Overall, I enjoyed this book, including the unique plot of waking up from a coma after COVID, the exploration of the complexities of an Asian American family, and the author's humorous writing style. On the downside, it seemed to gloss over certain plot points (e.g. why exactly it was the best option for someone not to attend university). I was also looking forward to the setting of Fort Lee, NJ, which was where I grew up; it seemed like the author had done little research on this unique enclave.

The opening chapter of this novel is "What the Actual F- Man?" and a dizzying dream sequence that places the reader promptly into the disorienting experience of poor Jack Jr., who has been in a coma for a whopping two years. If you think that's disorienting, imagine you fell asleep in 2019 and awakened in 2021. His first thought is that he is contagious, as everyone wears masks and protective gear. His second is, "Hey, what happened to Trump?"

Yes, there is much to catch Jack Jr. up on, but that's not the meat of this story and never hinders the plot.

The significant discoveries are that Jack's advertising job is over, his Manhattan apartment is gone, and his partner has moved on with someone else. Waking up in a New Jersey hospital, he finds his parents at his bedside, having waited for him despite not seeing him in ten years.

Luckily for us and for Jack Jr., his family is happy about his return. Upon discharge, he returns to his childhood home and discovers a new sense of purpose at the family restaurant. There, his father, Appa, has mastered the art of sushi in a zany but harmonious hybrid of Korean-Japanese food experiences. He has always hoped that his son would be interested in the place he cares for so deeply and blissfully shows him the ropes.

As Jack discovers a new role, he must rectify his complicated past with his brother and deepen his bond with his teenage nephew. Oh, and maybe the love of his life was with him for the whole two years, caring for him as his nurse.

This slice-of-life story packs a punch with a swoon-worthy love story and gentle, well-woven twists layered into this family drama. It will remind you what a privilege it is to be loved and to be able to come home. The food descriptions are mouth-watering, as Chong captures the essence of a struggling restaurant that still has so much to give its patrons.

Originally a short story, Chong expanded it into a novel as he went through the grueling process of selling his debut, Flux. He wrote this novel to remind himself of the joy in writing and life. Don't be surprised if your face aches from smiling through this one—he unlocked the joy for me, too—it will be a huge hit with Colton Gentry's Third Act fans and J. Ryan Stradal enthusiasts.

I enjoyed this book so so much. It was such a feel good read full of growth and acceptance from every single character. Each one was so unique in their learning and experience and you had no choice but to love them all.

The romance aspect was also so well done despite the book itself not being in the romance genre. Watching Jack jr and Emil work in a fast paced relationship while also trying to both heal and evolve as people was so special.

Honestly what an amazing book full of culture, life, love, and learning - will definitely be rereading in the future !!

Jack Jr. wakes up, and it’s no longer the world he knew. Instead of his own bed in his own apartment, he’s in a New Jersey hospital with a breathing tube down his throat, needles in his skin, and a sense of utter confusion. The nurse attending him is an utter stranger, and is just as shocked, yelling for help as he tries to calm Jack down. But when masked doctors and nurses flood the room, it’s that same nurse Jack clings to like a lifeline.

It turns out that Jack’s been in a coma for two years after a nearly fatal car accident. For two years, his parents, his fiance, his brother, and Nurse Cuddy have watched over and tended to his body as bruises faded, injuries healed, and Jack Jr. continued to sleep. For two years, life went on without him. He lost his job, his apartment, his credit cards, his insurance — everything. Having no other choice, Jack moves back in with his father and begins to help out at the family sushi restaurant …and tries to put himself back together.

This book has some of the best writing I’ve come across. It’s as smooth and soft as velvet; it’s effortless to read, with a serene, thoughtful voice that highlights the characters. Honestly, read it for the writing alone. I see myself coming back to this book again, and might even grab a physical copy to keep on my shelves. But there’s more to the book than the writing; there are the characters, and the story of reconnecting with family.

As the son of immigrant parents, Jack and his brother were held to certain expectations. His brother, James, never felt the passion for cooking the way Jack Jr. did. He married at 20, had a kid, and ended up turning to alcohol. He was the family fuckup, cast into shadow by Jack Jr.’s blinding light of being responsible, talented, and favored. But at 18, Jack Jr. turned his back on his family and left them to go to college and make a new life for himself. One that they weren’t a part of. Twelve years of phone calls that got fewer and fewer, twelve years of estrangement, twelve years where Jack Jr.’s life — his fiance, his future — had nothing to do with his parents and brother.

It’s one thing to move on with your own life, leaving others behind; it’s quite another to wake up and realize that those same people have moved on without you. His brother has a new child, his mother has a boyfriend, his father, though, still lives in the same house, works at the same restaurant, uses the same knife, and now Jack Jr. comes back to his childhood bedroom … because he has nowhere else to go.

In getting his life back together, Jack Jr. connects most strongly with Juno, his 16-year-old nephew, who looks at him as something new and interesting. Juno has his own issues with James, as many fathers and sons do, and turns to his uncle for support and guidance. Jack isn’t certain he has any to give, but he loves his nephew and wants to help him. As he works with his father in the restaurant, Jack finds himself reconnecting with him too, finding love and forgiveness in equal measure. Not certain he deserves either, Jack Jr. spends much of his time reflecting on his life, on the mistakes he made, the choices, and on whether or not he deserves the support his family is giving him.

Slowly, Jack builds bonds with Noa, his brother’s wife; with the nurse, Cuddy, who cared for his body for two years; and even with James. They’ve never had an easy time of it, finding themselves too much at opposite ends of so much, but they’re brothers. For James, it was easier having a brother in a coma, someone he could talk to who could only answer back in his own head; now that Jack Jr. is awake, it’s different. It’s harder.

This is a book about family, about having the strength to forgive yourself and accept the love given to you by others. There will always be those past hurts, always be those fights, those small cruelties thrown out, but those moments don’t have to define you or the love you feel. In the end, this is a book about healing and growing, about realizing your parents weren’t always wrong — but they weren’t always right. Jack Jr. is a thoughtful character who takes this second chance at life to be a better person, a kinder one, to his family and himself.

While Cuddy and Jack don’t get a dramatic fairy tale romance, they still manage to find their way to one another, to accept that maybe this moment isn’t the right one — with Jack Jr. still reeling from the loss of so much — but there is always another moment, another chance further down the road. Cuddy, like all the people Jack Jr. meets in this book, is perhaps a little to perfect, a little too forgiving, but these people are seen through Jack Jr.’s eyes, and he looks at all of them with a hopeful, wistful love, painting them kindly, generously, and beautifully.

This is the best book I’ve read all year. All of the emotional beats hit just right; Jack Jr. is one of my favorite flavors of character — slightly broken, somewhat bitter, but someone who hasn’t given up, yet, who still dreams of love — and his family feel so real and vital. I really, really hope you give this book a try. It’s everything I want in a literary fiction, and I hope you love it, too.

Sleeping through the refrigerator-truck, no-vaccine-yet stages of the COVID pandemic turns out to be a mixed blessing—if, for example, you sleep through it because you’ve been in a coma after a car accident that nearly killed you. Also, by the time your coma ends you’ve lost your job and your apartment, and your fiancé is (not so) mysteriously absent.

Thus Jack Jr.—always “Jack Jr.,” not just Jack—who awakens to find himself back in the bosom of his semi-estranged family. Jack Sr. owns a superb but failing Korean sushi restaurant; Jack Jr. grew up learning to buy fish, to prepare sushi, and to cook Korean food in general, but bolted for Manhattan under circumstances we don’t find out about in detail till late in the book.

Though to say “No spoilers” is kind of to miss the point. Jack Jr.’s reasons for separating himself from his family do matter; it matters that Ren, his ex-fiancé, so far from being a villain, loved him devotedly; it matters that the van Jack Sr. drives to the fish market is falling apart. That is, all the details matter, because every relationship, every characterization matters. I haven’t read many novels in which a complicated family life is rendered so lightly, with such seeming effortlessness, or in which throwaway touches are so revealing and evocative.

An instance: the moment in which Cuddy—Jack Jr.’s nurse during much of his coma; then his friend; and, not quite yet, his lover—mentions his favorite constellation of moles on Jack Jr.’s body: a part of his body Cuddy the nurse has of course seen, but Cuddy the imminent lover has not. Cuddy’s an endearing character and I was rooting for their relationship throughout, but in that moment one kind of intimacy crosses over into another, uneasily. Cuddy knows so much about Jack Jr. and Jack Jr.’s body: knowledge acquired honorably, but during a time when Jack Jr. couldn’t know anything at all. Matters of intimacy and knowledge are all over this book, and it turns out that some things can never be known.

What else? Well, the setup here could have shot straight into melodrama. It never does, though fair warning that at several points it’s liable to make you cry. On the other hand, “I cried; I laughed!,” because “I Leave It Up to You” is hilarious. Cue more admiration, because heaven knows it’s a rare feat to mix the comic and the poignant gracefully. Most often, you get lurching from one to the other.

I now know much more about Korean food than I did two weeks ago—not that that’s saying much, probably, since I was at a kimchi-gochujang-and-bibimbap level of familiarity. Anyway, the point is I’m hungry.

I have one quibble, to do with the fact that during much of Jack Jr.’s first year in a coma visitors wouldn’t have been allowed into the hospital. It’s a copyeditorial compulsion to mention such things, but honestly it didn’t detract from my pleasure in this wonderful novel. Many thanks to Random House and Netgalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this story. Very cute romance, good use of Covid as a plot point without dwelling too much. My biggest issue was with how Tiktok was used. If they got that many views, it would've increased foot traffic. But no increase in sales was mentioned. And why would a former marketing exec get rid of Tiktok and try to market elsewhere? Even if he was in a coma when TikTok took off, it wouldn't take that long to figure out the impact it has on small businesses.

I Leave It Up to You is a character-driven story about starting over, finding love in unexpected places, and the power of family. The story is a fantastic read. I would absolutely recommend it.

Thanks to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Ballantine Books for the eARC of this book.

I had loved Chong’s debut Flux and while this one was a lot less complicated, I adored his writing once more. A tender story of recovery, self-discovery and reconnecting with family. My biggest regret is that I didn’t have omakase while reading to this.

No sophomore slump for Jinwoo Chong!! His latest book grabbed my attention from the first page and never let me go until the last.

Jack Jr., the main character of the book, has just come out of 2-year coma. The world is completely different from before and he has to start over physically and emotionally. I found myself laughing, almost crying and basically wondering if Jack Jr. would be alright.

The author wrote Jack Jr. and his family so vividly that I could envision them all. I love that all of them had their flaws but their love for (and frustration with) each other came through. And the author’s use of food throughout the book had my visual brain on overload, along with my stomach.

This book is a fantastic read. I would absolutely recommend it to my readers.

Sad, gay and tragic, just like I like them.

Jinwoo Chong's sophomore debut, I Leave It Up to You, tells the tale of Jack Jr., who has recently woken up from a two-year coma to a world in many ways he no longer recognizes. You follow his journey through reorienting to society, existing around his estranged family, navigating heartbreak and possibly finding new love, and most significantly, finding himself. Even though the story is sad and tragic, it was still enjoyable. This was especially so because I finished this manuscript quite fast as I was interested and invested in Jack Jr.'s story. Chong's writing is beautifully stunning. I recommend this read to others.

4/5

It’s 2021, and 30-year-old Jack Jr. wakes up from his 23-month coma in Fort Lee, NJ. He has unanswered questions: He doesn’t know what Covid is, his partner is absent, he can’t remember the driving accident, and his estranged family become his primary caretakers.

Discharged from the hospital and apparently no longer able to return home to Ren, his biological family folds Jack Jr. back into his old life. He goes back to work at Appa’s Japanese restaurant with Korean ingredients, Joja, alongside James (older brother) and Juno (nephew). Their little restaurant struggled to stay afloat during Covid, but the restrictions slowly lifted, and the family managed to work together and keep the business running.

The family dynamics are strained, awkward, and fragile. Jack Jr. left home a decade ago for the city, not wanting to take over the family business. But the way he leaves—like leaving in the dead of night without any goodbye—further damages the relationships. In search of the real world and different experiences, he and Ren make a home for themselves. They’re engaged when Jack Jr. is hospitalized, and Ren faithfully visits for a year. Eventually, he decides it’s time to move on, and Jack Jr.’s family doesn’t blame him—Jack Jr.’s condition may or may not improve, and Ren’s whole life is still before him. Jack Jr.’s biological family sticks around and rallies around him despite the fraught tensions and unspoken problems of the past. In his physical recovery and process of regaining control of his body, Jack Jr. mends his relationship with his family and develops a new relationship with Emil, his kind nurse.

This was delectable (4.5 stars)! The author shows an acute awareness of where the story is, the emotions he wants to convey, the characters’ convoluted personalities, and the themes he wants to highlight. He cooks up themes like family, food (omakase!), health, and love. I had to relinquish more trust than I’m used to because I usually don’t like mystery novels. But I enjoyed how Chong disoriented me as a reader because it would be akin to Jack Jr.’s experience waking up from a coma (and it’s not actually a mystery novel). Although buttery with emotions, Chong’s flavorful humor keeps the tone light. I love thinking about second gen. East Asian American perspectives, and it’s been a minute since I chewed on one so thoughtfully and completely constructed. N.B.: I see “Japanese-Korean” in some reviews’ descriptions of Jack Jr.; however, Umma and Appa are ethnically Korean.

My thanks to #NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for my ARC of #ILeaveItUptoYou.

I posted this review on GoodReads (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7375202457) on March 5, 2025.

I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong is a captivating novel that delves into the themes of love, family, and the intricate art of sushi. The story poses a thought-provoking question: What if one could go back to a pivotal moment in their life, armed with newfound wisdom, and have the courage to embark on a different journey? This novel explores the concept of second chances, the interconnected bonds of love that endure through hardship, and the intricate dynamics of familial loyalty. With its rich narrative and compelling characters, Leave It Up to You is a remarkable book that left me enthralled.

When Jack Jr. wakes from a two year coma, he find his job, fiance, and his old life gone! As he returns to his family and family restaurant, he must wrestle with his messy, complicated past to discover if he can find joy and purpose in the present. I truly enjoyed the complexity of family and life presented in this novel. There’s no place like home proves true for jack jr. even if not in the way Dorothy once sang about.

If you want a surprise read from the opening pages that keeps you curious and wondering what happened, this is the read for you. Jack Jr. is a memorable character, and has to cope with his new circumstances, but he does read YA (young adult) at times and the situation forces him to face some tough emotional growth.

“Leave it up to You” by Jinwoo Chong is the story of Jack Jr., a Korean-American gay man who wakes after being in a coma for two years. Everything about his life seems to have changed in an instant. For him, that is. All the people around him, including his family he hadn’t seen for years before that, had rallied around him when he was in the hospital. His awakening is a miracle. Having lost his job, his fiance, and his apartment, he moves back in with his father and works in their sushi restaurant.

As he tries to reconstruct his life, he learns what it means to love, to forgive, and to accept.
This book wasn’t entirely my cup of tea and there were a few times I almost stopped reading it. But I’m glad I continued. There were a lot of great moments in the story, although it dragged in places for me. As an American who has lived in Japan for nearly 50 years, I found the description of a Korean-run sushi shop in the US interesting—particularly the prices of the sushi! Yikes!

Many thanks to Net Galley and to the publisher for an ARC of this novel. My opinions are my own.

What a powerful, interesting, emotional story. Jack Jr woke from a multi year coma up to a life and world that was about as different as it could be. Everything he knew and had worked for was gone. His career, home and the love of his life were a thing of the past. With no other options, he goes back to the life he desperately wanted to distance himself from. To do and be something other than the life his parents wanted him to live. His reintegration to a life he did not want is layered with every emotion as he tries to find his new normal. It’s a slow paced read and beautifully descriptive.

Jack Jr. had left his family and past behind several years ago. He wanted no part of the family restaurant business. He wakes up from a coma 23 months later and trying to piece his life back together. He doesn’t remember anything about the accident or where Ren his boyfriend is? When he finds himself back at the family home and working at the restaurant he starts figuring his life out a little at a time. His nurse that took care of him at the hospital started caring for him more than nursing. This book is just a little slow getting started but stay with it because it is really a good read.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a story about a gay Korean-American man who woke up after being in a coma for two years and had to figure out his life again. He had not lived at home with his family or worked in his fathers Sushi restaurant in 10 years, but coming home felt familiar. His fiancé gave up on him after a year and married another person. He started dating his nurse. His relationship with his older brother remained as strained as it was when he left. He got to know his now teenage nephew.

I liked this book, but did not love it. The story and dialog are very ethnically Korean, which is something I am not familiar with, as a result I had difficulty with some responses and reactions of the characters. I did like the characters, and felt they were well developed. I loved all of the food descriptions.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong is a wonderfully written story about love and family.
A beautiful and poignant story about second chances and self-discovery, I Leave It Up to You navigates loss, love, and the absurdity of finding one’s footing after the ground gives way.
I love the writing style here and immediately got sucked into the characters lives.

"I Leave It Up to You" is the story of tragedy turned into new beginnings. The end of a relationship, rebuilding the family dynamic by way of their Korean-Japanese restaurant and finding new love. Chong's newest novel paints the story of having to start life over in an unexpected way and finding that home and family was where Jack Jr. always belonged.

**Thank you Net Galley for a advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.**