I liked this, didn't love it. I thought it was interesting to read about being a gay man in Korea and how it seems more taboo in that culture than in my liberal American world. There was some good writing, especially in describing the main character's emotions. I felt like I really got a good sense of who he was as a person. I'm not sure how well the "omnibus novel" format worked for me here though. I think I prefer when themes are threaded throughout the novel, rather than focusing on one thing and then moving on and never really returning to it. I also tend to get caught up the details of chronology in books, so having the sections placed out of chronological order was a little distracting and didn't really seem to serve a purpose.

I really enjoyed reading this title. I enjoy being able to read viewpoints from other cultures, so I am very greatful for translations bringing important stories to new readers. I've never read about the struggles of being gay in South Korea, only in America or various European countries, so this was a new perspective that is just as important. I highly recommend this to the LGBTQ community and the allies.

I never quite got into this book set in Seoul about a gay man trying to find his place in the world. However I'm glad that I read it because it's always interesting to me to see what is popular in South Korea - books and movies coming out of South Korea are definitely on the cutting edge of doing things differently.

Fast paced, witty, exhilarating romp through the life of a young, aimless and rudderless gay writer and his boozy best friend. It wore me out.

Translated from Korean to English, Love in the Big City follows Young, a millennial, as he navigates life’s ups and downs.

Comprised of four sections, each one narrates a different period in Young’s life. The first section focuses on the boozy fun that Young and his best friend Jaehee get up to while at university. The duo party, go to class, meetup with men they matched with on dating sites. That is until Jaehee announces she is getting married. Now, Young must adjust to life without his best friend constantly by his side.

In the other sections, Young comes to terms with his sexuality, a medical diagnosis, his mother, and past trauma.

Love in the Big City is a coming-of-age, character-driven story.

The sections that focused on Young’s life in his early thirties were the most interesting to me. Some parts were laugh-out-loud funny, while others were somewhat depressing.

The author and translator perfectly capture what it’s like for millennials in their twenties and thirties, from hard-partying ways to job uncertainty to trying to settle down.

If any more of Sang Young Park’s books get translated into English, I will definitely give them a read.

Thank you to Grove Press for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

Title - Love in the Big City

Author - Sang Young Park

Genre - Asian Literature

Plot:
Sang Young Park is one of the most celebrated Korean written who has debuted with his first English work. On recommendation by a friend, I picked this one up which again is one of the most anticipated book this year. A story that talks of Coming of Age story of our main protagonist who details three important persons in his life who change the perspective of millenials these days.

Love in the Big City deals with the story of our narrator who divides his life in three different timelines with three important persons. The first part shows his friendship with Jaehee who knows his life inside and out. With both of them living their life as fullest, juggling with their classes and who they bring to bed, this part talks about how friendship changes as the years go by. The second part deals with his toxic relationship with an elder man who treats him, not someone to be loved but the relationship led him to be quite abusive. The final part deals with narrator's relationship with Gyu-ho, His days with Gyu-Ho changes him to a huge extent until the time comes for them to depart forever.

My Take on the Book:

The book apart from talking about narrator's relationship with these three people to how his life ends in a lonely part turns out to be quite hard-hitting. Not everyone in our life is meant to stay and this reality is shown pretty much on the face by the author. As the book starts, it honestly takes a bit of a time to get used to what the plot is all about but the readers tend to emphatize with the narrator as the plot tends to move ahead.

If you are looking for a book that would give you a glimpse on Korean lifestyle and culture and is as hard hitting for you to make you emote, this one is that apt book. A book that transports the readers to a world that is so close to reality and yet make you ponder about how hard hitting relationships can be, this one is that book.

Love in the Big City initially caught my attention because I don’t know much about the LGBTQ+ community in Korea. I know that there is a huge born again Christian movement there. I have actually met a few people involved at one of my previous jobs. However, I knew that even Koreans, who are not Christian, tend to be more on the conservative side, so I was really curious about a book that shot to the top of the charts.

While I found it intriguing that this book united a nation, in terms of reading charts at least, I personally can’t see a lot of the appeal. Perhaps it was from an educational aspect, but for me Young, was not a particularly sympathetic protagonist. To be fair, these sort of books, where millennials complain about millennial problems, sleep around, and generally act a fool, are not really my cup of tea to begin with. I can see where fans of maybe Will & Grace or Sex in the City may find some aspects of this book really appealing or perhaps readers of Sally Rooney, but this just didn’t work on that basic level for me.

What did work for me were some of the more interesting philosophical conversations that the main character had with others. I particularly liked the section, where he was dating the philosopher-author-creative, who was a solid twelve years older than him. The things we eat are part of the universe so we’re tasting the universe when we eat and all that jazz. I found that to be really interesting, but I’ll pass on the mother drama and the millennial hi-jinks.

Overall, I would recommend this for people looking for a little insight into the LGBTQ+ community in Korea or just looking for a little more slice-of-life drama to add to their reading collection. I would say, that if you didn’t find the voice of the narrator particularly appealing on the outset, it’s probably just going to grate on you with time. If another Sang Young Park novel is translated into English, I would be willing to give it a chance, however, this one just really didn’t work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, Grove Press, and the author for providing me with an eARC of this novel, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Phew, why is it always so hard to accurately describe 3-star reads? On the one hand, I adored the premise of this book and do feel like readers will absolutely devour this - on the other, there were parts that dragged so much that I found myself skim-reading because I was just not invested enough in the characters to really want to read all the "filler" content. I also would have wished for a bit more "drive" throughout the story - it often felt like the narrative just meandered and didn't know where to actually go - the ending that doesn't really offer any resolution kind of proved that.
Still, I'm glad this was translated because I'm sure other readers will enjoy this interpretation of living your best queer life!

Nope. Just not for me. it was confusing, bland and boring sadly. I did not like the characters much either.

Wow. Love in the Big City exceeded my expectations. This book captures the universal feelings of loneliness and longing, while, at the same time, crafting a nuanced story about queer life in South Korea. I love how the story is told in four uniquely different parts in a refreshingly honest and realistic tone, showing different sides and struggles of the main character as he ages. Honestly, Love in the Big City sets the bar higher for coming-of-age novels to come.

Full review will be posted on Instagram @movedbyprose on November 16 (publication day).

Romantic, funny, whistful and heartwarming. This is most certainly the kind of book that demands to be consumed in one seating and invites you to take some time to think once you've done so.

This book can easily be described as dynamic - it has an incredible way of pulling in the audience and getting you invested in the story from very early on. I'm so glad that this has been translated and I was able to enjoy the novel; while some parts of it may have dragged slightly, overall it was a great and enriching read.

"Love in the Big City" - Sang Young Park, translated by

English Publishing date: November 16th, 2021

CW: homophobia, slut shaming, alcohol abuse, cancer, hospitalization

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Young is a gay man in his twenties searching for purpose and a good time. From living with his female best friend to facing his romantic past and sick mother, this story explores his experiences with honesty and humor.

It was interesting and held my attention for the most part, but I don't think I actually liked it. After a while it didn't feel like the story was going anywhere, and the story had no resolution, which really frustrated me.

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park is a contemporary adult fiction novel set in Seoul where we journey with Young, a young Gay man, as he goes through life. Originally written in Korean in 2019, the English translation is by Anton Hur. It is about the emptiness which becomes part of one’s life and searching for love while struggling to survive in the big city.

I am a big-time K-Drama fan, and was hoping to get a similar feel from this novel (blame it on the really cute cover!) However, it was a completely different experience altogether. I came close to abandoning the novel four times, but still picked it up every time, hoping that it would be worth the efforts. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Young’s life as a Gay man is filled with struggles, confusion and disease. He has STD, which he creatively calls Kylie! Though he is funny and sarcastic, I could neither empathize with his struggles nor understand the choices he was making. This is not my first LGBT book. I’ve read quite a few where the protagonist is Gay, Lesbian or Queer. Young didn’t touch my heart the way Kanishka Nurzada in Nemat Sadat’s Carpet Weaver or Fatima from Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor did.

I firmly believe every book finds its reader, and Love in the Big City did not work for me. Going by the reviews, I might be in the minority; but it is what it is!

I received an advance reader’s copy from Grove Press through NetGalley.

(2.5 stars rounded to 3)

This cover in a non-linear way the life of Park Young a gay man in South Korea, who can't be openly gay. I loved the snarky humor and pop culture references. I like that it's non-linear and the cultural cues and generational differences intrigued me.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is definitely something special. It is the first book about homosexuality to be published in South Korea. That is a BIG deal and definitely something to applaud!

The book follows a young man telling his story of sex, alcohol, relationship, family relations, etc.
It is written with humor and lots of action - yet somehow ended up being a very sad book.
It struck some feelings for me, and I felt so bad for this man. He went through so much and did not have the support he so clearly needed.

I must, however, admit that this book took me forever to finish. Even though parts of it were great and really interesting, other parts just felt like reading a diary from an angry teenager. Though I liked the author's style, it just didn't catch my attention enough.
The main character kept surrounding himself with people who clearly were terrible for him, and it just frustrated me! Especially when his thoughts about them weren't good. I understand that this was part of the story and how he struggled in life and struggled with finding the right people - it just frustrated me SO much that it made it hard to read.

It is a book quite different from anything else I've read before, and I like how unique it was. So I am still delighted to have read it - despite not loving it.

Translated from Korean into English, this book gives readers a really interesting insight to the LGBTQ community from the 1980’s onwards in South Korea.
I will admit that at first, this book was not working for me. The writing and narrative style are so different than what I am used to but I found that the further I got in, the more I understood the narrator, the more I was keen to know about his life and his exploits.
It’s a very different read but I think it’s a realistic character POV, and would def recommend it. But also we love to see fat, Asian, LGBTQ representation !

Thank you netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a review.
This was a really interesting book.The story unfolds in four parts, corresponding to four relationships/eras of the narrator’s life. I loved the writing.
Would totally recommend it. (3.5 stars)

3.5 Stars. A great look at what it's like to be queer and struggling to find your place in a society that you're unsure how you fit into.

I want to start this review by praising the translation. The translator does an excellent job at maintaining the voice of Young, it feels distinct and I can imagine it probably didn't lose much from the original version. The second thing I love about the translation is the fact that the honorific system, which is important to the setting and characters, is kept intact. However, I do think the book suffers from being translated... in that the writing style is distinct and I felt like I was missing some of it.

I really did enjoy this book it is equal parts a funny, vulnerable, and heartbreaking portrayal of life. My main issue with the book is the ending. I'm not a fan of open/unhappy endings and that's exactly what we have here. It's more true to life but, for me, a slightly disappointing end.

Regardless, If you're on the fence I think you should read it because it's a well-written realistic story worth at least a few hours of your time.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a bit of a cry at the end of this book, just a bittersweet growing up moment. Certain details will stay with me from this book, which is really the story of a friendship between a gay man in Seoul and his straight roommate. Wry, open, detailing more nights than day this novel is one of universal appeal, as Young juggles a hateful but beloved parent, a busy but never romantic enough sex life and his enduring friendship.