3/5 solid stars. Physical book. This book started out very promising. I really enjoyed the story the author was weaving together. I am not one for spoilers, but about 60% through the book, there is a death. The book took a turn after that. The author writes abruptly. Chapters end with major things happening. It was kind of shocking. Also, things would happen and I would almost miss them if I wasn't reading closely.

Something else that bothered me about the second half of the book was that the author introduced so many new characters that were almost inconsequential. They didn't really add anything of substance to the story and it made me feel like the author was trying too hard. The inner dialogues were kind of strange. I would discover revelations from characters that had never been mentioned before in the book. This is hard to explain without a spoiler, but suffice it to say it started to become a nuisance when the first half of the book really didn't employ this type of writing device.

As someone who loves historical fiction, this book ticked those boxes. I loved the perspective of the Koreans trying to rebuild their lives in a new country that never really ever accepted them. I would recommend this to someone who like historical fiction. Overall, not a terrible story, but it began to unravel around the halfway mark.