not sure what to say. only, i’m very surprised that my dad wanted like 17 year old me to read such a sexually explicit book ( )

not sure what to say. only, i’m very surprised that my dad wanted like 17 year old me to read such a sexually explicit book ( )

Every once in a while you pick up a book that gets into your blood. It runs through you and it changes your perspective, or maybe it awakens something in you that was there all the time, but the author has managed to put words to something you otherwise couldn’t have articulated. Min Jin Lee describes something universal, and yet personal to characters in her story. And her story could easily describe the treatment of Blacks in America, or Jews in Germany pre and post WWII, or any minority in the world who are taking refuge in another country other than their home at a time when returning home isn’t a welcoming option either. She does it in such a way that a person who has never lived through such discrimination (like me) feels more enlightened afterwards and hopes to never treat anyone with such blind ignorance, and at the same time the story of motherhood and family, love and loss is so relatable, anyone will feel what the characters are feeling. ( )

As the years go on in this sweeping family saga, the number of characters naturally increases, and it becomes hard to keep everyone straight. ( )

Sweeping multigenerational family saga about a Korean family's experience in Japan. This is not a part of history I know much about - and this story made me interested in learning more. The book follows one family, and the story jumps forward a few years for each new chapter. Felt like a series of related vignettes, but I was very engaged with the story and the characters. I really liked this one. ( )