Bella

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Bella is Currently Reading

Bella is currently reading

Free Food for Millionaires

by Min Jin Lee

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 3rd time

read in April 2022

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Bella said: " I'm in love with Min Jin Lee's prose. I read Pachinko first, and while I would probably choose that over Free Food for Millionaires (if I had to), I still thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This book took me quite awhile to get through, but I really enjoye I'm in love with Min Jin Lee's prose. I read Pachinko first, and while I would probably choose that over Free Food for Millionaires (if I had to), I still thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This book took me quite awhile to get through, but I really enjoyed every moment of it. I was reading it on my e-reader and was kind of shocked when it ended. I felt like Lee could have continued writing about these characters - Casey, Leah, Ella, Unu, Ted - for ages until I'd get tired of it.

Many reviewers found some of the characters to be unlikeable, particularly our protagonist Casey, but I felt drawn to each of them; even the millionaire finance assholes like Ted. That's the beauty of Lee's writing - each character feels extremely relatable in their own way, despite how different their experiences are from my own.

I found myself amazed at how often a character's off-hand musing would hit home to me. Lee is somehow able to identify feelings I didn't realize I even had. For example, a quote from Ella: "With David, she was allowed to make a suggestion about how to get to places and where to go. It was liberating, but she felt the added responsibility for his happiness. What happened if he didn't want to do what she wanted? It had yet to happen, but it would eventually. It was easier in life, then, to just go along."

The qualities in Casey that many reviewers disliked were things that I found to be so compelling - her refined fashion sense ("excessive modesty being vanity's sister, after all"), piling credit card debt, fierce independence and refusal for help, her friendship with Ella... I could disagree with Casey's actions while still feeling deep care for her, which seems to be emblematic of the immigrant family experience that Lee illustrates.

Ultimately, I adore the way Lee narrates this book (and Pachinko). Not only do we get to see the inner thoughts of our main characters, we get to see what's going through the mind of minor side characters, too, which really fleshes out the scene in a beautiful way. I didn't know that this was a tactic used in Victorian literature and now I'm looking forward to diving into all the authors Casey rereads because of how much I enjoyed the omniscient narration.

If you're interested in the human experience, the immigrant experience, or just the experience of being a young person in America, I very much recommend this book. ...more "

progress:

(page 338 of 577)
"I want to keep reading but I need to sleep :/" — Jul 05, 2026 11:29PM

Jun 23, 2026 10:56PM · see review

Bella’s Quotes

“I like people to be unhappy because I like them to have souls.”
― Virginia Woolf

tags: virginia-woolf

29 likes

“History has failed us, but no matter.”
― Min Jin Lee, Pachinko

305 likes

“I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.”
― J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

2313 likes

“There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

1637 likes