Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

18 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Liked how all the loose ends were tied up. Liked how the reality of their situations were contrasted to the model ministry expectations. Liked the acknowledgement of what happened to Rodney King and the impact it had on the community (in this and in her other book When We Kept to Ourselves).

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emilicarter's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes

3.0


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matcha_pages's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I found Margot to be insufferable and the plot/mystery of Mina's death a disappointment.

Margot grows up resenting her single-mom for being so foreign, poor, and different. As an adult, she barely keeps in contact with her mom. After Mina dies, Margot goes on a crusade to learn more about her mom's past, find her biological father, and defend her mother's legacy. To me, it seemed Margot did this to cleanse her guilt of not having a better relationship with her mom while she had the chance. Just rubbed me the wrong way. 

On the other hand, Mina's story was heartwrenching and full of grit. It was the only thing keeping me from DNF-ing this book.

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amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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myrtle's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0


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baratheonbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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ctrl_shift_dlt's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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toofondofbooks_'s review

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emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

"The Last Story of Mina Lee" explores the complex relationship between mother and daughter through the daughter, Margot trying to solve her mother's mysterious death. Intertwined with this storyline is Mina's story, which takes us back in time to 1986 when she first arrived in America.

I feel like this was a solid read, but it could've been *epic.* It had all the elements there, but it never seemed to really take off. I thought the writing was great even though it was pretty simplistic and I enjoyed the dual timelines, though Margot as a character truly bored me to tears and I didn't feel like she had a personality. Still, it was hard for me to predict what would end up contributing to the fate of Mina Lee, and I liked that, even though all of the things that did happen to contribute to it fell flat for me in the end or were flat out anti-climactic.

Though I did like this author's writing, there was a ton of repetition that could've been edited down. The entire premise of this book hinges on the death of Margot's mother, but I felt like the author kept wanting to remind us of that fact. So many sentences started or ended with something like "since her mother's death." I feel like as a writer, you need to trust that the people who are reading your book are going to remember such a major plot point.

Something I thought was done right in this book was capturing grief, understanding that there are things we will never know about the people we love or perhaps never understand about them, but loving them anyway. Overall, a decent book, but there are things I would've liked to see done differently.

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lain_darko's review

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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cereads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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