Quotes from Min Jin Lee

The Japanese didn't want Koreans to live near them, because they weren't clean, they lived with pigs, and the children had lice. Also, Koreans were said to be even

The air conditioner hadn't worked all summer. Naturally, jokes had been made about how this must be a foretaste of hell.

Sunja and Yangjin were able to cook the sweets and handle the customers without him. It was never that busy then. It was a late fall afternoon, when business was exceedingly slow and the market women were busy talking with each other since there were so few customers;

How do you prove that you love God?

The tall tree above him formed a burnished metallic lace against the blurry evening sky.

Somewhere after being sorry, there had to be another day, and even after a conviction, there could be good in the judgement.

Ele amava a filha da mesma maneira que os pais dele o tinham amado, mas deu por si a não conseguir negar-lhe fosse o que fosse. Sunja era uma rapariga de aparência normal, com um riso fácil e uma boa disposição, mas aos olhos do pai ela era linda e ele maravilhava-se com a perfeição dela. Poucos pais no mundo valorizavam as filhas tanto como Hoonie, que parecia viver unicamente para a fazer sorrir.

For me, the pachinko business and the game itself serve as metaphors for the history of Koreans in Japan—a people caught in seemingly random global conflicts—as they win, lose, and struggle for their place and for their lives.

O pai ensinara-a a não julgar ninguém por coisas tão superficiais: o que um homem vestia ou possuía nada tinha que ver com o seu coração e caráter.

Like his brother, Noa, Yumi thought English was the most important language and America was the best country.

Love for God, he'd thought, should come naturally and not out of fear of punishment.

bad and went to work! Maybe there's

He was a good talker—the sort of man who could sell lumber to a woodcutter.

To her, being Korean was just another horrible encumbrance, much like being poor or having a shameful family you could not cast off.

Lately, Noa was warning him that since the Koreans in Japan were no longer citizens, if you got in trouble, you could be deported. Noa had told him that no matter what,

In literature, I've never been without consolation. Books have found me at every stage of my life, reminding me that if a character could change, so could I.

At work, nearly everyone was Korean, so nothing stupid was said about his background. At school, Mozasu hadn't thought that the taunts had bothered him much, but when the mean remarks had utterly disappeared from his daily life, he realized how peaceful he could feel.

Sunja wanted her sister-in-law to make Changho wait, but it wouldn't have been Kyunghee if she had made him do so. Changho had loved someone who would not betray her husband, and perhaps that was why he had loved her.

God controls all things, but we don't understand his reasons. Sometimes, I don't like his actions, either. It's frustrating".

He read through Dickens, Thackeray, Hardy, Austen, and Trollope, then moved on to the Continent to read through much of Balzac, Zola, and Flaubert, then fell in love with Tolstoy. His favorite was Goethe; he must have read The Sorrows of Young Werther at least half a dozen times.

emotional injustice

If the pastor doesn't give you money for the household, earn something and put aside savings for emergencies. Spend what you need but just throw even a few coins into a tin and forget that you have it. A woman should always have something put by.

Hansu had said that the leftists were "a bunch of whiners" and the rightists were "plain stupid.

Yes, it has happened to me, but not always so vividly. I hear the voice of God when I read the Bible, so yes, I suppose I understand what you felt, but there are coincidences, too. We have to be open to that. It's dangerous to think that everything is a sign from God. Perhaps God is always talking to us, but we don't know how to listen," Shin stated.