Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - Kärlek i Seoul

3.5 stars

This is really a slice of life character study of one gay Korean man and his hot mess of life and various (mostly failed) relationships. There's four 'stories' or sections, each following sequentially (more or less) with flashbacks.

Young is a fascinating character - often unwilling or unmotivated to do anything with his life besides pursue bad/mediocre sex with random men, earn enough money to pay for the necessities, and ignore his problems by drinking. We get a deep dive into his psyche with the interactions with his mom, the difficulties of being her caregiver, the ups and downs of being in relationships, and the mental stress/trauma of being gay and HIV+ in a society that still has a lot of work to do for LGBTQIA+ equality.

I kept turning the pages of this short novel to find out what Young would do next - and what his next rumination on life would be - because Park's writing and authorial voice was compelling and well realized. I haven't read the novel in the original Korean, but I think Hur did a great job capturing Young's personality and the setting of Seoul (it was basically a character, too).

Finally, I really appreciated both the author's note and translator's note - they both highlighted the importance of telling queer Korean stories and the power of seeing yourself and your lived experiences reflected in fiction.

Some quotes that I dog-eared:

"Umma was now lying on the grass and staring up at the sky. She looked incredibly calm. At peace. I wondered if that ninety-nine pound, fifty-eight year old woman staring at the fading firmament was feeling the same way I was feeling. That my life could not be summed up like the neat columns of numbers on a chart, that it could swerve in an unpredictable direction at any time. That the person I though I knew best just because we had blood ties could actually be the most mysterious and unknown. That there were times in life when you just have to stop holding on." (page 126)

"Rain still falls during the late rainy season, as do tears even when it's too late." (page 215)

"Lately I've felt like I'm crumbling away little by little. Like Guy-ho in my memories, I am breaking down and scattering into ashes. The feeling is so clear to me that it's hard to shake it off like I normally would. Sometimes his very existence to me is the existence of love itself." (page 215)

CW: fatphobia and discussions of the character gaining weight (not in a positive sense), homophobia, unsafe sex, cancer, temporary forced institutionalization/hospitalization of a teen, alcohol and unhealthy drinking habits

Content Warnings

avocadotoastbee's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The title Love in the Big City is a little misleading. This is not a light-hearted romance novel.
A more appropriate title might have been "Heartbreak in the Big City".
But it's not just about love or heartbreak, throughout the book Sang Young Park covers some heavy topics.
I really liked the overall concept, but the execution was somehow a bit messy. I sometimes couldn't remember at what point things happened. Nevertheless, some passages captivated me and I enjoyed reading the book.

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beanith's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

2.99/5 ⭐️

Reading Around The World (4/199): Korea

There’s a lot of laughing in this book - a lot of mocking, youthful romps, cynicism delivered through jokes. Makes me wonder if it’s all just a way to cope with how much goes wrong in the narrator’s life. The blurbs on the back use words like ‘electric’ and ‘dazzling’ and ‘delicious’ as if this book doesn’t end with total heartbreak.

There are some things done seriously well in this novel. The narrator’s relationship with his dying mother was sad (everything in this book is sad if you think about it long enough) but filled with nuance. It’s painful for the child to become the caretaker, and even more so when the child was abused.

Loneliness and emptiness are captured with painful accuracy. Loneliness within existing relationships, even.

I had a hard time understanding where the story was going - I kept waiting for characters to renter the narrative but I think the point is that in your 20s/30s people just wander in and out with no fanfare, no chorus to tell you who’s important and who is not.

The writing wasn’t always my favorite but when it worked, it worked.

Was this how the lovers of Pompeii felt when the magma covered them? I was deluged by some thing very hot and the world seemed to stop turning.

he called me in the middle of the night when no one was around because he enjoyed fucking me and lecturing me afterward. He saw me as someone to teach and change, and I was unfortunately not receptive to that.

Lastly, I enjoyed the interview with the author and translator at the end. Their passion and how they identified with the story made elements a little richer and less soul crushimg.

Content Warnings

cheye13's review against another edition

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funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I can appreciate that this book needed to be written, and I appreciate translations for broadening readers' scope of the world, but it remains that this is a book primarily written for Korean readers. As a translation to English, I wish it was a little more than a stream-of-consciousness, (mostly) low-stakes, fictional memoir. My favorite thing about this book is that Koreans can read a story like this in their native language. Americans (me), on the other hand, have plenty of these.

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lidia7's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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annagerman's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was interesting, unfortunetly it just wasn't for me 😑
The characters were well-written and authentic.
The MC's uniqeu voice was definitely the best part of the book, he's flawed, rude and self-absorbed, but also likeable and touching, I couldn't help but root for him.
I really loved the relationships in this book, they were so complex and realistic.
Also I love the depictions of the big city, its energy and presence.

However, the structure and the pacing felt off. It was like a collections of short stories about the same character, but the timelines and emotions didn't always aligne.
I actually had a time getting back into the story after putting the book down, it took me a while to get though it even though it's so short.

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