Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

3.9 AVERAGE

kimjong_ily's review against another edition

4.25
medium-paced

lizatrundle's review against another edition

4.25
emotional inspiring reflective
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
One of my all time favorites

jteachyoga's review against another edition

Part of what makes a book wonderful or difficult to put down is the plot. Another part the characters. And another is the pace. Like Pachinko, the pace of this story is too slow, tripping over tangential storylines and characters' backstories and details. Around the 50% mark (Kindle), I was hooked and wanting to read, until it felt never ending. The first-generation American-born Casey is reckless with decisions and money and only shows the beginning of change and understanding her hardworking Korean-immigrant parents late in the story. Her inability to grow up and assume young adulthood drags on, and she repeats the same mistakes with her parents and younger sister Tina over and over. After hearing Min Jin in conversation at a conference this year and admiring her snarkiness, I really wanted to love this book.

brk's review against another edition

4.0
emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

narissamccarty's review against another edition

5.0
Min Jin Lee captured so many true emotions of the Asian American experience. Nothing like Pachinko but still such a great novel. Can’t go wrong with some 90s nostalgia and New York romance either…

cbd126's review against another edition

5.0
emotional hopeful reflective
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

aleka_h's review against another edition

3.0
challenging emotional tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

jeesoot's review against another edition

5.0
Reading this felt like a deeply personal attack, if only because of the nauseatingly vivid and accurate depictions of what it means to be the eldest daughter of an evangelical Christian Korean-American family and how the main character's experiences made me feel so painfully seen. I think I hate to be cliche but this book has changed my life in a way no other book could have, probably. No matter how oppressive, nonsensical, and suffocating my Korean-American childhood experiences were, they are irreversibly a core part of my identity and existence in this world and there is a grotesque comfort in the familiar; this book told me it's okay to miss the horrible times.

I would never, ever, ever want to travel back in time to my childhood and the Korean household and church I was raised in; but damn me if I don't miss it enormously every single day of the rest of my life.

almarie15's review against another edition

4.0
challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

sijeune's review against another edition

5.0
adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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