The Last Story of Mina Lee

Interesting combination of Korean immigrant mother/American-born daughter dynamics and murder (maybe) mystery.

This story was sad and interesting. It was also informative. A young woman finds her deceased mother and searches to find out what happened to her. Was it an accident, or a murder?

DNF at 40%

Book club pick. I haven't gotten to see anyone from our group in person in over a year, and we decided that for this book, we're going to go get takeout from the new Korean restaurant downtown and sit outside together, and I'm so looking forward to that!!

The story was engaging, switching viewpoints back and forth between Margot (in 2014 shortly after her mother's death) and her mother Mina (mostly in 1987), as they experienced America in two dramatically different ways - not speaking the same language even amongst themselves, having different mentalities about poverty, being an American vs. being an immigrant, remembering the past, trusting the police - and, as one described near the end, the sadness of never being able to understand where the other was coming from, even if they were trying.

I found that there was a lot I didn't know about Korea's separation into North and South, and what that would have been like for families trapped on opposite sides of the gaping wound of the border, and I appreciated getting to hear that perspective.

I didn't love that sometimes Jooyoun Kim's writing, particularly about immigration, came off a bit preachy. I felt like this story, which was full of immigrant characters, was able to stand on its own as an example without needing to go on too much about it.

The audiobook was good, though the narrator over-enunciated a lot. I found this less distracting when I sped it up a little bit (landed at 1.5x). It was nice getting to hear the Korean phrases and dishes pronounced.

4.5 stars

Gave me a new perspective on mother - daughter relationships, especially my relationship with my mother. But it's also gave a very nuanced look from the daughter perspective, which was a reminder to stay open with my daughter about my life and how my journey has shaped who I am. I would hate for me to leave this Earth and my daughter or my sons, to think of me as a stranger.

I don't know how to start this review. This book frustrated me. I felt that Margot could have been edited out of this book entirely. If it were only Mina's life experiences and death it would have better kept my attention. Margot was naïve and it was boring to read though her perspective. Every time I put the book down, it was in the middle of a Margot section. I also didn't like the amount of unanswered questions I was left with at the end.
Lots of spoilers ahead:
Why did Mr. Kim never contact Mina after he went to Chicago? Did he actually love her? Why did Mina forgive him so easily just because he was sick? Why did Margot just overlook the fact that Mrs. Baek killed her mom and then lied about it for months? Did the driver actually poison Margot or what? And what was his deal in general? Why was there a token Hispanic BFF that gave nothing to the story? In what world would a cop quit his job because it wasn't what he expected it to be? Every cop would quit if that were the case.
That being said, I did enjoy reading from Mina's perspective. This book could have been so much better.

26 year old Margot Lee makes the trek from Seattle to see her mom in Los Angeles after she stops returning her calls. She discovers her dead in the apartment and begins to realize how little she really knows of her. Margot feels like a hand-waving chaos engine careening into a potential murder mystery, chasing down an elusive father, and uncovering family secrets. So basically K-drama in novel form.

This is contrasted as we hear Margot's mother's story. Mina Lee arrived in Los Angeles in the summer of ‘87 - utterly alone and bereft. She finds a job stocking the shelves at a supermarket and begins to find a measure of hope. Mina's story holds all the answers to the questions Margot suddenly finds herself asking, and maybe that makes for an unfair storytelling balance but I just wanted more of Mina's story. It's an Asian-American K-Drama - a specific difference I would have loved to have seen explored further.

THE LAST STORY OF MINA LEE defies simple categorization. One part family drama, one part mystery, it alternates timelines and perspective to reveal what happened to Mina with underlying themes of undocumented immigration, belonging, and regret.

Disclosure: I received a physical ARC of this book from the publisher and the publicity firm working on this book. I was not otherwise compensated for this review or feature.

Content warnings: death of a spouse, death of a child, death of a parent, depression, racism, suicidal ideation, stalking, domestic violence, attempted rape, animal mauling

This book is told from alternating perspectives – Margot Lee, and her mother, the titular Mina Lee. On a drive from Seattle to LA with a friend, Margot calls her mother but to no avail. Upon arriving, she discovers Mina dead. We then embark on a journey of uncovered secrets, Margot's amateur investigation as a way of processing grief, and the truth, hiding in plain sight.

I've seen some reviews of this book criticizing Margot and her strained relationship with Mina, and how ungrateful and disrespectful she is. The language barrier in this book is at times literal, but isn't there always an element of a language barrier between parents and children? That felt so authentic to me; I wouldn't call my relationship with my (adoptive) mom strained per se, but it's not one I would describe as open (on my end).

Overall this one didn't resonate with me as much as I'd hoped. I thought the pacing was uneven, and Margot felt wooden and caricatured. I wanted more depth, more self-awareness. I also wanted more time inside Mrs. Baek's head. And finally, I thought Miguel – Margot's friend – was a throwaway character in ways that bothered me, because he could have been much more.