⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

The Marigold Mind Laundry is a beautifully imaginative story about loss, healing, and the magic of letting go. While the concept of a laundromat that washes away painful memories is unique and comforting, the pacing can feel slow at times, and some characters could have been more deeply developed. Still, its heartfelt message and whimsical prose make it a worthwhile read for fans of reflective, feel-good fiction.

Not my style, unfortunately. I had a hard time getting into it and was super confused - DNF @ 17%. Many thanks for the copy to try!

Marigold Mind Laundry promises an enchanting concept, but unfortunately, it falls short in execution. The idea of a laundromat that erases painful memories through magical powers is intriguing, but the narrative feels disjointed and lacks emotional depth. Jieun’s journey to find peace while helping others should have been touching, yet the story comes off as overly simplistic and at times even predictable.

The five characters seeking Jieun’s help are underdeveloped, and their individual stories feel superficial. While the concept of transferring sadness onto T-shirts and turning it into flower petals is visually imaginative, it never truly feels like it has any real emotional weight. Rather than inspiring or comforting, the novel feels like it glosses over the pain and healing process without exploring the depth of human emotion.

Moreover, Jieun's personal quest to find her family, which should have been a central driving force, feels secondary and doesn't contribute meaningfully to the story’s themes of healing or self-discovery.

While Marigold Mind Laundry may appeal to fans of whimsical, feel-good stories, it ultimately lacks the heart and substance needed to make it memorable. Its charm is fleeting, and its narrative lacks the emotional resonance that one would expect from a book about healing and personal growth. A 2-star read for me.

I value the opportunity I was given to read this in advance, but I still haven't read this. With so many books ahead of me, I cannot return to this title.

this story is a sweet, endearing, and touching coming of age story set in a magical laundromat. the stories serve as a reminder that things can always be amended, fixed, cleaned, or made new again through love and new beginnings!

keeping your heart open to love and connection even in unlikely places or people, the marigold mind laundry is a magical realism tale of human connection and healing,

Cute book about a woman with powers who starts a laundry to cleanse memories (stains) or remove wrinkles from people's lives. Just felt like it could have been a little more or gone a little deeper.

If you're someone who enjoyed "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" or "The Kamogawa Food Detectives", then this book will be right up your alley! However, one thing that made me like this book even more than the other two previously mentioned is that it felt slightly less repetitive. Whoever the editor is - thank you for trying to tone that down! It did not go unnoticed!

Jieun was an interesting character to read about! Born in a world more magical than ours, she is gifted with not only one but two powers - and accidentally dreams into existence that her parents no longer exist. Going through lifetimes upon lifetimes to find them again, she loses the will to live a happy life until she settles down in the town of Marigold and creates the Mind Laundry - a place where she can help others wash away memories that they regret.

This book was very sweet and I was happy to see not only tales of people coming in to remove painful memories, but how their stories weave together and ultimately build stronger character relationships. It was very sweet, and I found myself very interested in learning more. The only reason my rating is just at a 3 (which I wish I could show that my rating is actually a 3.5) is that it felt a tiny bit repetitive in parts and that I felt it could have had a little bit more background to it.

Overall though, I really liked this book and would recommend it if you are looking for a quick palate cleanser between mysteries or high fantasies!

Jungeun Yun's writing is a delightful and charming, and woven throughout Marigold Mind Laundry seems a certain thread of magic that remains inescapable.

This was very wholesome and fun to read! I liked the concept, but feel like it wasn’t too unique from other books like it. Maybe it was the English translation, but a lot of the lessons or takeaways felt very cliche. I still enjoyed and would recommend to people new to the genre as a nice intro!

The idea one can wash one’s worst memory away so one can reverse the consequent negative effects on one’s mental health and move forward with one’s life is terribly seductive.

Jieun, the woman at the centre of this set of stories has the extraordinary ability to empathize and heal, and to make wishes comes true, including her own, such as when she is dreaming. She was born in a tiny speck of a town, and has lived for a very long time after leaving home when young. She decides that she wants to help others, and travels till she arrives in a small town and settles in a neighbourhood called Marigold (I loved this name!)

There, she opens a laundromat called Mind Laundry, and offers a very special service. People can share a painful memory, which will be captured on a white t-shirt as a stain. They can choose to completely wash it out and lose the memory permanently, or just iron out wrinkles, reducing the effect of the memory on their psyche.

The novel entails various individuals taking advantage of the service to greater and lesser degrees:

-a young man who is a struggling filmmaker
-a young woman whose boyfriend two-times her
-a mother discovers that her husband has another family
-a social media influencer whose reputation suffers when a product she endorsed harms people
-a bullied photographer who decided to work in an ordinary job for years rather than show off his talent

They're all in pain, and Jieun's kindness and understanding, and her amazing laundry, offer them respite and a chance to take stock of and either accept or make changes in their lives.

It's a sweet, somewhat sentimental story, but it was what I needed, as people showing each other kindness makes me happy. The magic Jieun wields serves to succor, and I liked the imagery of the stains, and the wonderful petals, in the story.

I enjoyed this story a lot, and hope I get a chance to experience more of this author's work.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Random House Publishing Group - Random House for this ARC in exchange for my review.

"Marigold Mind Laundry" offers a cozy fantasy with a unique premise: a laundromat that washes away emotional pain and turns it into petals. The novel shines in its exploration of grief and healing, weaving these themes through its magical realism and the poignant journeys of Jieun and her patrons. The lessons learned by the characters, particularly Jieun, are heartfelt and offer meaningful takeaways about resilience and self-forgiveness. The ensemble cast brings depth, not all of their arcs are fully fleshed out, leaving resolutions feeling by the end of the story.

Fans of reflective, slow-burning reads with a touch of whimsy will likely appreciate the novel’s charm, but those seeking a more dynamic or cohesive narrative might find it lacking. Ultimately, "Marigold Mind Laundry" is a beautifully imperfect story that lingers in the heart even as it stumbles in its execution.

I 'd love to see an film adaptation :)

This is a story about a magical woman who lives forever but doesn't enjoy life. She opens up a 'mind laundry' where patrons can come and wash away their regrets and mistakes in life or iron out difficult emotions. As she helps her customers she begins to heal herself and find a group of friends that make life worth living.

The negatives of this book for me was that I found some themes pretty heavy handed and that it was pretty similar to other books of this sub-genre that I've read before.

Thank you to NetGalley for an EArc in exchange for a review.
Though I’m sure it would be considered to be well written, I didn’t find myself as invested in the characters in the same way as I have in other novels of the same genre and style. The concept (and, admittedly, the cover) really reeled me in, and I have to admit, left me disappointed.

Definitely for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold! Lots of endearing stories— some I connected with and some not so much. REALLY cool concept—it was just missing something for me. However there were a lot of lines that really hit me in my heart! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Welcome to the Marigold Mind Laundry, where you can wash away the memories you wish to erase..

The premise of this book was quite interesting -- would you want to wash away your most hurtful memories, even though they may alter who you are today?

I'm unsure if it was executed properly and thoroughly by the original text or the translation. At times, it was confusing, as we were not fully invested in each character, which I think is a flaw for stories that come in bits and pieces and eventually come as a whole. I will say, however, once a certain character came in, I *needed* to know what made him different from the others. It was a happy ending, and I did enjoy it.

This author has written multiple self-help books, which may be another cautionary note for those who may prefer a deeper storyline and strong character development. However, if you love self-help messages integrated intentionally into a fictional story, this might be the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/The Dial Press for the ARC!

Honestly, I read this book bcs I was FOMO. While reading it, I was questioning: am I reading the right book?

I'm not saying the book is not good. It's quite not my cup of tea bcs the pace is quite slow, which I'm not really patience 😅 That's why I was questioning again: do I really like Korean Lit? Honestly, until I finished this book, the answer is still: I don't know. 😐

But, one word from me to describe this book is: philosophical.
It encouraged me to think further and deeper about life, about the consequences for every decision I make/take, or... about embracing fate—no matter how it is, and how I should react to it.

This book could be a book that help me adulting and made me wiser. Maybe, many people should read this book too.

I made another version of review of this book on my IG. I already attached the link below.
Thank you for letting me be your advance reader. I honour it ✨

Based on the premise of Marigold Mind Laundry, I knew that I'd be reading a bittersweet story about lessons in life. And in that sense, I loved this book. There are a lot of quoteable moments about living in the present and accepting that our past has shaped us, but doesn't need to determine our future. Yet overall, this book was frustrating to read. I know enough Korean that when a Korean word was used as a translation, I knew what the translator's intent was. It was jarring though, and in general, I didn't enjoy the translation.
Take this quote:
"By choosing to be happy, even when the days are full of thunderstorms, the gentle moonlight in our hearts can still bring about peace."

It's pretty, It's also nestled in a paragraph with a lot of general life statements about happiness, and I didn't know whether to appreciate the insight or be frustrated that I was getting preached at to be happy.

3 stars-- Overall, I liked it! Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for an e-arc of this book. Marigold Mind Laundry was published in Oct 2024- On a fun side note, marigolds in Korea are especially celebrated in Oct and symbolizes a better future, a prominent theme in the book. :)

Words cannot describe how much I loved this story. The journey that Jieun went on and the lives she touched was very heartwarming. In the beginning I had no idea where the story would go after Jieun made her family disappear and spent decades trying to find her way back to them. My heart was slowly breaking for her cause wandering without those you call family leads to a very bleak existence, and for her there was no end in sight. When she decided to use her powers to help people and open the laundry mat, I loved the imagery and descriptions. For wach of the 5 people that made their way to Jieun not only did they find a way back to a happier version of themselves, they were leading Jieun back to herself as well. There were so many life lessons to be taken away from each person as they went on the journey of exploring their pasts that lead them to where they were. This was so much more than a fantasy book and I enjoyed every second of it.

I have noticed the emergence of many cozy, whimsical stories with Korean and Japanese authors, so when Marigold Mind Laundry appeared on my NetGalley dashboard, I was intrigued. I haven’t read a lot of translated books, so this is new territory for me.

Unfortunately, my interest waned around page three. The writing is overly simplistic, the revelations hollow. Perhaps the prose is lost in translation…? The only reason I’m rating 2 stars instead of 1 is because I like the premise, and this season is all about coziness and ease.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book had some great aphorisms, but I also thought it wasn't anything too unique. I wish the stories went deeper with each character, as I felt like it barely went past the surface.

Notable lines:

"It's the same with the blemishes on our heart. Once we acknowledge their presence, they're no longer stains but growth rings. Don't be afraid of life. No one knows for sure whether we'll live to see a certain day, so why think too far ahead about an unformed future? Don't fret over what lies ahead. Be present in the moment and when tomorrow comes, it'll be a brand-new day-yet another today. That's good enough."

"When winter descends on our hearts, the reason we can endure it is because of the hope that this season, too, will pass. Hope-it can breathe life into us. Or summon death . . ."

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.