Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I tried multiple times to read this but I think sadly it just wasn't for me. The start of the novel was really engaging and I flew through the first 30%, but then I just couldn't get past the 45% mark and I don't know why. The pacing slowed down a lot in the middle of the story, and I just wasn't as invested in the character's life, but I think that's more of a me issue than an issue with the book.

Enjoyed the hell out of this. It was funny and charming and awesome. This book could have been very ground breaking in the way it explored sexuality, community and the Korean setting but was quite underwhelmed in the end. Although it did have many striking images and passages, the story felt quite hollow. While the first half includes Jaehee and offers quite an interesting perspective, she completely vanishes in the other half. It ended up mostly being about the main character romantic life.

In Love in The Big City we follow Young through his 20s and 30s while he navigates love, friendships, work, money, family, and the queer night-love of Seoul. Jaehee, Young’s female best friend and roommate, joins him in his nights out drinking soju and smoking Marlboro Reds until the sun comes up. They’re both happy living this way, single and hooking up with Tinder dates, until Saehee leaves Young to settle down, causing him to move back in with and care for his ailing mother and seek love from a series of men.

Sang Young Park writes in this light, funny and matter of fact way that is so easy to digest, whilst still discussing important topics and exploring so much emotion. I’m so impressed by Anton Hur, his translation of this novel is so smooth. I hope Park has more more of his work translated to English in the future.

Set in Seoul, South Korea, Love in the Big City is a warm, playful, emotionally rich novel that weaves together four interconnected vignettes to tell the story of its narrator, Park Young, as he matures over the course of his 20s and 30s. Split into four sections—each of which could conceivably stand alone as a short story—Love in the Big City first introduces the friendship between Park Young and Jaehee, a fellow student who, like Young, spends most of her free time drinking and hooking up with random men. The two move in together, sharing everything, and the platonic love between them is palpable; Young keeps Jaehee’s favorite Marlboro cigarettes stocked and Jaehee buys him his favorite frozen blueberries. When Jaehee uncharacteristically decides to settle down and get married after years of the two sharing their young and free lifestyle, Young feels betrayed and unmoored, which leads to a series of inauspicious romantic trysts.

Full review on BookBrowse.

I absolutely loved this novel of queer longing set in contemporary Korea. It made me laugh and cry. Highly recommend if you love coming of age stories, love stories, and books about adrift young people discovering themselves.

Love in the Big City could go either way for most readers, you’re going to either love it or not. And that’s okay.

Young is a gay millennial living in Seoul, we travel through time with him in four parts of his life. when he’s young and roommates with Jae Hee. Years later, with the handsome man with the abrasive personality and the issues with his mother. With his true love, Gyu-Ho, and the story of Kylie. Then, in Bangkok where he’s thinking about his past while looking to the future.

When I dove in, I was expecting bright colours, lights, and big city vibes.. What I actually got was a slightly sarcastic narrator with poor choices in life and partners who I fell in love with. Young has a way of making you care about and love him. I absolutely adored this book.

I very much enjoyed this story. It was wonderfully written. I look forward to the author’s next book!

Translated from the Korean by Anton Hur and published by Tilted Axis Press, Love in the Big City is a queer Korean novel about hedonism and friendship, about looking at life from all angles: with hunger and love and fear in your eyes. Our protagonist laments the loss of youth and friends and family while searching for love and comfort and company.

It's so exciting and refreshing reading new fiction
which fully represents the complexities of modern gay life. I appreciated the representation of a queer Korean man living in Seoul, Love in the Big City is a refreshingly nice book and it was written well. I have. no words. this book means everything to me. Also this cover is so beautiful I love it so much what a masterpiece.

**ARC received by the author and publisher of NetGalley in an exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.**

This book was so hard to get through. Maybe it was me, but I wasn't invested with these characters. It was a no for me.

This story wasn't what I was hoping for. The bright colors of the cover led me to believe it would be an LGBTQ story with a happy ending. It didn't quite have a bad ending, but it didn't have the uplifting one I was looking for.

That being said, this book was very very good. I enjoyed the reality of it and the raw emotions throughout.

Being an LGBTQ individual isn't openly accepted in South Korea, which often puts a lot of pressures on the individuals within the relationship as they try to be happy together while also trying to adhere to societal cues and such. I think Sang Young Park does a tremendous job showing the tension that these pressures cause and how they can make or break a relationship.

Park's writing is beautifully done. I hope to see more of his work in the future.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. A cute little story. Easy read, easy to dive into and get lost into it's story. Super cute

This was a truly excellent piece of writing, witty, compassionate and insightful, the story of a young gay man navigating his way through a sometime difficult life in contemporary Seoul, making mistakes, making bad choices – and sometimes good ones – falling in love or lust, making friendships, caring for his mother. He’s a flawed character, for sure, but somehow likeable and the reader roots for him throughout. The book is also a vivid and evocative portrait of life in modern-day Korea, particularly in Seoul, with the ever-present tug between modernity and tradition. Well-written, well-paced and very enjoyable.

First of all I'd like to say that watching Korean dramas are worthwhile cause it really helped me to understand lots of Korean term used in it.

Love In The Big City is an energetic, joyful and moving novel that depicts both the glittering nighttime world of Seoul and the bleary eyed morning after.

The story divides into four sections.
The first part focuses on Young and Jae Hee, his best friend's fun and boozy life where you'll find that how strong their friendship were and how it ended living Young's life hanging.

Second part is set some years later, Young at his thirties looking back to his traumatic past, a relationship to man who's twelve years older and discovered he's ashamed of his sexuality.
Also, this section centres around Young's relationship with his mother, when she came to know that he's kissing another boy at the age of sixteen and thought that was some kind of disease and contacted mental hospital which doctors later informed her that it's not Young's sexuality but her being obsessive control over her boy. His mother is now at last stage of cancer.

Third part is about Young's first true love, Gyu-Ho. He reflects his history with his lover who's more mature and practical that Young.
Young also tells about how he ended being an AIDS patient when he was serving military.

Fouth part is set in Bangkok, an year later after lovers vacation. Now he's 32 and returned there with an older man he met on Tinder for a one-night stand. He accidentally end up staying at the same hotel he spend with Gyu-Ho earlier and remembering their moments they spend together alone.

To be honest I enjoyed the book, sweet and heartbreaking. I cried reading the second and last part of the book. To me, Young's life is full of rollercoaster. I'm amazed how he held up to the end.

I won't say it's everybody's cuppa. But if you into LGBQT then this book is definitely for you to read.

Highly recommended.

Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Thank you @NetGalley and @groveatlantic @tiltedaxispress for the #arc in exchange of an honest review.

Let me just start by saying that I LOVE reading translated books. I often find myself reading lots of books from authors who share the same nationality and many of my identities, so I appreciated the fresh perspective of this story. I think the translator did an excellent job of conveying this story in English and I enjoyed reading!! The take of a queer man in Korea was new to me, and I really enjoyed reading about our protagonist.

This story was broken down into 4 parts. The parts are not necessarily chronological and sometimes bleed into one another. i enjoyed all of the parts and was very invested in our main character as he discovered more about himself and the world around him as a queer Korean man.

Queer romance, new adult, coming of age (which I definitely thing is a phrase we should use more to discuss out 20's and 30's!!). This one is for you, millennials! It's not super light, but there are so many funny and good moments woven with more serious topics including STDs and figuring out/coming to terms with your own identity. This one was good and I definitely reccomends it!

I have always had a soft corner for books that have been translated from another language to engish. This was the reason that i picked this and also the title. The book is funny and i enjoyed the character built up and execution.

"Big Love in the City" explored the life of the main character through different parts of his life over four parts. I appreciated the wonderfully written insight into queer culture in Korea as it is such a conservative society. Some moments feel a bit lost due to translation but overall if you enjoy queer literature, you will enjoy this book!

I give this book 3 stars.

Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park is a tender look at queer love in South Korea. Told in a series of vignettes, readers follow the protagonist through experiences in love and other relationships.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

Sang Young Park's Love in the Big City is one of the most anticipated books of 2022. A heartwarming look at queer love in Korea, this will become one of your absolute favorite reads.