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A review by millennial_dandy
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park
4.0
First off, props where props are due: 'Love in the Big City' is a Booker International long-list selection, so congrats to author Sang Young Park for absolutely killing it in the first of his translated works (and thanks also to his translator, Anton Hur, for bringing it to an English-speaking audience).
I always like to start out my musings over a book by considering who it's for. In some rather obvious ways, 'Love in the Big City' is for the author himself. Our protagonist and he share a name, so I think it's safe to assume that this is either semi-autobiographical or a very convincing alternate reality.
But aside from that, this is a novel that likely owes much of its popularity to the fact that Park nailed the feeling of aging Millennial ennui. And as an aging Millennial full of ennui, I could definitely relate.
All the hallmarks of 'Millennialness' were there: the sarcasm, the self-depricating humor covering deep chasms of insecurities and anxiety, the affectation of carelessness, having a job you at best feel indifferent about just to keep on top of the bills, the realization that you're actually just average and the window of opportunity to attempt to be extraordinary is shrinking fast. The horror of inheriting a world your grandparents' generation screwed up and your parents' generation gentrified, so now you're in your 30s still dependent on a roommate to cover the rent and going on the ocassional budget vacation all with climate change hanging over your head to the point that you're just like 'screw it; I'm going to drown my sorrows with [insert coping mechanism here.]'
Sigh.
Even the title leans into this quintessentially Millennial sardonic-ness.
In other words, there's a lot of apathy bordering on and sometimes veering into depression.
And that's not even touching on the plot yet; that's just the vibe.
The plot is comprised of 4 vignettes, each allowing our protagonist to mull over different important relationships from his 20s, some familial, some platonic, many romantic.
And they're all wonderful and sad and nostalgic and so very much a portrait of all that is, if I may, fucked up about our generation.
Getting away from the Millennial navel-gazing, 'Love in the Big City' is also a stunning portrait of queer life in Seoul in the late 2000s (ish -- it's never exactly specified, so I'm guessing a little bit here). Park has a real talent for picking out tactile details that really ground the setting without disrupting the voice.
It's also nice to see such a high profile hit with a protagonist who's allowed to not be conventionally attractive without that being his defining character trait. He references steadily gaining weight as he gets older, but this is never treated as an important plot-point, and feels naturally integrated into the story. It's also interesting that much of the focus, especially of the first chapters, is on how many hook-ups he has throughout his 20s. These two pieces of information in tandem present a healthy relationship between body type and attractiveness. He isn't having a lot of sex either because of or despite his weight. The implication, of course, is that in the real world, despite what tv and film would have you believe, you don't need to be a 10/10 or limit yourself to being fetishized to get laid.
A big sigh of relief for the vast majority of us without washboard abs and flawless, dewy skin.
Do I think anyone outside of the target audience would really 'get' this? I'm honestly too close to it to say for sure. I suppose anyone older might roll their eyes at the tone and wonder to themselves why 'all the kids these days with no real problems feel the need to develop mental illnesses and be gay' while the Zoomers would likely roll their eyes in a very 'oh my god, grandpa, must you be such an Eeyore' kind of way.
Just a feeling I have.
But in any case, I had a good (?) time in 'the Big City'. I felt seen. I felt understood. I felt empathy.
I hope that after this was published Park hunkered down with a pint of frozen blueberries and watched 90s cartoons. I know I will be after reading it.
I always like to start out my musings over a book by considering who it's for. In some rather obvious ways, 'Love in the Big City' is for the author himself. Our protagonist and he share a name, so I think it's safe to assume that this is either semi-autobiographical or a very convincing alternate reality.
But aside from that, this is a novel that likely owes much of its popularity to the fact that Park nailed the feeling of aging Millennial ennui. And as an aging Millennial full of ennui, I could definitely relate.
All the hallmarks of 'Millennialness' were there: the sarcasm, the self-depricating humor covering deep chasms of insecurities and anxiety, the affectation of carelessness, having a job you at best feel indifferent about just to keep on top of the bills, the realization that you're actually just average and the window of opportunity to attempt to be extraordinary is shrinking fast. The horror of inheriting a world your grandparents' generation screwed up and your parents' generation gentrified, so now you're in your 30s still dependent on a roommate to cover the rent and going on the ocassional budget vacation all with climate change hanging over your head to the point that you're just like 'screw it; I'm going to drown my sorrows with [insert coping mechanism here.]'
Sigh.
Even the title leans into this quintessentially Millennial sardonic-ness.
In other words, there's a lot of apathy bordering on and sometimes veering into depression.
And that's not even touching on the plot yet; that's just the vibe.
The plot is comprised of 4 vignettes, each allowing our protagonist to mull over different important relationships from his 20s, some familial, some platonic, many romantic.
And they're all wonderful and sad and nostalgic and so very much a portrait of all that is, if I may, fucked up about our generation.
Getting away from the Millennial navel-gazing, 'Love in the Big City' is also a stunning portrait of queer life in Seoul in the late 2000s (ish -- it's never exactly specified, so I'm guessing a little bit here). Park has a real talent for picking out tactile details that really ground the setting without disrupting the voice.
It's also nice to see such a high profile hit with a protagonist who's allowed to not be conventionally attractive without that being his defining character trait. He references steadily gaining weight as he gets older, but this is never treated as an important plot-point, and feels naturally integrated into the story. It's also interesting that much of the focus, especially of the first chapters, is on how many hook-ups he has throughout his 20s. These two pieces of information in tandem present a healthy relationship between body type and attractiveness. He isn't having a lot of sex either because of or despite his weight. The implication, of course, is that in the real world, despite what tv and film would have you believe, you don't need to be a 10/10 or limit yourself to being fetishized to get laid.
A big sigh of relief for the vast majority of us without washboard abs and flawless, dewy skin.
Do I think anyone outside of the target audience would really 'get' this? I'm honestly too close to it to say for sure. I suppose anyone older might roll their eyes at the tone and wonder to themselves why 'all the kids these days with no real problems feel the need to develop mental illnesses and be gay' while the Zoomers would likely roll their eyes in a very 'oh my god, grandpa, must you be such an Eeyore' kind of way.
Just a feeling I have.
But in any case, I had a good (?) time in 'the Big City'. I felt seen. I felt understood. I felt empathy.
I hope that after this was published Park hunkered down with a pint of frozen blueberries and watched 90s cartoons. I know I will be after reading it.