. So how does she suddenly wake up one day, accidentally erasing her parents, and immediately start shifting through different worlds? What is the logic behind her looking for them like this?
- The concept of the "mind laundry" is also unclear. The protagonist advertises it as a place to erase and forget memories, yet it never actually seems to do that. Instead, it appears to ease emotional pain. Was it a problem in translation or is the theme not clear?
- Certain moments in the book felt jarring and illogical. For example, a character wakes up in a nursing home and, in the very next scene, is somehow driving to the laundry with no transition or explanation. Another character insists they never wanted to waste a single moment in life, yet their past is described as one long series of wasted opportunities.
I suppose sometimes expectations are too high, and that was the case for me with this book. It just didn’t live up to what I had hoped for. This is just me.
That said, it wasn’t entirely without merit. Some parts were beautifully written. The description of the protagonist’s village, filled with wondrous powers, reminded me of Kishore Kumar’s song:
"Aa chal ke tujhe, main le ke chalu, ik aise gagan ke tale.
Jahan gham bhi na ho, aansu bhi na ho, bas pyaar hi pyaar pale."
Rating: 3/5
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
sometimes i do wish that there was a laundromat around my area that can just away my sadness away, just to make me lighter for a bit.