The Last Story of Mina Lee

Starred review from May 15, 2020
In Kim's haunting and heartbreaking debut, troubled threads between a mother and daughter blend together in a delicate and rich weave. In autumn, 2014, 26-year-old Margot Lee has been unable to reach her mother, Mina, who lives in L.A.'s Koreatown. With her best friend Miguel, Margot drives down from Seattle only to find Mina dead on the floor of her tiny apartment. A police investigation finds Mina's death to be an accident, but Margot is suspicious. As she goes through Mina's belongings, Margot discovers a mother she barely knew. Mina rarely spoke of her past, but as a child, she fled from North Korea during the Korean War before being permanently separated from her parents and growing up in an orphanage. Now, Margot learns that Mina lost a husband and daughter in an accident in 1986 before fleeing to the U.S. She began her American dream, which, as an undocumented immigrant and single mother, becomes tragic. Kim fluidly moves the story from 1987 to 2014 as readers learn Mina's backstory. With both sadness and beauty, she describes grief, regret, loss, and the feeling of being left behind. Fans of Amy Tan and Kristin Hannah will love Kim's brilliant debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

July 6, 2020
In Kim’s uneven debut, an unexpected death highlights both the rifts and the bonds in a mother-daughter relationship. Margot Lee, 26, figures she’ll stop in for an overdue visit with her mother, Mina, while she’s in Los Angeles helping a coworker relocate from Seattle. At the house, she finds her mother dead. The death was ruled accidental, but the circumstances gradually appear more suspicious as Margot uncovers Mina’s mementos and learns about her mother’s secrets, both long-buried and more recent. Margot’s investigations alternate with (and in some cases, awkwardly parallel) the story of Mina’s 1987 arrival in Los Angeles’s Koreatown, having fled Korea in the wake of a personal tragedy. Mina’s immigration story poignantly mingles optimism with the heartbreak of exploitation. The more contemporary portions of the narrative, however, lack both emotional pull and narrative conviction. Margot’s characterization feels flat, and her supposed artistic aspirations lack any sort of passion or urgency. Most problematic, however, is the mystery plot, which hinges not only on a series of fairly implausible coincidences but also on some unconvincing police work. As a personal immigration narrative Kim’s novel largely succeeds, but as a mystery novel or a mother-daughter drama it fails to connect.