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  • The Last Story of Mina Lee

  • Written by: Nancy Jooyoun Kim
  • Narrated by: Greta Jung
  • Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars (33 ratings)

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The Last Story of Mina Lee

Written by: Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Narrated by: Greta Jung
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Publisher's Summary

A Reese’s Book Club Pick

Instant New York Times best seller

Riveting and unconventional, The Last Story of Mina Lee traces the far-reaching consequences of secrets in the lives of a Korean immigrant mother and her daughter

Margot Lee's mother is ignoring her calls. Margot can’t understand why, until she makes a surprise trip home to Koreatown, LA, and finds that her mother has suspiciously died.

Determined to discover the truth, Margot unravels her single mother’s past as a Korean War orphan and an undocumented immigrant, only to realize how little she truly knew about her mother, Mina.

Thirty years earlier, Mina Lee steps off a plane to take a chance on a new life in America. Stacking shelves at a Korean grocery store, the last thing she expects is to fall in love. But that moment leads to repercussions for Mina that echo through the decades, leading up to the truth of what happened the night of her death.

Told through the intimate lens of a mother and daughter who have struggled all their lives to understand each other, The Last Story of Mina Lee is a powerful and exquisitely woven debut novel that explores identity, family, secrets, and what it truly means to belong.

Highly Anticipated by Fortune · Popsugar · Purewow · Betches · Gma.com · Vulture · Bustle · The Millions · Lithub · Bookriot · Bookish

“Painful, joyous... A story that cries out to be told.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Kim is a brilliant new voice in American fiction.” (Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel)

“Suspenseful and deeply felt.” (Chloe Benjamin, author of The Immortalists)

©2020 Nancy Jooyoun Kim (P)2020 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
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What listeners say about The Last Story of Mina Lee

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Pleasantly surprised

This book was heartbreaking in a lot of ways. It certainly makes you face with all the privileges you have. There were so many bad reviews about the audio book that I nearly didnt use my credit on this one. It turned out to be a moving and well written story about a mother and daughter, their different lives and experiences and their struggles to understand each other. Margo's mission was to figure out whether or not her mother's death was an accident upon discovering her body. The book revolves around Margo on her quest as well as past chapters which describe Mina's (her mother) experience in her first few years living in Koreatown in LA in the 80s and 90s. The descriptions of the food were mouth watering. I also felt like the relationships between characters were believable and realistic.
I am giving it 4 stars because there were some parts of the plot that I found slow-moving and a little hard to get through. Also, the narrator for the audio book tried her best but sometimes used odd voices for the characters.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Didn’t like narration

I really didn’t enjoy the narrator of this story (sorry!). I couldn’t quite get into the characters either. It was as if I just didn’t care. I don’t recommend this book as an audio book. It might be ok to read yourself.

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