Review by samdalefox - Free Food for Millionaires

samdalefox 's review for:

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

3.25

adventurous challenging emotional funny lighthearted reflective 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: Complicated

It had me hooked in the first third but steadily lost me as the the book progressed. I get the impression this is a story that gives really good insight into the complexities of Korean-American immigrants and 2nd-3rd generations navigating their place in society. Despite not being American-Korean myself, I believe these are accurate reflections through the writing and characterisation. No-one fell into a stereotype; all characters were morally grey and were relatively well fleshed out for how many people the narrative followed.

All of the above is great, but the constant switching between characters did eventually wear me down as I was spending less and less time with the character I was most interested in; Casey, and there were several threads left hanging I would have liked to have seen explored a little further. By the end I was tired, not invested, and felt nothing further outstanding to reflect on. And to be brutally honest, I found it hard to get behind the wealth disparity described from a jaded-2025 point of view. Full scholarship?... Owning houses?!...

Content Warnings