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A review by okiecozyreader
The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
4.0
The Last Story of Mina Lee is just what it sounds like - the story of Mina Lee, told in alternating viewpoints from that of the daughter Margot in 2014 and her own story, mostly from the 1980s, when she immigrated to the United States from Korea. She had lost her husband and child and wanted to escape Korea.
In 2014, her daughter returns home to find her mother unresponsive on the floor. After years of being embarrassed of poverty, of having a mother who only speaks Korean, of living a life that wasn’t typical American, she didn’t want to live the life her mother did. But as she finds her mother, she wonders what caused her mother to fall, and is there more to her mother’s story than she knew. She takes the investigation into her own hands, and goes back through her mother’s life with the few people who knew her.
— thoughts
For some reason, I wasn’t motivated to read this, except that it was a bookclub pick, and even though I did like the story. I liked the perspective of learning about this woman, who so few people knew or valued. Her daughter makes a point to the police that her mother worked and paid taxes like everyone else and should be valued as such. It’s a look at how people are valued by society and by their families.
It’s also a book of found families. Mina doesn’t have a family in the USA but finds one with a neighbor (which I do kind of like that she isn’t rescued by a man). It’s very much a story of female friendship/family through years and tough times.
— quotes
“But the past always had a way of rising back again when so many of the questions had remained unanswered, wrongdoings remained unacknowledged, when a country torn by a border had continued for decades to be at war with itself. Both the living and the dead remained separated from each other, forever unsettled.” P193
“Well, something I learned is you don’t have to know where you are going to, you know, enjoy yourself a little, have a good time.” P222
“I have books. I have music. I don’t need a boyfriend. I’m busy.” P245
“The thrill of sex drowned out her burning questions, replaced the real dangers that, when pursued, might actually kill her. Who was she? What would happen if she were unafraid of herself?” P279
“What is worse than the truth is where your mind goes,” he said. “How it wanders, how it refuses to let go. P343
“But she and her mother were both free yet forever woven into each other. They could be both - separate and inseparable. … Her mother’s death was not a knot but a temporary undoing. Her mother had been carrying the burden of so much truth, truths that she had protected Margot from and now Margot knew: she, like her mother, could handle anything - even love, even family.” P398
In 2014, her daughter returns home to find her mother unresponsive on the floor. After years of being embarrassed of poverty, of having a mother who only speaks Korean, of living a life that wasn’t typical American, she didn’t want to live the life her mother did. But as she finds her mother, she wonders what caused her mother to fall, and is there more to her mother’s story than she knew. She takes the investigation into her own hands, and goes back through her mother’s life with the few people who knew her.
— thoughts
For some reason, I wasn’t motivated to read this, except that it was a bookclub pick, and even though I did like the story. I liked the perspective of learning about this woman, who so few people knew or valued. Her daughter makes a point to the police that her mother worked and paid taxes like everyone else and should be valued as such. It’s a look at how people are valued by society and by their families.
It’s also a book of found families. Mina doesn’t have a family in the USA but finds one with a neighbor (which I do kind of like that she isn’t rescued by a man). It’s very much a story of female friendship/family through years and tough times.
— quotes
“But the past always had a way of rising back again when so many of the questions had remained unanswered, wrongdoings remained unacknowledged, when a country torn by a border had continued for decades to be at war with itself. Both the living and the dead remained separated from each other, forever unsettled.” P193
“Well, something I learned is you don’t have to know where you are going to, you know, enjoy yourself a little, have a good time.” P222
“I have books. I have music. I don’t need a boyfriend. I’m busy.” P245
“The thrill of sex drowned out her burning questions, replaced the real dangers that, when pursued, might actually kill her. Who was she? What would happen if she were unafraid of herself?” P279
“What is worse than the truth is where your mind goes,” he said. “How it wanders, how it refuses to let go. P343
“But she and her mother were both free yet forever woven into each other. They could be both - separate and inseparable. … Her mother’s death was not a knot but a temporary undoing. Her mother had been carrying the burden of so much truth, truths that she had protected Margot from and now Margot knew: she, like her mother, could handle anything - even love, even family.” P398
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape