Quotes from Lee Min-jin

part of her life wouldn't end with her death.

a woman's life is endless work and suffering. There is suffering and then more suffering. It's better to expect it, you know. You're becoming a woman now, so you should be told this. For a woman, the man you marry will determine the quality of your life completely. A good man is a decent life, and a bad man is a cursed life?but no matter what, always expect suffering, and just keep working hard. No one will take care of a poor woman?just ourselves.

Landlords are enemies of the workers," Hansu said.

In America, everything seemed fixable, and in Japan, difficult problems were to be endured. Shoganai, shoganai. How many times had he heard those words? It cannot be helped. His mother had apparently hated that expression, and suddenly he understood her rage against this cultural resignation that violated her beliefs and wishes. Book 3, page 456

said that when you die and go to heaven, you get your body back. I can finally get rid of this

Etsuko held the watch case in her hands and wondered how they'd stayed together with him not giving up and her not giving in.

Sunja was still thinking about Hansu and how he might be nearby. More than anything, she was afraid of running into him. Yet it would be worse, she thought, never to see him at all." Book 1, p89

She smiled at him, not knowing how to say - you saved me. Instead, she said, "You must get well." Book 2, p188

You people work together to make sure nothing ever changes. Shoganai. Shoganai. That's all I ever hear Book 3, p374

Man, life's going to keep pushing you sround, but you have to keep playing Book 3, p378

Arigatou very much" he said. They often mixed up words in different languages as a joke. Book 3, p392

You have this scent" Hana said quietly, "I used to think it was your perfume. Joy, ne?" "I still wear that." "I know," Hana said, and Etsuko resisted the urge to sniff her own wrists. "It's not just the perfume, though, it's all the other creams and things that you wear, and it makes up this smell. I used to walk around department stores wondering what it was. The smell of mama." Book 3, p401

You couldn't even rent your own apartment in Tokyo, and you make good money. It's fucking 1989! Book 3, p444

Japan will never change. It will never ever integrate gaijin, and my darling, here you will always be a gaijin and never Japanese. Book 3, p467

Man, life's going to keep pushing you around, but you have to keep playing Book 3, p378

This early recognition was critical, because it took me so long to publish anything at all. Moreover, the NYFA fellowship confirmed my stubborn belief that the stories of Koreans in Japan should be told somehow when so much of their lives had been despised, denied, and erased.

In the morning, when my grandmother is in the kitchen, I will place enough of this powder into my sisters' and my porridge bowls. Mama and Dad will be sad, but it will be all right.

If we love our Lord, not just admire him or fear him or want things from him, we must recognize his feelings; he must be in anguish over our sins.