A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICKINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERHIGHLY ANTICIPATED BY FORTUNE ⋅ POPSUGAR ⋅ PUREWOW ⋅ THE MILLIONS ⋅ LITHUB ⋅ VULTURE ⋅ BUSTLE ⋅ GMA.COM ⋅ BOOKRIOT ⋅ BOOKISH“Painful, joyous… A story that cries out to be told.” —Los Angeles Times“Kim is a brilliant new voice in American fiction.” —Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel“Suspenseful and deeply … is a brilliant new voice in American fiction.” —Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
“Suspenseful and deeply felt.” —Chloe Benjamin, author of The Immortalists
A profoundly moving and unconventional mother-daughter saga, The Last Story of Mina Lee illustrates the devastating realities of being an immigrant in America.
Margot Lee’s mother, Mina, isn’t returning her calls. It’s a mystery to twenty-six-year-old Margot, until she visits her childhood apartment in Koreatown, LA, and finds that her mother has suspiciously died. The discovery sends Margot digging through the past, unraveling the tenuous invisible strings that held together her single mother’s life as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother.
Interwoven with Margot’s present-day search is Mina’s story of her first year in Los Angeles as she navigates the promises and perils of the American myth of reinvention. While she’s barely earning a living by stocking shelves at a Korean grocery store, the last thing Mina ever expects is to fall in love. But that love story sets in motion a series of events that have consequences for years to come, leading up to the truth of what happened the night of her death.
Told through the intimate lens of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, The Last Story of Mina Lee is a powerful and exquisitely woven debut novel that explores identity, family, secrets, and what it truly means to belong.
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Margot cannot get her mother to answer the phone. When she arrives at her mother’s home, she finds out why. Her mother has died and it literally takes Margot by complete surprise. She and her mother have a complex relationship. But, Margot is just not ready to survive in a world if her mother is not in it.
This story started out very well and then lost a little steam. I think it was because I did not like Margot. I found her demanding, rude and little mean to people, especially people trying to help her. She just rubbed me the wrong way. Usually this adds to the story but, for some reason, this was a complete turn off for me.
However, I enjoyed the mystery surrounding Margot’s parentage and what actually happened to her mother, in the past and the present. This is what actually kept me reading this story. There is a very unique storyline surrounding Mina.
I received this copy from the publisher for a honest review.
My Review of
THE LAST STORY OF MINA LEE
By Nancy Joiyoun Kim/ @njooyounkim
Gifted courtesy of {Partners)
@ParkRowBooks & @BookClubbish
#THELASTSTORYOFMINALEE
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As many people know, this isn’t the book you would ordinarily see me reading; although I do love all genres. I have to give it to Ms. Lee seeing that this is now my Favorite book of 2020. The story from the get go just draws you in and you are connected to the two main characters Mina and her daughter Margot. Expertly told in alternating POV’s from the past and the present, you are entangled in this rich but mysterious story line; the longer you read, the deeper you’re drawn in. I felt so refreshed by Ms. Kim’s voice just by reading something so new and different and something that has a voice screaming to be shared.
Mina Lee comes from America leaving a tragic past and is just trying to get by in Koreantown, LA. Everyone there is just trying to survive, to exist. With many being undocumented, they are unable to feel safe or report any crimes and they must work for unfair wages and ungodly number of hours to barely make ends meet. Then Mina develops a little family where she works until the boss takes it too far. The man, Mr. Kim, that Mina has fallen for, must now go into hiding to escape the wrath of the boss for trying to help a fellow employee; otherwise he risks his boss getting him deported.
Mina is devastated at losing another person she loves. She is finding no point in continuing to live until she finds out she is pregnant. With the help of her landlord and a good friend they help pull her through the first months after birth. But who is the father and is it possible that the people she thought she left in Korea are really not dead?
When Margot finds her Mother on the floor of her apartment after being gone so long. She doesn’t know what to make of it; was she pushed or was it an accident? Having grown up as an American Korean, there is a lot she never knew about her Mother and perhaps she never really knew her at all. This book is a 100/5!