Imagine going about your life and suddenly, you wake up from a coma and it’s been a significant amount of time. Your partner has moved on and you’re stuck in your home state that you worked so hard to get out of, going back to live at home and working at the family business.

It felt like Jack Jr. was on his way to the life he always wanted. And after a tragic accident puts him in a coma, his world looks drastically different when he wakes up. Maneuvering through rifts in family dynamics, loss and grief, and a possible new relationship, Jack is just trying to hold onto something.

Trying to get back in his feet after the arduous recovery process, he joins his family working in their sushi restaurant, but it’s a flailing endeavor. He discovers he really wants to help. While tethers are frayed, his family is this vibrant presence. He is learning how to exist all over again, realizing that it never too late to go back home.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!

WOW what a great story!! This one was hard to put down. I finished it in one sitting.

Writing: 4/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 5/5

Loved this unusual book about family, culture, relationships, and … Korean style sushi — all told in a heartfelt, reflective, and often humorous style.

Jack Jr. wakes up from a nearly two year coma to a fair amount of confusion and a deeply interrupted life. So interrupted that his job, apartment, and husband seem to have all disappeared while his family — whom he hadn’t spoken to in years — seems reluctant to give him the information he needs. What follows is a kind of coming-to-age-redux story, as he in many ways has to start over again — forced to revisit familial relationships and previous life choices.

I loved the characters — all deeply drawn, realistic, and appealing (to me); I loved the personal and insightful description of working the sushi restaurant — everything from the creative new dishes to the “fish run” at o’dark thirty AM; and I really loved the clashes between cultural, familial, and internal expectations — also know as “family dynamics.”

I gobbled it up.

I love sushi but I never expected to love a novel about a Korean sushi chef. And the entire novel was pure delight to read. However, I must advise that those who are offended by "language" or reading about Gay love may not find this book to their liking. I loved it.

The novel begins with JJ (short for Jack Jr.) awakening from a 23-month coma after having been rescued from a car that had fallen into the Hudson River. His male nurse is shocked to discover his patient struggling to cough up his ventilator tube. JJ is soon surrounded by surprised medical staff. He awakes during the tail end of the Covid pandemic, having no idea what happened.

Before long, we meet his entire family. JJ Sr. runs a sushi restaurant in Fort Lee, New Jersey. His parents live apart though they work together, and we meet his older brother, sister-in-law and their teen age and infant sons. There are unresolved conflicts, untold secrets, and money problems. We learn how a Korean man learns to become a skilled sushi chef and how he has taught his son as well.

Jack Jr. is a complex character who, while making a miraculous recovery, still faces difficulties. He falls in love with his male nurse from the hospital but that too brings complications. His teen nephew Juno posts JJ's story on Tik Tok and it gains many followers and a Go Fund Me account. Another local youngster, Zeno, wants to be an apprentice Sushi creator.

I know this sounds like a lot, but every page contains information about fish you never knew (like how it's bought, cut, stored and turned into miraculous food. The process is unfamiliar, yet incredibly real. The family's problems, pain and misunderstanding work towards revelations and solutions as Jack Jr., his family and possible love work out their lives. It's fascinating and immersive reading. This, Chong's second novel, is so alive and moving that I plan to read his first one. Thank you to Net Galley and Ballantine for introducing me to a fine young author.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this!

This is the story of Jack Jr, who wakes up from a two year coma and has to figure out how his life will continue on from there and how to fill in the gaps from the time he has missed.

I loved this book. The characters were well written and I cared about them all. This kind of story always makes you think about your own life and the things we take for granted, and this book was no exception to that.

#ILeaveItUptoYou #NetGalley.
Spoiler Free Review
Wow, this book was a breath of fresh air. Imagine waking up from a coma after two years of slumber and the world around you has completely changed. That personally sounds like my own personal hell but this story was unexpectedly charming. Of course when our protagonist, Jack, wakes up he has nothing and he has to try and return to a life that was "broken" in a sense. His family dynamics were complicated as well as his relationship with his ex, who takes him in. But what I loved about this book was that even though there was dysfunction in Jack's relationships we really get to see that he has a village of people who genuinely love him. I was rooting for him on every page and the ending was so beautiful I actually cried. This is the perfect book to cuddle up with this autumn.

This was a beautifully done story about a man coming out of a coma, it had that element that I was expecting from this type of book. It was a beautifully done story with realistic characters and was invested in what was happening to Jack Jr. Jinwoo Chong wrote this perfectly and it left me wanting to read more from them. I thought it worked with telling the story that it needed to and that character development worked overall.

Thanks to Random House/Ballantine and NetGalley for this digital ARC of Jinwoo Chong's 'I Leave it Up to You.'

This is a delightfully enjoyable tale of a Jack Jr., young Korean-American gay man emerging from a near two-year coma to a different reality. No job, no home, no fiancée, no money, little hope, and a facing into an almost post-Covid world - a pandemic he almost completely missed. He moves back to the family home and restaurant to try to reset.

This could've turned into a depressing, bitter narrative but the author skillfully turns it into a funny, joyous story three (maybe four) generations of a family and their friends who are forced to confront their past, present, and future and - in the way of the human condition - it can get messy. There's a love story, family drama and, sure, maybe in real life there'd be different reactions and outcomes but Jinwoo Chong writes this journey that they're all on so beautifully that it's completely believable. Each character is drawn in surprising depth and we get a decent perspective of life in the Korean-American enclave of Fort Lee, NJ.

This would make a fine and enjoyable TV series, I hope someone picks this up. I'd love to see Jack Jr., Jack Sr., Emil, Ari, Juno, Noa, and all of the others again either in that TV series or a sequel to this novel.

Congratulations to Jinwoo Chong - wishing you the best of success.

This is a lovely story about reconnecting with your family because of a major event. I really enjoyed seeing JJ figure out his sometimes strained relationships and find his place. There’s a slight suspension of disbelief needed for the time line of recovery but outside of that it doesn’t hinder what is a really endearing story overall. They are a really easy family to root for.

This is such a sweet, charming book. Jack Jr.’s situation is at once totally unrelatable and yet sympathetic, and his reaction feels totally real. I loved reading about the behind the scenes of running a sushi restaurant and his relationship with his family.

"I Leave It Up To You" is the second novel by the award-winning author of "Flux," Jinwoo Chong.

I was hooked after the first chapter. The story begins with our protagonist, Jack Jr., waking up in 2021 after being in a coma for almost two years. To Jack Jr.’s dismay, not only has the world undergone significant, life-altering events, but he has also lost his home, career, and fiancée.

All that remains is his family and his past. He returns to his Korean American family in New Jersey and their struggling sushi restaurant. The result is an awkward, heartwarming, and humorous journey - exactly what one might expect when going back home to a uniquely dysfunctional but loving family.

If this novel had a theme song, it would be "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones because *sometimes* you might find that you get what you need.

I highly recommend this novel. It's an engaging story about second chances, family, and self-discovery. It was a joy to read. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballentine for the ARC.

This is a fascinating novel about a Japanese-Korean gay man (Jack Jr.) who awakens in the hospital, intubated and not remembering why he's there even though he's been in a coma for almost 2 years. Nurse Emil Cuddy is delighted he's awake but can provide few answers for him as he apparently drove his car into the Hudson River. His boyfriend, Ren has since gotten married and his family owns a sushi restaurant so they take him in as he begins to rehabilitate and work there. But he can't get nurse Cuddy out of his head. And so begins a lovely, often-heartbreaking look at healing and what the human mind and heart can do when supposedly "broken."
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!