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This is an outstanding piece of literature. Whether your a fan of historical fiction, love stories or just well developed stories, I recommend this treasure. At close to 500 pages it may seem daunting at first but the quick pace and character development makes the time fly by. Even my ignorance of the area, the Far East was not an issue. This is a work of epic proportion that takes place from the turn of the 20th century into 1988 which encompasses 4 generations.

The hub of the story revolves around Sunja, who in her lifetime faces much turmoil and upheaval. She is thrust into unfair situations throughout, yet is still able to keep her composure and dignity intact. That is not to say, she is a happy horseshit character, as she is not without flaws or issues. In the face of wars, starvation and extreme poverty along with various familial and societal pressures, she is able to eke out a sustainable life. Though faced with much hardship and dislocation, she ends up being a matriarch for a prosperous family.

One of the many good things, that the author Min Jin Lee is able to convey is the concept of home. Her characters are largely refugees. During this timeframe, from around 1910 when Japan annexed the Korean peninsula to the 1980s, a Korean living in Japan was largely considered Zanichi, a term meaning residing in Japan. Even, a character such as Solomon, who was raised and lived in Japan and was by all means was Japanese was not allowed citizenship. The indignities before the early 1990s, were numerous including: not being able to hold public office jobs, being fingerprinted and being denied various social services. Lee did an outstanding job of showing her characters straddling this gray area between their ancestral homeland and their current country.

Much like Lee was able to show her characters straddling with their identities, she was able to expertly do the same with her writing style. In a book with as many characters and time periods as this one they can feel one dimensional or watered down but, Lee is mostly adept at avoiding this predicament. My only qualm was some of the characters storylines felt a little tacked on, such as one involving a homosexual encounter at a park or one involving a wild party child. It is important to show various lifestyles and in an honor-shame society that Japan is portrayed as it is more difficult to express differing points of view and sexuality but it still felt random. Overall, whether you are interested in the Far East or just like a good story with compelling, you can't do much better than this.