Review: "Free Food for Millionaires"

No one loves stories of glitz, drama, humor, and racial diversity like Netflix does. Earlier this year, the production company announced that it had acquired the television adaption rights for Free Food for Millionaires, a novel by Min Jin Lee, and quickly slated Emmy award-winning screenwriter and director Alan Yang to develop the book into the series.

After devouring this book, I'm enthused to see Lee's work adapted. If Netflix is able to catch at least half of the intrigue and charm of this story, the series will be a hit.

The book follows Casey Han, a twenty-something Asian American woman struggling with adulthood, family, romance, friendships, and her career. Casey feels angry and disillusioned with her life, despite the appearance of great opportunity. Lee crafts a very bleak and depressingly real picture of class disparity in late-twentieth century Manhattan. Min Jin Lee’s writing is gripping at every turn. All characters seemed believable in this book, for better or for worse. Casey, with all of her flaws, was relatable to me. The drama of the characters revolved around the fickle idea of privilege. The “B school” people, in particular, are the embodiment of people you love to hate (or hate to love). These characters seem to live out of touch with the real world and they cannot comprehend mediocrity, much less poverty, and they provide a much-needed break from Casey's family drama. In this sense, many of the characters are insufferable, but much like the experience of watching Hannah Horvath in Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls, you cannot turn away.

As for Casey's family and some of her close friends: I adored Ella. I loved the hats. Sabine and Issac were interesting, but I felt they were too intangible for me - they needed a better introduction or foundation. As it were, I would’ve preferred to see more of Joseph/Leah and Chul/Chul’s family than Sabine/Issac.

Strong character development and a perpetually moving plot carry this book, yet the story is not without its crutches. There is a lot of potentially unnecessary adultery here. Cheating amidst romantic entanglements seemed too common in this book, to the point where the reader becomes desensitized to the gravity of the situation. I would’ve dialed it back and explored other stresses on relationship. Instead of turning to infidelity as soon as things get ugly, I would have enjoyed seeing the exploration of the other challenges and complexities in a relationship. In particular, I wish Min Jin Lee would’ve addressed the diversity/multiracial relationship question. Mostly, this book feels like Korean women with rich or asshole Korean men or beguiling white American men. Why should it relationships feel so suffocated and repetitive of each other? Shouldn't every relationship feel new, unique? I also think Min Jin Lee’s style of floating between different points of view on a whim is occasionally disorienting. I found it confusing--and nearly annoying--to shift points of view so often. As you read on, it doesn’t seem to be a problem, but Lee’s style definitely needs to be adjusted to.

As a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and would recommend. Free Food for Millionaires has a rich, entertaining story to tell, and I think its characters will resonate with many audiences.