You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
Audiobook. I think I have to sit with the ending for a bit, maybe find some analysis online. Very interesting book that follows a family for five generations from Korea during its last occupation to Japan 1989. Would’ve given five stars but it did feel a bit slow at times, especially in the beginning.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: Murder
emotional
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Beautifully written, utterly tragic and it taught me a lot about Korean/Japanese history. The first two-thirds were 5*, however, the writing in the last third seemed slightly rushed and a bit jumpy making me care less about the youngest generation of characters. Overall, a top read though
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
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:
Complicated
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is going to be the book of my year. The book to end all books. Min Jin Lee did it, we don’t need to toil any longer. OK OK, let me be so for real for a second: the story follows a Korean family from the outset of the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 1900s through the next three generations of this family’s life in Japan and later the US. As I inched closer and closer to the end of this 400+ page novel, I was in awe of how precious each of the characters felt to me. The book pulls you back to its orbit again and again. And Lee has this masterful way of moving in and out of many character’s heads, sometimes within a single page or even a single sentence! And it feels seamless. You’re deeply embodied in the thoughts, yearnings, failures, and pleasures of these characters. They become a part of you. This book was literally years and years in the making, and began as a research inquiry into the lives of Japanese-born Koreans whose ancestors had lived through the occupation and made lives in Japan both during and decades after the occupation was over. Lee explores state-sanctioned violence and discrimination against Koreans in Japan, and creates a world that’s both historically rich and deeply lived in. There are stories of love, queerness, spirituality, sacrifice, and the list could go on. The novel is ambitious in its vision and it doesn’t miss.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Suicide