A review by oofsharkz73
Sea Change by Gina Chung

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

"It seems to me incredibly cruel that no matter how much has been taken from you, you never get used to the dizzying shock of losing something you love, the dull, crushing ache of it afterward. There's no way to rehearse for heartbreak, no matter how much you might walk around expecting it."

Gina Chung's Sea Change is satisfying in its straightforwardness. In sum, it's a novel about a heartbroken young woman trying to make sense of the shambles her life has seemingly become. Ro - or, Arim - finds the last connection she feels she has with her father being threatened, all while still processing childhood traumas, going through a rough breakup, tiptoeing around a failing friendship, maintaining a relationship with her mother, and struggling with alcoholism and her own poor choices that have landed her in a rather lowly place in life. Chung uses visualization like shattered mugs and the biology of animals to convey Ro's relatable emotions. 

"I wonder if we would take better care of our bodies if our skin was transparent, if every little thing we did and said and ate was observable. If every hurtful or careless thing we ever said to one another manifested itself visually in the body. Would we be any different than how we are now? Would we do more to protect each other, ourselves?"

"As for the shattered mug on the kitchen floor, despite Apa's best efforts of cleaning up the mess, we continued finding small ceramic shards here and there as the days went by. Now matter how closely we looked or how thoroughly we swept or vacuumed, there was always more tiny pieces of green shrapnel hidden in the corners of the kitchen, like the remnants of a battle or the artifacts of a lost civilization."

There's no dramatic twists, there's no amazing relevations. Sea Change just is. Not groundbreaking, just a regular, unoriginal book, ideally written for women finding their place in the world. It is unpretentious, comfortably predictable, and enjoyably typical for a book with this plotline.