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A review by readingwithathena
Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi
3.0
3.5 / 5
If there ever was a book to truly embody “emerging adulthood” (both the genre and the age group), Permanent Record would be that book. Focused on a confused 20-something, Mary H.K. Choi paints an increasingly uncomfortable portrait of what it’s like to be young and kind of stuck. If you’ve read Emergency Contact, the writing style is familiar, even if the perspective is different.
Pablo Neruda Rind (really, that’s his name) is a Pakistani-Korean American living in New York City. He dropped out of NYU, his dream school, for financial reasons. He works at a bodega/health food store, but credit-card debt and student loans are burying him alive. One particularly cold and terrible night, superstar Leanna Smart walks into his workplace. After that, nothing is ever the same for Pablo.
At its core, Permanent Record is about growing up, and the discomfort that comes with it. Pablo spends most of the book feeding into his delusions- he can make a relationship with Leanna work, he can get back into NYU, and he can crawl out of debt without anyone’s help. Most of Pablo’s character growth happens in the last 50 pages, which is a shame. In a book over 400 pages long, I wanted that growth sooner.
Which leads me to my biggest critique- in a book centered on being unfocused and stuck, much of the plot is also unfocused. The core idea keeps the plot moving, but it takes way too long to get there. There is an overwhelming abundance of side characters. The book doesn’t truly find it’s footing until the 100-page-mark, making a messy introduction to easily a dozen people. Had a few characters been cut, or had the book simply been shorter, it would have been a more enjoyable read. The ending was bittersweet, but it made sense.
If you want a romance-tinged coming of age story, this book is for you. But be prepared for an awkward ride.
If there ever was a book to truly embody “emerging adulthood” (both the genre and the age group), Permanent Record would be that book. Focused on a confused 20-something, Mary H.K. Choi paints an increasingly uncomfortable portrait of what it’s like to be young and kind of stuck. If you’ve read Emergency Contact, the writing style is familiar, even if the perspective is different.
Pablo Neruda Rind (really, that’s his name) is a Pakistani-Korean American living in New York City. He dropped out of NYU, his dream school, for financial reasons. He works at a bodega/health food store, but credit-card debt and student loans are burying him alive. One particularly cold and terrible night, superstar Leanna Smart walks into his workplace. After that, nothing is ever the same for Pablo.
At its core, Permanent Record is about growing up, and the discomfort that comes with it. Pablo spends most of the book feeding into his delusions- he can make a relationship with Leanna work, he can get back into NYU, and he can crawl out of debt without anyone’s help. Most of Pablo’s character growth happens in the last 50 pages, which is a shame. In a book over 400 pages long, I wanted that growth sooner.
Which leads me to my biggest critique- in a book centered on being unfocused and stuck, much of the plot is also unfocused. The core idea keeps the plot moving, but it takes way too long to get there. There is an overwhelming abundance of side characters. The book doesn’t truly find it’s footing until the 100-page-mark, making a messy introduction to easily a dozen people. Had a few characters been cut, or had the book simply been shorter, it would have been a more enjoyable read. The ending was bittersweet, but it made sense.
If you want a romance-tinged coming of age story, this book is for you. But be prepared for an awkward ride.