Katherine Min (1959–2019)

Having heard an interview with the author’s daughter who finished the book after the author’s death, I was excited to read this book. However, the book was difficult to read. It was slow and plodding. The voice was dull, and the characters lacked any interest or excitement.

The story follows Daniel, who is a narcissist and has a fetish of Asian women. He views women strictly as sexual objects to be conquered and then moves on to the next. He is incapable of being faithful to one woman, and even acknowledges this fact. I don’t need the protagonist of the novel to be likeable, and Daniel certainly was not likeable, but at least I need to have an interest in them. I had no interest in Daniel, Kyoko, or any other character in this novel.

The book contained too many characters. Every insignificant person was named. Even in the final chapter many new characters were introduced. This was overkill. The book also spent too much space on flashbacks and reminiscing. It was unnecessary backfill that slowed the story down. Therefore, the book was too long. It comes in at about 280 pages, but would have worked better as a 200 page (or less) novella.

The plot is all over the place. We are following Daniel in the present time in one chapter, a different character in a different time in the next, then back to Daniel in the past. It was difficult trying to follow the timeline. The author’s daughter assembled the novel from various disconnected files and drafts on her mother’s computer, and it appears some must be missing and she put the files in the wrong order. The book makes no chronological sense.

The author attempted to interject humor in the book, especially in the character of Daniel, but it failed miserably. Daniel was not in the least bit funny, despite the author’s attempts to make him come across as humorous.

The ending was incomplete. There is no resolution to many plot lines Perhaps there is another file on the author’s computer that her daughter failed to discover. The editor should have realized this fact. The book ends in a most ridiculous manner with loose ends all over the place.

I was terribly disappointed in the book. It does not even deserve a one-star rating.
I am sorry I wasted my time reading this book.… (más)

This is not a “happy” book. The three main characters are dealing with heavy issues, from chronic illness to depression to immense anger and grief. At first, it is hard to feel sympathetic towards a couple of the characters. While you eventually see the redemption of one character, it is hard to read another character destroy one life after another with little care other than his own selfish needs.

What this book is is beautifully written. The writing kept me reading even when I wasn’t so sure I wanted to continue on with these characters. It is character driven, so don’t expect a lot of action like a thriller. The ending felt a bit rushed and I wish it had been drawn out a bit more. That being said, Katherine Min was an excellent writer and I appreciate her daughter fighting to get this novel published posthumously.

I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a piece of fiction that has a different plot and tackles issues that aren’t normally seen in your more popular books.

Thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the opportunity to read the ARC of this book. The book will be published on January 30, 2024.… (más)

Isa (short for Isadora), the narrator of this book, is the teenaged daughter of Korean immigrants. In many ways, it's a typical coming of age story, one that, like so many second generation American novels, depicts a teen resentful of her ethnic heritage and her parents' ways. Isa rebels in a number of ways: socially, sexually, academically. And she learns that her parents hide secrets and dreams as well.

Overall, this was just an OK (but quick) read. It was a bit hard at times to empathize with the main character, which always makes a novel more difficult to appreciate.… (más)