A review by sebby_reads
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park

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

3.75

“Rain still falls during the late rainy season, as do tears even when it’s too late.”

Love in the Big City is narrated by ‘Young’, an aspiring writer living in Seoul, South Korea. It is a poignant novel depicting current day’s love life of a queer person—vibrant as well as drab and grey at times. This is a debut novel by the novelist Sang Young Park and translated into English by Anton Hur.
The writer tells the protagonist’s life story in four parts. In part 1, Young narrated his youth and his best friend, Jaehee. Spent their early adulthood fearlessly with booze and hookups. Together, they took care of each other and regardless of the situations they were in, she was his rock and he hers. Part 2 is about Young’s relationship with his lover 12 years older than him. Young was “out” within his circle of friends whereas his partner was closeted. Due to several differences, their love journey was quite bumpy. Despite all the red flags that keep popping here and there, Young loved him painfully. The writer also introduced Young’s thorny relationship with his ailing mother whom he had to take care of because of her recurrent cancer. The title of part 3 is eponymous and it befittingly tells how Young met Gyu-ho, the love of his life. Their relationship looked enchanting but it was seen through rose-colored glasses. Young being HIV positive put some drawbacks in their relationship, not just in sex, but also in career opportunities. In final part, Young talked about his encounter with an older man he met on Tinder and his continuous yearning for Gyu-ho. He keeps revisiting his memories with Gyu-ho as he continues his life.
This is one of the four books I purchased from @tiltedaxispress last year and first one to read. To be frank, we are familiar with such curves in a love story. You had a dear friend very close to you in your youth and one day you two grew apart. You fell in love with someone so hard and the breakup with that person turned you into a bitter and unbothered person. You didn’t take love seriously cause you’d been hurt until someone walked into your life and thawed your cold heart. Then for some unfathomable reasons, it didn’t work for you two. You recollect the memories of your loved one as your life goes on. We’ve read in books and seen in films or even experienced on our own.
Why is this different then? The writer sets a brilliant tone that portray the love life by today’s youths. It also highlight Asian queer community and how it is different from what we usually see or read in western queer literature. The ideological differences and varying social acceptance factors amongst different generations as well as cultures can be seen in this book. The narrative is crisp and emphatic though at some points, it is quite sentimentalized. The eloquent translation by Anton Hur provides an articulate account of the experiences and emotions of the characters. Quick and enjoyable read actually.
Heart wrenching events that queer people have to endure—acceptance from friend and family, struggles in workplace and for employment, and last but not least pain caused by the loved ones—are rendered immaculately. While same sex sexual activity is legal in South Korea, marriage or other forms of legal partnership hasn’t been granted recognition. Through various characters, Sang Young Park tells the sociopolitical conditions of queer community in today’s Seoul. Still orthodox within the society and discriminative by the laws, it is in fact an important story. Discrimination towards queer people, including the self imposed one due to conservatism, is an important and insidious issue. If it can’t be eradicated, will love in the big cities (and small cities, too) survive?
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