8 Lives of a Century Old Trickster

8 Lives of a Century Old Trickster is about an old woman telling her life story for an obituary but it is unknown how much of the old woman’s story is true or not. The old woman talks about her hardships in Korea especially when Korea became the North and the South and she was stuck in the North forced to be a spy. There were a lot of sensitive topics, child abuse, sex slavery, domestic and child abuse. The book is loosely based off of the author Mirinae Lee’s aunt.

Pros

I liked the idea and initially it started off interesting enough. When the publicist or agent suggested this book I was more than interested. The history is always interesting.

Cons

Oh lord unfortunately while the book had promise it failed to deliver. It was very confusing. The 8 lives where written out of order and it seemed confusing and the story seemed to meander on and on. I read another review that said the book read more like an anthology rather than a beginning, middle and end story.

Overall

Overall I think the idea was great but the execution was terrible. I think what Mirinae Lee should have done was write a book about her aunt who escaped North Korea. Readers in my opinion would be more invested in her aunt’s true story rather than a confusing story that reads more like an anthology.