Free Food For Millionaires

by: Min Jin Lee

Published by: Warner Books

Reviewed by Anne-Gigi Chan

Casey Han, daughter of Korean immigrants, spent four years at Princeton and came out with ‘a refined diction, an enviable golf handicap, a popular white boyfriend, an agnostic’s closeted passion for reading the Bible, and a magna cum laude degree in economics. But no job and a number of bad habits.’

Over the next few years, as Casey struggled to get herself out of debt while unwilling to give up living the high life in Manhattan, we learned of her life and the lives of those around her. Centered around the Korean community in New York City, this is the tale of the haves and have-nots, all in pursuit of the American dream.

Lee did a wonderful job portraying the clash of values between immigrant parents and their assimilated children. The vivid depiction of various characters and the seamless shift from one character’s point of view to another were also quite impressive. Being a Chinese emigrant to North America and having grown up in a world where going to a ‘brand name school’ helps open doors of opportunity, I often felt that Lee was writing about someone I know personally.

It was also frustrating to see that the smart people who are bright enough to receive scholarships from Princeton, finish business school at Harvard or gain acceptance into Columbia Law School, can still fail as a human being and make stupid and unbelievable mistakes and decisions.

Curious about the title? Apparently traders buy each other meals when their group made the most money that day or that week—so basically they got all excited about the free lunches they get when they are rolling in money already.

However, regardless of how real many of those characters may seem, this book reads more like a Chinese or Korean soap opera (which I often enjoy) than an epic novel. The stories of the individual characters were interesting and entertaining enough, but the entire book lacked a central plot. This maybe is a good book to read for one to gain some insight about the Korean immigrant community (and some issues apply to the Chinese community too), but it was not the page-turning epic that I was expecting.

Author Min Jin Lee went to Yale College where she was awarded both the Henry Wright Prize for Nonfiction and the James Ashmun Veech Prize for Fiction. She then attended Georgetown Law School and worked as a lawyer for several years before leaving to write full time.

Armchair Interviews says: Heed the reviewer’s comments to understand what kind of story this book unravels.