Endearing, funny and irreverent, a story of forgiveness and redemption and sushi. I really loved the blunt and honest human emotion here with all the foibles of life and love. A really great read and a perfect execution by the narrator!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

I decided not to finish this. There was nothing wrong with the writing itself, just that I was interested to know what was going on with where he found himself, but it was stretching out the same moment for so long without revealing any details, I realized I didn't care enough for why in proportion to the pacing.

A good read with layers of potent character development and creation. The setting was a vivid landscape that catered to the authenticity of the story.

Thanks Ballantine Books for approving my first ever Netgalley copy! (This review was first posted on Goodreads on April 21,2025)

Estranged from his family Jack jr. a Korean American man wakes up from a coma after 2 years to find they are all he has left. Though at the forefront of his mind, is Ren: his longterm partner who’s noticeably absent. Getting used to all these changes while trying to regain his strength, the main character must reckon with the reasons why he left home in the first place 10 to 12 years prior.

Written in pensive prose which conjure up the image of someone trying to find their way through a confusing world filled with double meanings and the tension that exists between different languages and cultures, the writing mirrors Jack jr.’s process of relearning how to live life while wide awake. This was one of the strongest aspects of the book. The characters’ philosophical musings on life frame the novel and are frequently revisited throughout. There is a cyclical nature to the narrative that I found comforting.

Another cozy aspect of the book is the relationship that begins to bloom as the main character finds his footing in life. While their relationship felt warm, their make out scenes were spicy enough to clear my sinuses. This is definitely the book American society needs to survive our current epidemic of loneliness. Honestly I would have liked more steamy scenes between these two lovers, but considering it’s a book primarily focused on familial ties I wasn’t too upset with what I got. However, if Jinwoo Chong ever decided to write smut, I’d be the first to request that book on Netgalley.

The author is also a master at writing platonic relationships. The way that he balances the family’s issues with their love for each other felt authentic. Each family member felt like their own person. Though my favorite has to be the protagonist’s nephew Juno. The development of their relationship is one of the sweetest things I’ve read in awhile.

This genuine characterization was enhanced by the setting. Set against the back drop of his family’s failing Japanese inspired sushi restaurant, trying to recover a year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the family is in a place that is at once beloved yet contentious. The building of tensions along with all the beautiful descriptions of food made this book a truly delicious read.

Though I did feel that the resolutions, while satisfying felt rushed. Furthermore, Chong’s slow meditative style of writing could have been enhanced by breaking the book into smaller chapters. This way the audience could get the illusion that the pacing was slightly faster. Although, I did ultimately appreciate that every chapter seemed to end with a bang.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a review. I Leave it Up to You is a really unique story about Jack Jr., who suddenly awakes out of an almost two year coma with no memory of how he got there and is taken back to his family's house to live and work even though he had left them a decade earlier. He now finds himself back working in his father's sushi restaurant trying to piece together what happened to his old life and what his new life should be.

This is such a refreshingly honest and beautiful book about how to move on and how to grow after an immense trauma. The writing here is simple but effective in showing how Jack comes to cope with his new reality and make do with where he is now. The book is light on plot but really is a character development piece and an insight into multi-generational and dysfunctional/reunited families. As a foodie, it also made me crave sushi very badly. This beautifully written and such a unique gem of a find that I can not wait to recommend to everyone.

This is my second novel by Jinwoo Chong, and I continue to be drawn in by how he writes.

After waking from a two-year coma, Jack Jr. returns to an unrecognizable life. His job, his home, his relationship, all gone. With nowhere else to go, he heads back to Fort Lee, NJ, where his Korean American family never quite accepted that he left in the first place. What follows is a quiet, layered story about second chances...at love, family, and purpose

The writing is tender and often understated, full of melancholy and warmth. Chong beautifully captures the ache of homecoming and the complexity of forging a future when the past is still waiting for answers.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the ARC.

While the premise of this book I intrigued me, the execution left some to be desired. I didn’t feel as connected with the main character as I would have wanted and wanted more on the family business then anything

I love a strong character driven novel, and this was just that. I Leave It Up To You is based around an interesting premise, and yet… that’s not what’s most intriguing. The familial relationships, what’s not being said, the well written characters, kept me wanting more the entire time. And while I wanted just a smidge more at the ending, it was honestly perfect.

Real Rating:4.25* of five

The Bear starring Daniel Dae Kim, only queer. Like that show, it's about the people doing the work of feeding others not the act of making and serving the food.

The lead is Jack, Junior. He has never been one to deal with anything he can run away from; waking up from a coma to find that his fiancé has moved on with his own life without a proper ending...well...it's a condign punishment. Far more unnerving is having to return home to the family he treated the way his belovèd treated him.

Being Korean, they take him in; being Korean, there's a steep emotional cost to their reintegration of the queer prodigal. Now it's all on Jack's shoulders to do the thing he ran away to escape...run the restaurant that supports them...plus make his amends for the truly terrible, and in their ancestral culture deeply dishonorable, way he abandoned them.

Their homophobia does not excuse him of feeling guilt even in his own mind. He's forced to grapple, belatedly but inescapably, with coming of age and coming out instead of running away from this existential conflict. Delaying this always complex and usually painful process does not make it one bit easier. A raft of new complications are added on top of the old, homophobic ones: what the hell is COVID? Why won't his fiancè talk to him? How can he presume to advise his nephew, son of his recovering-alcoholic brother, on life when he has royally screwed his own? Can he learn to want the legacy of restaurant-running his deeply unhappy father and super-pragmatic mother are so desperate to wish on him? How can he ask Emil, the nurse who cared for him during his coma, to be...to be...well, what exactly does he want Emil to be?

You can see how the layers and the complications bring to mind Carmie and The Bear. It's not like a mystery novel, it's more like an episodic show, in that you're expected from the get-go to invest in the people doing the stuff rather than the stuff being done. I'll always batten on any story that takes a man on the emotional journey of self-discovery, self-actualization. It's much more interesting to me than another facile-but-fun falling in lust/love/like in any order story could be.

I can't quite offer all five stars because the story can't quite offer enough of an ending. Yes, Jack is on a new road through life. He has a sense of himself as in control of more of his life than ever before, and gets that from a very realistic decision to let go of many of his self-limiting beliefs. This is done, however, by implication. No scene illuminates this decision, and that absence...likely done to avoid being smacked in the face with it...means Jack continues to *feel* to readers like his old self but inexplicably making better decisions. Umma, the mother, is short-shrifted as a person...like she would be in the culture she comes from. It felt a bit raggedy of Author Chong to give her a mysterious boyfriend and not do more with it. Chekhov's gun, anyone? And the bigly under-thought-through inclusion of COVID and its impact on the small family businesses of the US. The loving, delightful use of evocative description for sushi ingredients, preparation, and its cultural resonances for this Korean family made me wish to see more of this cursory subplot. Describing the food and leaving the business underlying its service out wasn't fully satisfying.

What was satisfying was the manner of Author Chong's incorporation of Jack, JUNIOR'S, queerness. Yes, a point of conflict; no, not a source of rage and rejection. Jack's running away was more of a problem than his sexuality.

I love this story's good parts a lot, I think the author deserves our eyeblinks and treasure. A very good story well-told is a thing we all need.

This book had me Googling things like, "how long can someone survive a coma?" (world record: 24 years!) and, "can I put myself in a four-year coma?" (answer: not easily!).

Jack Jr. just woke up from a two-year coma and now he's trying to piece his life back together. When he lost consciousness, he was happily engaged, living in New York City, and had no idea there would be a worldwide pandemic. When he awakes, it's to a completely different world, one where he's single, back in New Jersey where he grew up, and forced to reconcile with his estranged family. As he starts working again at his family's sushi restaurant, he grows closer with the family members he left behind—a brother, recovering from alcoholism, a nephew who wants to defy family expectations by going to college(!), and the parents he disappointed years before. Like a silver lining to his comatose years, he befriends and then starts to date the nurse who cared for him all that time.

This was charming and sweet, in the way you'd expect from a family drama. It balanced difficult topics like depression and loss with ample doses of humor. Chapters featured titles such as "The Fifteen Most Consequential Hours of One's Short, Irreverent Life" and "Super-Fast Flashback Interlude Concerning-Among Other Topics-the Yoke of Filial Piety Inadvertently Enacting Damning and Irreversible Consequences for All Parties Involved." If you enjoy stories that focus on the immigrant experience, second chances, or family drama, this might be for you!

This book was very well written overall. I liked the prose, I liked the characters. The story was unique and not something I have read before. It was a SLOW mover - not much action and I have to say it was relatively easy to put down. You have to be looking more for relationship development and family drama than any actual events. There were a few parts in the story that I would have very much appreciated more explanation or different choices by the author, like Jack Jr’s relationship with Ren and the family dynamic after Jack Jr left for the city. Overall, I’d say it is worth the read and I would consider more from this author in the future.


My Rating: 3.75 stars
This review is posted on my Instagram account @whaterinsreading

I ended up enjoying this more than I was expecting, especially because I wasn't particularly drawn to the main character. However, the side characters were very interesting, and I loved Jack Jr's relationship with his nephew, Juno. Together, their story explored the challenges of growing up in an immigrant family struggling to make ends meet, where the expectations on the children border on being unreasonable (they aren't, but life is hard, and everyone needs to pull their weight). I could relate to some of what they both experienced in this book. This story also took place during the pandemic, and the premise of falling into a coma before Covid-19 was a thing and waking up at the tail end of the lockdowns and the loss of many lives was an interesting set-up.

What I wasn't completely comfortable with was the family's desire to so shield him from what happened was that they wouldn't even let him contact his former fiancé. It sounds like they had a good relationship back then, and I liked the fledgling relationship he finally allowed himself to develop with Cuddy. But in some ways, I feel like it took Jack Jr way too much time to learn and appreciate what a gem Cuddy was. I understand he was going through his own thing, but I didn't feel like it gave him the excuse to treat Cuddy the way he did. Thankfully, he did realize what an idiot he was, and honestly, I really liked who Jack Jr became at the end.

Ultimately, I think I really enjoyed this because as much as Jack Jr's family may have made some mistakes, they ultimately had his best interests at heart, and I think it was both important for him to realize it as well as be willing to actually tell them how he felt. It was a matter of all sides learning that it was important to share your feelings in a respectful way. Growing up, I definitely experienced many of these challenges, so this story really did speak to me.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Interesting premise but this story moved too slowly for me. There is a somewhat enthralling rhythm being methodically created but I could not get into it. I loved the setting of the restaurant and the descriptions of the food had my mouth watering. The flow mimics Jack Jr’s gradual integration back into life after being in a coma for almost two years and it was thought-provoking but way too leisurely for me.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review ARC.

I was hooked after the first chapter. It is unique. You wake up one day your 2 years have disappeared. It started strong. But then it kinda turned to be more typical family drama. I wish the ending was stronger..

But the book was easy to read. I couldn’t stop reading either.

I really loved this book. It was hilarious and deeply touching at the same time. Jack Jr’s voice was especially funny and clever. I really enjoyed seeing the relationship between the two brothers develop in a way that was heartfelt but not schmaltzy. That’s one of the main strength of this book: handling issues of guilt, mortality, missed opportunities, growing up… without resorting to sentimentality. This was especially well executed in the scene when Jack and Ren finally confront each other and Jack is able to step outside of himself to understand why Ren had to move on with his life. Overall, a wonderful read and will definitely recommend to everyone I know.

I found this to be a moving and engaging picture of what life is like for queer millennials dealing with intergenerational and intercultural issues. This type of story is often one that will resonate with you whether you expect it to or not. By simply describing someone's life - their relationships, fears, worries, and triumphs - in great detail, an author can help you draw parallels to your own life. I found that happening here. While I did not share a lot in common with the main character, I felt for him and I got some insights into how I go about living my own life.

Ultimately I am thrilled to read books about everyday people looking for their happiness. I think it shows us that there is a lot of value in everyday moments that go beyond a Hollywood cliche.

The concept of waking from a coma after two years is an intriguing story, and the way that this one unfolds with a lot of family drama doesn't disappoint. I enjoyed the characters and the different relationship dynamics, but there were a few questions I had that didn't seem to get answered or were just kind of dropped. Overall, I found this to be a good read and would be great for those who like to read about families and what happens when they come together.

Jack Jr wakes up in the fall of 2021, having been in a coma for nearly two years, after an accident he cannot remember. It’s a different world now. He no longer has his job, his home in NYC, or his fiancé, and COVID has upended everything.

Left with no other options, he goes home to his family that he’s been estranged from for more than a decade, and tries to rebuild his life. He falls back on muscle memory to help out at the family sushi restaurant, which is still struggling to recover from the pandemic.

Jinwoo Chong explores the relationships with Jack Jr’s parents, brother, and nephew, serving up well rounded characters, and all their messy feelings, and revealing the characters’ charms and flaws in equal measure.

Food plays a huge part in this story, whether it’s traditional Korean dishes, or the finest Japanese sushi. It’s at the core of the action, and the thread that keeps them bound together. Be warned — you’ll be salivating over this book.

I really enjoyed this read! The story kept me intrigued and the writing was amazing! I would recommend this read

What an incredible novel. Imagine one day you feel like you have your life together, then in the blink of an eye, everything changes. You wake up 2 years later wanting to resume life as it was and realizing it will never be the same again. Everything that you had left behind at 18 is now all you have at 30. What I loved about this book is how true to life it was. We experience things that affect us so deeply, yet we never get definite closure. Questions that are left unanswered for a lifetime. We rarely get the answers we desire, but as time goes on, we realize how those hardships lead us to a greater purpose. Towards the end, I was thinking “this felt incomplete”…of course it did, because his life continues. It would not maintain the message if it just ended with your usual happy ending. Overall, the book was beautiful. Life is not easy, it’s hard to know if you’re doing the right thing. You really end up where you’re meant to. I wish I knew more about these characters. Each of them had such an interesting story and I was hoping to connect with them most. At times, it felt like there was a lack of dialogue which made it a bit difficult to get through some chapters. Regardless, the writing was great. I’ll definitely be reading more from Jinwoo Chong

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for the ARC. All thoughts are my own