Helpful Score: 6
What a great book! I couldn't put it down, and I look forward to this author's next book (this was her first). The protagonist, Casey, is the daughter of Korean immigrants, and after graduation from Princeton she finds her self without a clear plan for her future. She leaves home due to conflicts with her father, and struggles throughout the book with family issues, money, career, love, and friends. The book offers a good view of the Korean American community, as well. I just lent it to a friend, but will post it if I get it back.
Helpful Score: 4
I started this book and was really enjoying it, but mid-way through it I started to get really bored. The story just seemed to muddle along and it appeared that there was going to be no climax to the story. Consequently I got tired of it and skimmed and didn't really finish the last third of the book. I do like the authors style of writing, I just think the book is just a little longer than is necessary.
Helpful Score: 3
This book was so interesting I ended up reading it twice. The female protagonist has a much different mindset then any your typical and delving into her character alone is worth reading the book for. Another thing that makes this book stand out is that the viewpoint of all the character's in the book are all almost equally expressed and with such deftness. While, of course, this has been done before I have rarely seen anyone so adept at dong so and exploring so many sides of a thing. You get that a lot of this is personal to the author which makes it even more remarkable.
Helpful Score: 2
In this debut novel, Lee does provide insights into the life of Korean-Americans, but for me a much bigger theme was that of dealing with life post college. The main character, Casey Han, has no clear direction in life, and struggles to find her own way. Used to the lavish lifestyles of her friends in college, Casey digs herself further and further into debt. She believes money to be the solution to everything, but turns down the offer for free business school. Slaving away as an intern at an investment company, she is offered a position, but is no longer sure that is what she wants. Throughout the novel, Casey works towards things that she believes will will solve her problems and make her happy, only to find out that she never really wanted them to begin with.
Casey is the perfect example of the recently popularized "quarter-life crisis". She's impressionable, lost in the "real world" and unsure of where she wants to go in her life and her relationships. I really think that this novel will strike a chord with recent college graduated who will recognize a little bit of themselves in Casey Han.
Casey is the perfect example of the recently popularized "quarter-life crisis". She's impressionable, lost in the "real world" and unsure of where she wants to go in her life and her relationships. I really think that this novel will strike a chord with recent college graduated who will recognize a little bit of themselves in Casey Han.
Helpful Score: 2
Nice insight into the tradition of Korean family life. Interesting but a little long winded. I dont know what could have been cut but it was engaging.
