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Sue Kim of the Kim Sisters: The Authorized Biography
Sue Kim's story is one of tragedy, imagination, luck, perseverance and the hand of God as she went from a life of wealth and privilege to displaced refugee, immigrant then super stardom as the first wave of Korean's in American. Along the way, Sue broke racial barriers on every major stage in America, from New York to Los Angeles, pitched the first baseball at a MLB opener, was feted by Elvis, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, but ultimately met and married a New Yorker, who became the longest running casino boss in America. Together, they reigned over Las Vegas at the height of its glamour, eventually having children and conquering the demons that come with decades of stardom. Sue's story is truly the greatest American story never told.
- GenresMusic
324 pages, Paperback
Published February 12, 2016
About the author
Sarah Gerdes
27 books45 followersMy readers know that the works I create are based on the people I meet, the experiences I’ve enjoyed and the places I’ve traveled. Therein lies the essence of the Traveling Author, for that’s what I am. Where some sit and write book after book, my lifestyle is one where I take a break, traveling to rejuvenate my mind, body and soul, absorbing all that I’ve encountered, then I return to my home and produce a novel.
Travel with me as I search for inspiration. You can virtually tag along, or show up with a book in hand. My itineraries are posted on my website under Destinations.
Travel with me as I search for inspiration. You can virtually tag along, or show up with a book in hand. My itineraries are posted on my website under Destinations.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 27, 2022
The book will be a complete gem if the author works on the issues I have pointed out
* A little addition on April 23rd, 2023: This is a review from last year for the Kindle eBook edition. As a matter of fact, last year, the author revised and edited many of the pointed-out issues, and after having read her paperback edition, I have edited my old review "accordingly" to answer the author's professional response and devotion. You can read my review for the newest paperback edition here.
- No matter how fun the story is the low quality says it is an “incomplete” work.
- Despite all these errors, the book is precious in a way that it tells the people of the world "including the young Korean generations" the horror of war and teaches us lots of lessons.
Do you know how easy it is to watch Sue or Mia’s interviews today in their native Korean language on YouTube? And I wonder why the story of this book and the stories even from Sue’s own interviews are different. Does somebody care to explain this?
Let me be ab-sol’utely hon’est about how I felt about the book: The story was fun, but after finishing the last page, I had to reach the c’on-clos’/ -clus’ion that this was the life stor’y of a per-son with "insecure" mind’/ ment’ality that I can't really admire.
Although Sue's husband John has been like a saint to Sue and her family, especially to her baby sister-in-law whose addiction of gambling literally destroyed her own life, John himself ran his own casinos and has probably ruined countless people's lives after all, so I don't know what to talk about him either. Was he a good man? Or was he a villain as a “successful” casino boss? You know what that “successful” means in that industry.
At least John Bonifazio was a great, real man to his family. I’m not sure about Sue Kim Bonifazio, however.
Although Sue and her mother Ran had many weak points and personality issues, it seems like the writer tried hard to defend them at the expense of the others like John or Tony, who were act’ually great husbands with their happy families, and it is clear the two men contributed the most building them. Okay, okay, not alone, but I mean “most.”
Why make Mia sound like an irresponsible person? Well, Jane left the group too, so Jane was bad too? The book never points that out. Why the double stand’ard? And about the money Sue kept sending to Mia after she left, did Sue really deserve to blame others for that mismanagement? She did the same for a long time to her mother even after she passed away. And she blamed John for not liking her decision taking care of her family as if she was the head of the whole Kim family including all the relatives, but why Mia’s been blamed? I just don’t get it.
The truth is that Sue was simply flat-out stupid when it came to managing income (at the time). It was John, who tried to step in and manage it better for her, but she frantically opposed it.
As the leader of her group if she really believed that way, it was definitely her fault to have mismanaged the group’s income for so long. It was her fault not to be able to lead her family members to the “right” way where they could help themselves to live independent, responsible, healthy and meaningful lives. It must sound a lot harsh on her, but the truth is truth that it was Sue, who led her baby sister to destroy her life if she really believed she was “responsible” for taking care of her family. Of course her intention was good and out of love, but the way was wrong, and if she had listened to John, it could have been pre-vented.
It was always John, who dealt with Sue's inabilities, unreasonable attitude and emotional issues like a "saint" man. No matter how ridiculous the situation was he was always there for her!
Sue never tried hard enough to change herself, yet she wished her surroundings would change the way she liked. Why wished for "the" perfect man while she wasn't even close to be perfect to him herself? She was so easily breaking down for the smallest things. What a baby she still was after all that experiences including a war... I don't understand.
It was always Sue, who threatened John with the word "divorce." Was the vow of their marriage that light, careless and meaningless to her?
(Kindle Ed., p. 278)
“If you don’t like the way I am, then go fuck yourself,” she said a third time. “I’m not changing for anyone.” Seeing she was serious, John changed tactics. “Sit down,” he said firmly but with a hint of compromise. As much as Sue wanted to leave, anger didn’t eradicate her hope. She sat down, defiantly jutted her chin out.
This line tells everything about what she always was to John. Then why did John have to change for her, eh? He tried because he was now married to her! How come John could see that, but Sue couldn’t? And you can really call this an equal and healthy relationship? John was really like a saint to her.
(Kindle Ed., pp. 280-281)
“Sue had—and still has—an innocence about the world that I didn’t want to break,” John explained. “She’s the only person I’ve ever known who believes the best about a person, and almost willfully tries to ignore bad when it’s right in front of her.” All those years of keeping quiet weren’t meant to keep her in the dark, hurt her feelings or feign indifference. It was meant to shield her from the dredge of society. “Some of the worst people are dressed the best and act the nicest—and they are the absolute bottom.”
This is exactly what John always was like to Sue.
Remember what he did to Pastori for his sister-in-law? He took her misfortune as if she was his own baby sister.
The clear difference between Sue and John was that Sue measured her marriage for her own good while John put his family first, thus the marriage itself before himself!
If you read the book carefully to the last page, you will realize that the couple is still happy together after more than 50 years of their marriage thanks to John's devotion to the family, and Sue admitted it herself at some point proving that she is now a better person with the wisdom of age.
John has always been so faithful and committed to his wife. And so was his father Tony to his family! Just look how Sandra reacted when the old man was dead. The wife, too, knew the man really was a good husband and father.
Does the writer Ms. Sarah Gerdes even realize that she made it sound a lot like Hai was a better husband than John after all? She just had to defend the wives, so at the beginning Hai was a horrible husband because she had to defend Ran, but later John was even worse than Hai 'cause now she had to defend Sue. And even some individuals' looks are described wrong as well. For example, once a tall slender man was later short chubby one.
Whaaaaaaat?
The author must re-vise her work! There are literally "countless" typos, weird sentences and broken form'at issues in every single page.
Besides, she's got to re-study the Korean War and re-write the early part of the book. Seriously the timeline's all mixed up, and the book is misinforming the readers!
What I don't understand most is how Sue herself wouldn't know much about her own Korean hi-story (and cult'ure), so she wouldn't be able to help the author better with that important piece of Korean history?
So disappointed.
The bas'ic information about the Korean family relations too: Who told the writer that daughters-in-law got more voices than mothers-in-law? Was that Sue? Is the author gonna take responsibility for the future lives of those who'd choose to live "in" Korea with a Korean man and his family 'cause they were simply mis-in-formed from this book?
Again, the book needs to be revised and edited thoroughly.
1. The author needs to work harder on her study and research of the Korean War and Korean culture if she really intends to deliver accurate stories to the readers.
2. Broken eBook formats like the titles lost blending within the storylines, because the author forgot to distinguish them from the lines, should be edited, too. The “professional” author must remember that a book with its price tag on it is a complete product. It should satisfy certain "minimum" level of quality as one. No matter how fun the story is the low quality says it is an “incomplete” work.
3. Lastly, despite the “fascinating story" thanks to the veteran author's talent in writing stories, this book only deserves an average mark since she hasn't even revised and edited it.
There are grammatical errors literally in every page all the way to the end of the book.
Let me share some of the common errors found all throughout the pages:
(Kindle Ed., p. 289)
Her dreams had long plagued her prior to her mother’s death then worsened dramatically after. With Mia gone, Sue rarely slept more than a few hours at a time. Sometimes, she had visions of her sister in heaven with her mother.
Not to mention the weird first sentence, her late-sister was Ai-Ja, not Mia.
(Kindle Ed., p. 290)
Now in her mid-forties, Sue recognized knew her time on the stage was limited...As the decade came to a close, 1990 brought Sue a new outlook on life. She learned how to laugh about her the daily misadventures with her mother-in-law, sharing her stories with her tennis partners, Stella, Ginger Dayton and Diana Meswald. It helped reduce the stream of frustration she felt when her attempts to make Sandra’s life better were rejected.
(Kindle Ed., p. 299)
...The uninterrupted time they spent together exceeded what they the two previous decades...
(Kindle Ed., p. 301)
...Sue also paid for brother’s Tae Son and Young Ah to go over early and arrange for doctors to be present upon her arrival.
I wonder if the author doesn’t really know the difference between the plural forms and possessive forms. Why the wrong apostrophe? She’s typed, ex-cept/ -sauf/ -save a few relieving exceptions, “the Kim’s” all throughout the pages.
(Kindle Ed., p. 302)
The hope of a professional reinvention touched more personal aspects of her of life...
(Kindle Ed., p. 324)
Jane (Young Ja) Kim retired and lives in Las Vegas, and her daughter Tammy is in San Diego, are close with Sue and her family...Youngest brother Tai Son deals is retired.
Despite all these errors, the book is precious in some way that it tells the people of the world "including the young Korean generations" the horror of war and teaches us a lesson about the importance of homeland security to secure our “basic” needs for a normal Human life.
We tend to forget things and stay ignorant and indifferent when the threat doesn't directly hit our lives unprepared to defend our precious homeland.
At the same time, her family's life story proves that even when we hit the flat bottom having lost everything in unexpected dis-aster, it is never over as long as we stay alive with hope for a "better" fut’ure. We just need to stay alive and keep trying to make it better day by day. Look how successful Sue and her family have become at the end again.
The book will be a complete gem if the author works on those I have pointed out. A good read.
* A little addition on April 23rd, 2023: This is a review from last year for the Kindle eBook edition. As a matter of fact, last year, the author revised and edited many of the pointed-out issues, and after having read her paperback edition, I have edited my old review "accordingly" to answer the author's professional response and devotion. You can read my review for the newest paperback edition here.
- No matter how fun the story is the low quality says it is an “incomplete” work.
- Despite all these errors, the book is precious in a way that it tells the people of the world "including the young Korean generations" the horror of war and teaches us lots of lessons.
Do you know how easy it is to watch Sue or Mia’s interviews today in their native Korean language on YouTube? And I wonder why the story of this book and the stories even from Sue’s own interviews are different. Does somebody care to explain this?
Let me be ab-sol’utely hon’est about how I felt about the book: The story was fun, but after finishing the last page, I had to reach the c’on-clos’/ -clus’ion that this was the life stor’y of a per-son with "insecure" mind’/ ment’ality that I can't really admire.
Although Sue's husband John has been like a saint to Sue and her family, especially to her baby sister-in-law whose addiction of gambling literally destroyed her own life, John himself ran his own casinos and has probably ruined countless people's lives after all, so I don't know what to talk about him either. Was he a good man? Or was he a villain as a “successful” casino boss? You know what that “successful” means in that industry.
At least John Bonifazio was a great, real man to his family. I’m not sure about Sue Kim Bonifazio, however.
Although Sue and her mother Ran had many weak points and personality issues, it seems like the writer tried hard to defend them at the expense of the others like John or Tony, who were act’ually great husbands with their happy families, and it is clear the two men contributed the most building them. Okay, okay, not alone, but I mean “most.”
Why make Mia sound like an irresponsible person? Well, Jane left the group too, so Jane was bad too? The book never points that out. Why the double stand’ard? And about the money Sue kept sending to Mia after she left, did Sue really deserve to blame others for that mismanagement? She did the same for a long time to her mother even after she passed away. And she blamed John for not liking her decision taking care of her family as if she was the head of the whole Kim family including all the relatives, but why Mia’s been blamed? I just don’t get it.
The truth is that Sue was simply flat-out stupid when it came to managing income (at the time). It was John, who tried to step in and manage it better for her, but she frantically opposed it.
As the leader of her group if she really believed that way, it was definitely her fault to have mismanaged the group’s income for so long. It was her fault not to be able to lead her family members to the “right” way where they could help themselves to live independent, responsible, healthy and meaningful lives. It must sound a lot harsh on her, but the truth is truth that it was Sue, who led her baby sister to destroy her life if she really believed she was “responsible” for taking care of her family. Of course her intention was good and out of love, but the way was wrong, and if she had listened to John, it could have been pre-vented.
It was always John, who dealt with Sue's inabilities, unreasonable attitude and emotional issues like a "saint" man. No matter how ridiculous the situation was he was always there for her!
Sue never tried hard enough to change herself, yet she wished her surroundings would change the way she liked. Why wished for "the" perfect man while she wasn't even close to be perfect to him herself? She was so easily breaking down for the smallest things. What a baby she still was after all that experiences including a war... I don't understand.
It was always Sue, who threatened John with the word "divorce." Was the vow of their marriage that light, careless and meaningless to her?
(Kindle Ed., p. 278)
“If you don’t like the way I am, then go fuck yourself,” she said a third time. “I’m not changing for anyone.” Seeing she was serious, John changed tactics. “Sit down,” he said firmly but with a hint of compromise. As much as Sue wanted to leave, anger didn’t eradicate her hope. She sat down, defiantly jutted her chin out.
This line tells everything about what she always was to John. Then why did John have to change for her, eh? He tried because he was now married to her! How come John could see that, but Sue couldn’t? And you can really call this an equal and healthy relationship? John was really like a saint to her.
(Kindle Ed., pp. 280-281)
“Sue had—and still has—an innocence about the world that I didn’t want to break,” John explained. “She’s the only person I’ve ever known who believes the best about a person, and almost willfully tries to ignore bad when it’s right in front of her.” All those years of keeping quiet weren’t meant to keep her in the dark, hurt her feelings or feign indifference. It was meant to shield her from the dredge of society. “Some of the worst people are dressed the best and act the nicest—and they are the absolute bottom.”
This is exactly what John always was like to Sue.
Remember what he did to Pastori for his sister-in-law? He took her misfortune as if she was his own baby sister.
The clear difference between Sue and John was that Sue measured her marriage for her own good while John put his family first, thus the marriage itself before himself!
If you read the book carefully to the last page, you will realize that the couple is still happy together after more than 50 years of their marriage thanks to John's devotion to the family, and Sue admitted it herself at some point proving that she is now a better person with the wisdom of age.
John has always been so faithful and committed to his wife. And so was his father Tony to his family! Just look how Sandra reacted when the old man was dead. The wife, too, knew the man really was a good husband and father.
Does the writer Ms. Sarah Gerdes even realize that she made it sound a lot like Hai was a better husband than John after all? She just had to defend the wives, so at the beginning Hai was a horrible husband because she had to defend Ran, but later John was even worse than Hai 'cause now she had to defend Sue. And even some individuals' looks are described wrong as well. For example, once a tall slender man was later short chubby one.
Whaaaaaaat?
The author must re-vise her work! There are literally "countless" typos, weird sentences and broken form'at issues in every single page.
Besides, she's got to re-study the Korean War and re-write the early part of the book. Seriously the timeline's all mixed up, and the book is misinforming the readers!
What I don't understand most is how Sue herself wouldn't know much about her own Korean hi-story (and cult'ure), so she wouldn't be able to help the author better with that important piece of Korean history?
So disappointed.
The bas'ic information about the Korean family relations too: Who told the writer that daughters-in-law got more voices than mothers-in-law? Was that Sue? Is the author gonna take responsibility for the future lives of those who'd choose to live "in" Korea with a Korean man and his family 'cause they were simply mis-in-formed from this book?
Again, the book needs to be revised and edited thoroughly.
1. The author needs to work harder on her study and research of the Korean War and Korean culture if she really intends to deliver accurate stories to the readers.
2. Broken eBook formats like the titles lost blending within the storylines, because the author forgot to distinguish them from the lines, should be edited, too. The “professional” author must remember that a book with its price tag on it is a complete product. It should satisfy certain "minimum" level of quality as one. No matter how fun the story is the low quality says it is an “incomplete” work.
3. Lastly, despite the “fascinating story" thanks to the veteran author's talent in writing stories, this book only deserves an average mark since she hasn't even revised and edited it.
There are grammatical errors literally in every page all the way to the end of the book.
Let me share some of the common errors found all throughout the pages:
(Kindle Ed., p. 289)
Her dreams had long plagued her prior to her mother’s death then worsened dramatically after. With Mia gone, Sue rarely slept more than a few hours at a time. Sometimes, she had visions of her sister in heaven with her mother.
Not to mention the weird first sentence, her late-sister was Ai-Ja, not Mia.
(Kindle Ed., p. 290)
Now in her mid-forties, Sue recognized knew her time on the stage was limited...As the decade came to a close, 1990 brought Sue a new outlook on life. She learned how to laugh about her the daily misadventures with her mother-in-law, sharing her stories with her tennis partners, Stella, Ginger Dayton and Diana Meswald. It helped reduce the stream of frustration she felt when her attempts to make Sandra’s life better were rejected.
(Kindle Ed., p. 299)
...The uninterrupted time they spent together exceeded what they the two previous decades...
(Kindle Ed., p. 301)
...Sue also paid for brother’s Tae Son and Young Ah to go over early and arrange for doctors to be present upon her arrival.
I wonder if the author doesn’t really know the difference between the plural forms and possessive forms. Why the wrong apostrophe? She’s typed, ex-cept/ -sauf/ -save a few relieving exceptions, “the Kim’s” all throughout the pages.
(Kindle Ed., p. 302)
The hope of a professional reinvention touched more personal aspects of her of life...
(Kindle Ed., p. 324)
Jane (Young Ja) Kim retired and lives in Las Vegas, and her daughter Tammy is in San Diego, are close with Sue and her family...Youngest brother Tai Son deals is retired.
Despite all these errors, the book is precious in some way that it tells the people of the world "including the young Korean generations" the horror of war and teaches us a lesson about the importance of homeland security to secure our “basic” needs for a normal Human life.
We tend to forget things and stay ignorant and indifferent when the threat doesn't directly hit our lives unprepared to defend our precious homeland.
At the same time, her family's life story proves that even when we hit the flat bottom having lost everything in unexpected dis-aster, it is never over as long as we stay alive with hope for a "better" fut’ure. We just need to stay alive and keep trying to make it better day by day. Look how successful Sue and her family have become at the end again.
The book will be a complete gem if the author works on those I have pointed out. A good read.
June 2, 2026
Good biography of Kim and very thorough. The cultural differences, language barrier, etc that she had to overcome to succeed are immense. The constant financial support and guidance her extended family demanded severely inhibited her ability to salvage much of the fortune she had made but she still managed to have a reasonably comfortable life after she could no longer perform. It's interesting to note that Asians were viewed as beneath Hispanics and negros at the time and yet they can surpass all expectations of the most connected of the members of their host country with no help while generations go by of the others with only an advancement towards complete uncivil degeneracy.
February 25, 2021
I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. I have never heard of the Kim Sisters before. Sue Kim endured so many hardships in her life and never gave up. According to the book the Kim Sisters were on the Ed Sullivan show more than any other singing act (22 times). I checked online and found this to be untrue and that Connie Francis was on 26 times.
August 4, 2022
Wonderfully enjoyable read
A very informative and interesting book.
The Kim Sisters lives were well-lived and multi-faceted.
These three extremely talented women deserve many more accolades then they have received.
An A+ read from cover to cover.
A very informative and interesting book.
The Kim Sisters lives were well-lived and multi-faceted.
These three extremely talented women deserve many more accolades then they have received.
An A+ read from cover to cover.
June 8, 2019
Struggles and triumphs
Couldn't out this book down. The way these ladies had to pull themselves up out of pure poverty and make something happen.
Couldn't out this book down. The way these ladies had to pull themselves up out of pure poverty and make something happen.
August 29, 2020
Interesting
February 7, 2021
Wow! What a story! This book was well researched and beautifully written.
February 24, 2021
Loved this book. I enjoyed reading about the culture in Korea and was amazed at the selflessness of Sue Kim and her mother as they took care of their family members in good times and bad.
May 12, 2021
I am amazed that Amazon would publish a book with nothing but proven lies in it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews