In many good novels, characters grow, evolve, and change. How successful was Park in depicting his characters' development? Consider Soo-Ja, Yul, and Min as well as the minor characters.

He was good at aging his characters, showing the traditional Oriental customs and expectations. I found it interesting that while reading this novel, I forgot it was written by a man; Soo-Ja was so insightfully given life!

I would have been disappointed if they hadn't change. We all change and believable characters are do different if they are to be "real". The author did an excellent job of effecting the evolution of his characters

I thought it was interesting that all the main characters changed--Soo-Ja, Min, and even Hana. In many books only the protagonist grows.

Min's change was, to me, the most surprising of the three. He'd faded into the background - for the most part - while they were living at the hotel and the focus was on Soo-Ja, how hard she worked and her refusal to cheat on Min no matter how he treated her. That a rich young woman so pampered in her younger years stepped up and worked so hard was impressive, I thought.

I'm not sure Yul changed as much as Soo-Ja and Min. He seemed to remain the most constant.

And Hana. She'd become accustomed to life in America and I thought she'd fight harder against going back to Korea. But I suppose she'd grown more mature. Realizing she could come back to visit helped and she overcame her father's spoiling.