An offsite event for Free Food for Millionaires
, author of Free Food for Millionaires, one of my favorite books this year, will be appearing at U.S.-Korea Institute of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) next week, and Olsson’s will be supplying the books. You can attend, and here is why you should. . .
Min Jin Lee’s first novel (Warner Books) has received glowing reviews and much deserved comparisons to Philip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus and Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, and while different in tone and theme, similarities are there – the drive of the children of immigrants to prove themselves and live up to the ideals of their parents, in spite of the temptations of wealth, power, and seduction in a golden age in Manhattan. But Min Jin Lee has a unique and distinct voice.
As Liesl Schillinger described in the New York Times Book Review, Ms. Lee has crafted “an energetic eventfulness and a sprawling cast that call to mind the literary classics of Victorian England.” I personally appreciate her work for the fact that she has no minor characters, each personality, in spite of their vices, is sympathetic, even lovable, in spite of their fallen-ness. It may not be clear why they make the choices they do, but they are trying their best to find happiness in the world, even if their impulses seem to doom them.
At the beginning of the book, Casey Han finds herself rebelling against her parents' expectations without having clearly articulated reasons. Her parents struggled to ensure that she and her sister received a good education and prestigious degrees, but Casey finds it overwhelming to take the next step to adulthood of either a career or graduate school. Moreover, while she thinks that she has found a wonderful boyfriend, she knows her parents would disapprove. The tensions rapidly come to a breaking point, and somehow she manages to go forward, trying to find her way into adulthood, and in the course of the book, the reader is introduce more fully to her family and her peers so completely that is hard not to perceive them as real people. They go through painfully, dark experiences, and yet there is a persistent hopefulness in this story, that their mistakes and betrayals might be used to cosmic or divine purpose, and good might result from their errant ways.
As a reader, one finds oneself alternately shocked by Casey, her family and friends, and rooting for them to overcome their destructive flaws and succeed in finding love and happiness. In fact, their flaws lead the characters to discover that they need each other, that they are loveable, that in spite of themselves, they can succeed. It is this concept that their flaws save the characters that makes Free Food for Millionaires almost Biblical in scope. While God, belief, and faith remain rather abstract concepts, upon which the characters imagine they should rely in order to get through adversity, an essential Biblical message - if you can allow yourself to believe in your own worth, you become valuable – holds true.
This is a magical book, that sweeps you into the world of these very complete characters. But don’t just take my word for it, decide for yourself by reading the and by attending "An Evening with Min Jin Lee: On Writing Free Food for Millionaires” hosted by Yoonmee Chang, Professor of English at George Mason University, and the U.S.-Korea Institute of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Please note that while Olsson’s will be selling the books, this event is taking place at SAIS, not at Olsson’s. So you are encouraged to pre-register on their website at http://www.uskoreainstitute.org/events/rsvpminjinlee.html
Tuesday, November 6
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. reception
6:30 p.m. program begin
Johns Hopkins University-SAIS
Bernstein-Offit Building, Room 500
1717 Massachusetts Ave, NW
For more information, please check their website
http://www.uskoreainstitute.org/events/index.htm
I hope to see you there.
Andrew
Min Jin Lee’s first novel (Warner Books) has received glowing reviews and much deserved comparisons to Philip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus and Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, and while different in tone and theme, similarities are there – the drive of the children of immigrants to prove themselves and live up to the ideals of their parents, in spite of the temptations of wealth, power, and seduction in a golden age in Manhattan. But Min Jin Lee has a unique and distinct voice.
As Liesl Schillinger described in the New York Times Book Review, Ms. Lee has crafted “an energetic eventfulness and a sprawling cast that call to mind the literary classics of Victorian England.” I personally appreciate her work for the fact that she has no minor characters, each personality, in spite of their vices, is sympathetic, even lovable, in spite of their fallen-ness. It may not be clear why they make the choices they do, but they are trying their best to find happiness in the world, even if their impulses seem to doom them.
At the beginning of the book, Casey Han finds herself rebelling against her parents' expectations without having clearly articulated reasons. Her parents struggled to ensure that she and her sister received a good education and prestigious degrees, but Casey finds it overwhelming to take the next step to adulthood of either a career or graduate school. Moreover, while she thinks that she has found a wonderful boyfriend, she knows her parents would disapprove. The tensions rapidly come to a breaking point, and somehow she manages to go forward, trying to find her way into adulthood, and in the course of the book, the reader is introduce more fully to her family and her peers so completely that is hard not to perceive them as real people. They go through painfully, dark experiences, and yet there is a persistent hopefulness in this story, that their mistakes and betrayals might be used to cosmic or divine purpose, and good might result from their errant ways.
As a reader, one finds oneself alternately shocked by Casey, her family and friends, and rooting for them to overcome their destructive flaws and succeed in finding love and happiness. In fact, their flaws lead the characters to discover that they need each other, that they are loveable, that in spite of themselves, they can succeed. It is this concept that their flaws save the characters that makes Free Food for Millionaires almost Biblical in scope. While God, belief, and faith remain rather abstract concepts, upon which the characters imagine they should rely in order to get through adversity, an essential Biblical message - if you can allow yourself to believe in your own worth, you become valuable – holds true.
This is a magical book, that sweeps you into the world of these very complete characters. But don’t just take my word for it, decide for yourself by reading the and by attending "An Evening with Min Jin Lee: On Writing Free Food for Millionaires” hosted by Yoonmee Chang, Professor of English at George Mason University, and the U.S.-Korea Institute of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Please note that while Olsson’s will be selling the books, this event is taking place at SAIS, not at Olsson’s. So you are encouraged to pre-register on their website at http://www.uskoreainstitute.org/events/rsvpminjinlee.html
Tuesday, November 6
5:30 - 6:30 p.m. reception
6:30 p.m. program begin
Johns Hopkins University-SAIS
Bernstein-Offit Building, Room 500
1717 Massachusetts Ave, NW
For more information, please check their website
http://www.uskoreainstitute.org/events/index.htm
I hope to see you there.
Andrew
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