Love in the Big City (Hardcover)
November 2021 Indie Next List
“I’ve never read a book with a voice like Sang Young Park brings to this novel — young, queer, Korean — unafraid to tackle important issues while remaining funny, edgy, and approachable. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next.”
— Adam Possehl, Powell's Books, Portland, OR
Staff Reviews
Anton Hur will join us on May 14: https://www.alphabetcity.org/events/litfest-may-14/
— From Pittsburgh International LitFestA funny, transporting, surprising, and poignant novel that was one of the highest-selling debuts of recent years in Korea, Love in the Big City tells the story of a young gay man searching for happiness in the lonely city of Seoul
Love in the Big City is the English-language debut of Sang Young Park, one of Korea's most exciting young writers. A runaway bestseller, the novel hit the top five lists of all the major bookstores, went into twenty-six printings, and was praised for its unique literary voice and perspective. It is now poised to capture a worldwide readership.
Young is a cynical yet fun-loving Korean student who pinballs from home to class to the beds of recent Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female best friend and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their anxieties about their love lives, families, and money with rounds of soju and ice-cold Marlboro Reds that they keep in their freezer. Yet over time, even Jaehee leaves Young to settle down, leaving him alone to care for his ailing mother and to find companionship in his relationships with a series of men, including one whose handsomeness is matched by his coldness, and another who might end up being the great love of his life.
A brilliantly written novel that takes us
into the glittering nighttime of Seoul and
the bleary-eyed morning after with both
humor and emotion, Love in the Big City
is a wry portrait of millennial loneliness as
well as the abundant joys of queer life.