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A review by nearly_empty_nesting
The Picture Bride by Lee Geum-yi
3.0
This was a solid historical fiction, highlighting the immigration process for "picture brides" in the early 1900s. Starting in Willow's childhood in Korea, we follow along as she makes the decision to leave her family to marry a man known only through limited correspondence. We see Willow's dreams of a better life and how she has to work to make that a reality when she lands and her expectations are very different from her reality.
For most of the book, I really connected with the main character Willow, who was our eyes into the story for 85% of the book. . The reason I gave this a three-star rating was for the sudden change in perspective to another character to deliver an unexpected twist. It didn’t transition well. In my opinion, it would have been better to be either written as a family saga early on or to stick with the same perspective throughout.
For most of the book, I really connected with the main character Willow, who was our eyes into the story for 85% of the book. . The reason I gave this a three-star rating was for the sudden change in perspective to another character to deliver an unexpected twist. It didn’t transition well. In my opinion, it would have been better to be either written as a family saga early on or to stick with the same perspective throughout.