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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-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
Another “healing fiction” novel flooding the market that I could NOT go past the cover. This Korean translated story was so beautifully described with rich world building. It was simply lovely to listen to.
I have some mixed feelings about this book. It reads more like poetry than a traditional story, with a lot of vivid imagery and poetic phrasing. While I can appreciate the beauty in that style, it’s not really in my usual comfort zone when it comes to reading.
I did enjoy the life lesson woven into the narrative—that part resonated with me. But the way it was written made it harder to connect with. There was a lot of unnecessary wording that, for me, bogged down the message.
Overall, while it’s not my preferred style, I can see how others might appreciate it for its poetic nature. If you enjoy lyrical writing and abstract storytelling, this could be a good fit.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press and NetGalley for their generosity in allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I did enjoy the life lesson woven into the narrative—that part resonated with me. But the way it was written made it harder to connect with. There was a lot of unnecessary wording that, for me, bogged down the message.
Overall, while it’s not my preferred style, I can see how others might appreciate it for its poetic nature. If you enjoy lyrical writing and abstract storytelling, this could be a good fit.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Random House Publishing Group - Random House | The Dial Press and NetGalley for their generosity in allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
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
This latest entry into the genre of "healing fiction" popularised amongst Japanese and Korean is perhaps one of the weaker one. It becomes hard to distinguish between the characters who star as the lead each case study in the anthology, there is lack of effort put into the universe building of the magic realism setting, and the character development of the main protagonist is not set up properly, and reaches its end point in a very baffling manner. The only positive it has is the plentiful motivational quotes peppered in each story, though I'd much rather more effort had been put into plot instead.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Our main character in Marigold Mind Laundry is Jieun, a girl with the magical abilities to dream wishes to come true and the power to take away pain and provide comfort. She accidentally dreams her parents away, and afterwards spends thousands of years living many different lives to try and find them. One day, she lands in a village named Marigold where she decides to open up a “mind laundry”, offering the service of washing or ironing away people’s pain.
Like many stories in the cosy genre, this book forces you to suspend belief just a little bit and not take everything too seriously so that the life lessons/messages can be conveyed using the “mind laundry” metaphor. I felt like this was in a similar skein to The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, where the butterfly effects of our character’s actions eventually culminate to her “finding her place”. The message of the story is easy to understand and there are some cute moments but overall, the plot is thin and the characters two dimensional with over-simplified issues.
It bothered me how Jieun’s main motivation is supposed to be finding her parents, but there is nothing in the beginning of the story that makes you care about this or illustrates the relationship. The importance of this goal isn’t revisited until the very end which makes her ultimate “realization” quite flat. There is also very little environment building/setting description in the book. Everything that takes place outside of the laundromat seems to exist in a nebulous space where characters just talk. If lack of character and world building doesn’t bother you, I think you might enjoy the story and the metaphor at a surface level.
Thank you very much for NetGalley for the ARC and privilege of writing this review.
Like many stories in the cosy genre, this book forces you to suspend belief just a little bit and not take everything too seriously so that the life lessons/messages can be conveyed using the “mind laundry” metaphor. I felt like this was in a similar skein to The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, where the butterfly effects of our character’s actions eventually culminate to her “finding her place”. The message of the story is easy to understand and there are some cute moments but overall, the plot is thin and the characters two dimensional with over-simplified issues.
It bothered me how Jieun’s main motivation is supposed to be finding her parents, but there is nothing in the beginning of the story that makes you care about this or illustrates the relationship. The importance of this goal isn’t revisited until the very end which makes her ultimate “realization” quite flat. There is also very little environment building/setting description in the book. Everything that takes place outside of the laundromat seems to exist in a nebulous space where characters just talk. If lack of character and world building doesn’t bother you, I think you might enjoy the story and the metaphor at a surface level.
Thank you very much for NetGalley for the ARC and privilege of writing this review.