Lee’s enthralling book depicts Mook during each of these incarnations, from her escape from a North Korean village to a married life her restive spirit never quite settles into ... In less capable hands, Mook’s deceptiveness as a narrator and the presentation of her life out of chronological order could be disorienting, but Lee drops the right details throughout to reinforce the connections among the stories. While Mook’s adventures in espionage feel a tad less engrossing than her more intimate dramas, Lee keeps readers hooked by expanding Mook’s universe.
Ms. Lee energetically relates each episode of her protean narrator’s biography, stressing the attitude of defiance that inspired each metamorphosis ... Despite the darkness of the history it retells, this is primarily an adventure novel, fueled by the same righteous anger that turns ordinary mortals into masked superheroes.
Telling stories is an important theme in the novel. They can be a source of solace ... Through the character of Mrs Mook, Lee presents compelling stories which deserve to be heard.
Though the eight stories that make up Lee’s debut are full of death, loss, war, and other heartbreaking traumas, the overarching theme of love—familial, romantic, platonic, or parental—connects them all. Inspired by the author’s great-aunt, Lee’s beautiful novel is a tale of survival, trauma, and love in the midst of modern Korea’s most tumultuous times. Her metaphorical and lyrical language, brutal and unsettling storytelling, and masterful prose will keep readers hooked until the very end.
Ambitious if overwrought ... The protagonist’s harrowing and vibrant stories are hard to turn away from. This doesn’t always work, but when it does, it hits hard.
