Rating: 
Summary: An amazing book
Review: I had been searching for quite a while for a good book to read, and came across this. I had remembered a few praiseworthy reviews, so I picked it up.
Could not put it down if my life depended on it. I'm recommending it to just about everyone I know.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!!!
Review: I loved this book. Normally, I do not prefer mystery novels but 'The Interpreter' caught me right from the first page. The problem with many mystery novels is that although they are interesting, they lack style. Such is not the dilemma with this book. Suki Kim's intertwining plot coupled with her poetic writing style makes this reviewer recommend this book highly to all readers. The only drawback is that it kept me up for most of the night; consequently, I was late to work.
Rating: 
Summary: ambitious... but doesn't pull it off
Review: I really wanted to like this book, as I am a Korean-American who aspires to write. But I completely agree with the reviewer of "Some promise, but ultimately boring..." The plot is sloppy and repetitive--I don't need to be told multiple times about how many times Suzy moved in her life. And I realize the author is trying to show how Suzy is damaged from all the pain she's gone through in her life, but her impulsive actions just make her seem pretentious. And when the "mystery" was revealed, I thought it was borderline silly! The aspects of Korean-American immigrant life were insightful, but to the point that I left like I was reading a textbook--a little too educational. Maybe to a non-Korean, these descriptions might seem interesting--but I felt the author was trying too hard to be tourguide of Korean immigrant life in the US.Incidentally, I know this writer is talented because I read an angaging, non-fiction account of her trip to North Korea in the NY Times. This leads me to believe that she just needs to work out some of her first author glitches. I'd be willing to give her a second chance.
Rating: 
Summary: Better first tries
Review: I think she got a publishing deal with Farrar because she's a woman and she's asian. Her writing is pretty awful.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!! Didn't want the book to end!!
Review: Probably the best book I've read in quite some time. I can't believe Suki Kim is a first-time author. She writes with the grace of a 20-year veteran. You will definitely hear/read more from her for many years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Book
Review: Some people have compared it with Native Speaker but in my humble opinion, Kim is a better writer. Her descriptions are on the money. I really liked the fact that this was an Asian American book but at the same time, it didn't whine about growing up AA as much as other books in the genre. The plot was original.The book was about identity just like all other AA books but it added elements that are found in mainstream non-Asian American works and that is something that has to be applauded. Why do Asian Americans only publish books about the Asian American identity? Why not a mystery or a science fiction novel?
Rating:
Summary: Huge Picture of Author on Hardcover Edition!
Review: Suggest checking the NY Times book archives for a fair review. This is a first attempt for the author, and should be accepted and appreciated for the 50th percentile effort that it is. There are really two Korean-American stories here, one of depression and one a detective mystery, and they don't fit together very well. Speaking to the first, the reader has to decide roughly 70-80 pages in, when the novelty of the author's descriptions is starting to wear thin and become boring, whether to proceed. Kim is no Phillip Roth. I did continue, on hope that ethnic/cultural insights might make up for it. Can't say I felt sufficiently rewarded. As for the second, the mystery, it's not well constructed or particularly plausibly handled, i.e., it's more implanted than integrated with the first. To make matters worse, the last page of the book, the ultimate act of the mystery, makes no sense whatsoever relative to everything that's come before. In fact, I would call having the main character turn and solidarize with her parents, in spite of their long-term heinous social behavior toward other Koreans, an act of gross moral cowardice on the author's part (me-generation stuff?). A truly insightful and heroic effort would have had the daughter facing and living with, or being torn apart by, the ambiguity of these two poles. As it is, I wonder, had the daughter been Jewish and her parents pulled acted against other Jews in collaboration with the Nazi authorities, whether the JewishBooks and other reviewers here on amazon would have written so glowingly of this book. There's a character in the book, a mostly absent gay roommate named Caleb, who's a throwaway, i.e., without useful purpose to the story. Ironically enough, however, he's the one given the two best lines by the author (284,286): "I'm so bored with blasphemy," and "You can only drive yourself crazy if you have no distance from the world." Not earth shattering insights either, but ones the author might do well to contemplate, especially if she wants to become more than a teller of morally empty depressed women's tales.
Rating:
Summary: Readable with Perseverance
Review: Suggest checking the NY Times book archives for a fair review. This is a first attempt for the author, and should be accepted and appreciated for the 50th percentile effort that it is. There are really two Korean-American stories here, one of depression and one a detective mystery, and they don't fit together very well. Speaking to the first, the reader has to decide roughly 70-80 pages in, when the novelty of the author's descriptions is starting to wear thin and become boring, whether to proceed. Kim is no Phillip Roth. I did continue, on hope that ethnic/cultural insights might make up for it. Can't say I felt sufficiently rewarded. As for the second, the mystery, it's not well constructed or particularly plausibly handled, i.e., it's more implanted than integrated with the first. To make matters worse, the last page of the book, the ultimate act of the mystery, makes no sense whatsoever relative to everything that's come before. In fact, I would call having the main character turn and solidarize with her parents, in spite of their long-term heinous social behavior toward other Koreans, an act of gross moral cowardice on the author's part (me-generation stuff?). A truly insightful and heroic effort would have had the daughter facing and living with, or being torn apart by, the ambiguity of these two poles. As it is, I wonder, had the daughter been Jewish and her parents pulled acted against other Jews in collaboration with the Nazi authorities, whether the JewishBooks and other reviewers here on amazon would have written so glowingly of this book. There's a character in the book, a mostly absent gay roommate named Caleb, who's a throwaway, i.e., without useful purpose to the story. Ironically enough, however, he's the one given the two best lines by the author (284,286): "I'm so bored with blasphemy," and "You can only drive yourself crazy if you have no distance from the world." Not earth shattering insights either, but ones the author might do well to contemplate, especially if she wants to become more than a teller of morally empty depressed women's tales.
Rating:
Summary: Suki Kim is an author babe
Review: Suki is the best looking writer in market. Is she coming to Powells for book signing? I will count the days.
Rating: 
Summary: good work
Review: Suki Kim does some superb writing in this book when she is not so concerned with making all "the pieces" fit. All the sub-plots fit nicely to make a decent conclusion but with one problem. It just does not ring true. Her writing works better when she seems to be writing about her "own experiences" instead of trying to come up with an implausible story line. As a Korean American, I found the book easy to relate to and enjoyable, therefore I would recommend the book but more for Korean American girls than boys.
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