Review: Marigold Mind Laundry by Jungeun Yun
Featuring five stories within a frame story, ‘Marigold Mind Laundry’, written originally in Korean, allows readers to reflect on and perhaps even erase their own pain
Everyone carries a wound on their heart. Whether it is from loss, love, or fear and trauma, it is ever present. It shapes experiences, beliefs and outlooks, the people they surround themselves with, or their choice of solitude. These wounds stain their heart and life and as time goes by, the stains get tougher to remove. But what if there existed a magical laundry which promises to clean the hearts of customers who walk through the door? Would you go in?
Korean and Japanese fiction about people finding closure and dealing with tough emotions through a series of magical happenings is becoming increasingly popular. Themes might include returning to the past to meet a loved one through a time-traveling cafe (Before The Coffee Gets Cold), or eating food which transports you back to your past (The Kamogawa Food Detectives). In each of these, the authors explore multiple ‘magical’ ways to bring closure to grieving people. In Marigold Mind Laundry, Jungeun Yun does this with the help of a magical laundry.
The book starts in a quiet peaceful village where the weather is always pleasant and the people are always kind and happy. One day, the town chief saves the life of an outsider who is found unconscious on a path. Then, he invites her to live with him. Everybody in the town has powers. A few years pass and Jieun, the daughter of the town chief and the outsider who is now his wife, grows up without realizing that she carries not one but two powers - The power to heal others, and to make wishes come true. While still learning to control her gifts, she accidentally causes her parents to vanish. Harrowed by this accident caused by her gifts, she vows to live over a million lives until she finds her parents.
While going through yet another life, Jieun stumbles upon the small seaside town of Marigold. It is quiet, smells of the salty sea breeze and has the most beautiful sunsets. There, suddenly inspired, she creates the Marigold Mind Laundry. It is a place where she can use her gifts to heal people and clean their hearts of all the wounds they carry.
What follows is the story of five individuals – a frustrated young filmmaker, a woman betrayed by her lover, a spiraling social media influencer, a mother who discovers her husband’s other family, a talented photographer, and a victim of bullying who escapes into the country to get away from it all. As Jieun helps them clean their wounds, she learns that her gift of healing is not extraordinary, but one that everyone has. To activate it, an individual just has to look for it.
With reflective tones and a cosy, quiet, beachside setting, Marigold Mind Laundry’s heartwarming stories are the chicken soup that every reader needs. These tales of difficult childhoods, failed careers and the loss of loved ones can help heal every reader. Without being preachy, the book’s contemplative writing laced with philosophical discussions urges readers to check on their own wounds and heal from them.
Despite the five stories within the frame story, the book has a cohesive feel perhaps because it is all seen through Jieun’s perspective and characters from previous stories return in the ones that follow, thus contributing to the fullness of the book.
Readers also find themselves rooting for Jieun’s healing. Indeed, she heals unknowingly along with her customers and blossoms as she comes into her power.
Junegun Yun writes with delicateness and ease. The many cups of hot tea, the sound of waves, the blues of the sea, and the wind on the hilltop imbue the book with a cosy warmth. Shanna Tan’s translation gracefully preserves the Korean soul of the story, yet flows effortlessly in English.
“All these heartaches are part of me. Without them, I wouldn’t be the person I am,” Jieun realises. Everyone struggles, everyone faces adversities. But though we prefer to forget the wounds of our past, they contribute to make us the person we are. Marigold Mind Laundry makes readers look at their own lives, their own wounds and ask themselves: “Which bad memories would you like to wash away?”
Rutvik Bhandari is an independent writer. He lives in Pune. He is a reader and a content creator. You can find him talking about books on Instagram and YouTube (@themindlessmess).