August 2022 Book Review: The Last Story of Mina Lee

The Last Story of Mina Lee

By Nancy Jooyoun Kim

~Book Review~

LIFE CAN END abruptly and leave us with too many words left unspoken, too many questions we should have asked but never did. In present day, Margot Lee travels to Koreatown, Los Angeles and discovers that her mother has died under mysterious circumstances. After growing up constantly at loggerheads with her mother who was first generation Korean and never seemed to understand Margot’s American life, Margot sets off to pick up the pieces of who her mother really was. Lush and moving, this first novel of Nancy Jooyoun Kim bridges the divide between mother and daughter with alternating perspectives of their lives in America—one accepted, and the other caught between worlds.

The writing is easy and introspective, capturing the sense of regret and reflection in both Margot and her mother, Mina, as they ponder what could have been. Mina’s chapters are the most engaging as we watch her evolve from timid to taking a stand, and both perspectives capture how isolated and apart they are, no other family except for each other. Kim builds each chapter’s closing to great effect, such as revealing the tragedy Mina left behind, and she shows how the outcome of North and South Korea’s split impacted families for generations.

Margot is joined in her investigation into her mother’s death by an engaging friend Miguel, and Kim does a great job illustrating the mix of Chicano and Korean cultures interfusing on the LA scene. By and large, food plays a central part, and I’ve never finished a book so hungry—whether it is Mina, reminiscing about the past over a bowl of jjigae, or Margot, digging into the traditional cuisine and realizing how much it reminds her of her mother, the dominant role food plays in bringing people together is excellently portrayed:

“Once the meat had browned, Margot laid pieces on Miguel’s plate, like her mother would’ve done, before serving herself. A heaviness gathered in her chest. She wrapped a bite of warm white rice, soft pork belly, and ssamjang in a red lettuce leaf, still wet, and crammed it into her mouth.” –page 127

Overall, a reflective beach read that will certainly make us all reach out to our loved ones and let them know how much they mean to us. It captures the sentiment perfectly that as you grow, the more you understand the choices your parents made.

Recommended for fans of: Unknown! A genre outside my usual wheelhouse :)