those of you who are fans of K-dramas will recognize the hand gesture as a symbol of love often used in said dramas. to be honest, that’s what made me excited for this book 😂 i had just finished Crash Landing on You & was browsing #netgalley & needed something to live up to the hype.

however, this was not a happy-go-lucky, rainbows-and-butterflies rom com. there were no romantic monologues and very few giggles. rather, this was a collection of short stories that really made me question how this timeline worked. it was a compelling read - easy to comprehend without sounding like a ten year old wrote it - but still tough on the heart.

the struggles the main character endured made me really appreciate the times he truly got to enjoy himself with friends. while i didn’t love this book, i appreciated learning more about what it’s like to grow up gay in Seoul.

Love in the Big City is a unique story that took me on a vivid and culturally rich journey to Seoul for the day. The book is split into four smaller stories, each one set at a different period of Young's life, delving into his relationships with friends, loved ones, and his religious and sick mother, with whom he has a fragile relationship.

The book as a whole is an exploration of loneliness, relationships, and dysfunctional family dynamics, and is told from Young's perspective throughout. I enjoyed getting to know him as the story progressed. He’s an intriguing character, and it pained me at times to read about the homophobia he was subjected to. It felt as though Young never truly felt as though he could say what he was thinking, often holding back on speaking the truth, perhaps out of fear or judgment. The other characters that appear throughout the book like his best friend Jaehee, his mother, and his older lover are interesting and well-developed.

The most moving and engaging parts of the book for me were three and four, in which we get to see a different, more relaxed side to Young. These emotionally charged stories are about his intimate relationship with a man named Gyu-ho, and explore themes of love, long term relationships, and heartbreak.

I felt engaged and connected with Love in the Big City right from the first page, and as a young gay male, I even found some of it relatable. The translation, by Anton Hur, manages to capture well the emotions I believe Young was hoping to convey when originally writing this book in Korean. All in all, this was a great read and a special book. I look forward to seeing it hit the shelves on November 9th.

Soulful moving a look at the life of a gay man in Seoul.A unique book to come out of Korea .Told in four parts we are drawn into his different relationships with his mother friends lovers .This is a special novel I will be recommending.#netgalley #groveatlantic

I loved the writing. The author made sure we are with Park all the time. The book is divided into four parts and I was hooked. The emotions of a gay man who discovers friendship, love, and the importance of relationships. Would totally recommend it.

Narrated in a unique style, this was a very interesting read. Telling about the lifestyle of a queer man and the various relationships he goes through, this book is very good. The narrators relations with his best friend, mother, a guy he thought was love of his life and a boy he wanted, reading about all this really showed how love was actually there in a big city like Seoul. Being a K-drama addict, I could relate to some events and some terminology too and got a look in the Korean living style too, so it was a great read.
The author has done a great job portraying all the speaker's emotions and it almost felt like it was a true story. Really loved this book.

I just reviewed Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park. #LoveintheBigCity #NetGalley

This us such a beautiful novel and apparently is the first gay novel published in South Korea. It is the story of a young gay man looking for happiness in a big city like Seoul. It is told in four sections, focusing on the the millennial narrator's relationship with his best friend, mother, and partners. I hope there is more to come from Sang Young Park.

July month is encouraging me to tick off several of my origins in the reading schedule & this work is one of them. It's a Korean translated novel based on LGBT that throws light on different topics like Catholicism, the financial state of people in a community, abortion. The account is from the male lead's perspective & his love story, involving all that occurs every day & relationship problems.

The novel-writing technique opted by the author is unique; but, I felt a little perplexed following the past & present situations. The storyline is so pragmatic that anyone can easily relate to it, be it in Korea or anyplace on the globe. The conflicts one passes by, right from their teens to early 30s, when one thinks they are actually seeking to experience life & get something out of it.

I liked reading the book, allowing me a glimpse into the Korean lifestyle & me attempting to connect it to my own surroundings. It was pleasant to grasp that their stories are pretty much alike to mine.

Thank you, NetGalley, Author Sang Young Park & Publisher Grove Press, for providing me with the advance review copy of this novel.

Love in the Big City is unusual but drew me in. The main character is a young gay man who moved to Seoul for school and to live away from the confined expectations of family, etc in his hometown. He starts out clubbing and recovering and hanging out with a wealthy schoolmate. When she marries and leaves, he finds dates and matches. Sang Young Park captures the painful side of love in the two main relationships. Love in the Big City is not a lighthearted romantic comedy read. It's more of a realistic, detailed and humorous recounting of a life driven more by relationships.

well, this was *definitely* not the light hearted romance i expected from the cover
this book is really, really depressing. it's not a crying or sad type of depressing, but a there-s-no-such-thing-as-happiness depressing. this whole read was just so sad and depressing. the worst part being i liked it. in the same way i liked -- loved sally rooney's normal people. i've found the same tone in this book and i let my heart go down into it.
this is not a story as we're used to, there is no storyline or line of action. the main characters recalls, in a sometimes scrappy way, some of the relationships he's had while living in Seoul, Korea. it's a deep dive into them, into how he saw and perceived them, meanwhile they were going on and after they were over. and it was so interesting, psychologically, to see that !
i didn't even like our main character, but i really don't think it was the point that i liked him. and it didn't prevent me from liking the book in any way. i was about to write "enjoyed the book", but i honestly don't think that this is a book you *enjoy*. you just read it, and try to identify it and understand it.

https://bonnevivantetr.wordpress.com/2021/07/11/book-review-love-in-the-big-city-by-sang-young-park/
“Love in the Big City” was very interesting for me to read mainly due to its structure. There were 4 stories of 40-60 pages which made it easier to read in a very short period of time. What was capturing about these 4 stories however, was the fact that they were connected through many aspects: first of all the main character and the narrator but also the other characters and events. I learned that this literary style was called an “omnibus novel” thanks to an interview of the author. (https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/dispatches/article/an-interview-with-sang-young-park-anton-hur) And this slight structural difference made the book even more refreshing to read when compared to other literary pieces.
The book is about a gay man living in the South Korean society. We read snippets of his life through 4 stories. It’s a great opportunity to see the world through someone else’s eyes and thanks to this book, I could learn about perspectives I normally would’ve never known. As the author takes us on a trip through the the streets of Seoul, Bangkok and Shanghai; we witness his struggles and the taboos of the society against LGBTQ+ people but also against women (in the first chapter), abortion, dating, public displays of affection etc. Almost all the chapters have bittersweet endings and this makes it even more realistic since it gives a sense of what life really is. I also had the chance to learn about AIDS and how it affects those living with it in many different areas other than just healthcare in how many other ways for example, trying to move abroad and finding jobs…
If I’m being honest, I’m not saying I didn’t like the first 2 chapters/stories but they weren’t my cup of tea. They were definitely worth reading HOWEVER, the third and the fourth chapters were really something else and I can say that the first 2 parts remained blurrier when compared to the latter 2. I’m not even sure how to put it into words but; the emotions, breakup, true love, pain, illness, anxiety, indifference, inability to forget someone and so many other things were portrayed so beautifully and realistically it made me tear up in the end. And even if you’re having a hard time reading the beginning of “Love in the Big City”, please hang on because it is totally worth it!
I’m also very happy and satisfied about the fact that this book had a few surprise elements to it. They were truly unexpected for me but I guess that’s what life is after all: some problems and illnesses and broken hearts coming our way when we’re least expecting them.
“Rain still falls during the late rainy season, as do tears even when it’s too late.”
from “Love in the Big City” by Sang Young Park
“Love in the Big City” left me speechless in many good ways and showed me the force of literature once again by making me feel someways. I would like to read other stories from Sang Young Park again in the future and will try to get my hands on his already published stories.

Love in the Big City is a stunning book about being young and the trials and tribulations associated with love. Translated from Korean, the story is joyful and cynical at the same time, creating a pretty much completely realistic world.

This book centers on Young and his best friend (and roommate) Jaehee, as the two experience life in the city of Seoul. Jaehee leaves Young when she settles down, leaving him alone to figure out how to balance caring for his sick mother and experience meaningful relationships. These relationships range from a handsome and icy man to the man that could end up being the love of his life, or the one who got away.

I loved the way that this book reinforced the themes of identity within through the provided representation in the New Adult genre. Park also allowed for conversations utilizing women's voices and focusing on the ideas of pro-choice living.

The way Park wrote this book allows for super in-depth exploration into what it means to be dating in your twenties, past college. I, personally, was forced to sit down and examine what life would be like if I wasn't in a relationship. Now, I'm not saying I need a partner, but this book asked me to recognize the good and the bad in a choice to remain single or the choice to settle down.

Overall rating: 5/5

Love in the Big City will be available for purchase on November 9th. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf and see where it's available for purchase. Also, be sure to check out Sang Young Park's interview with Words Without Borders!
I was lucky enough to be able to listen to this Advanced Reader's Copy through my partnership with NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a review

This book contains a few short stories, about being a gay man in Korea, friendship, love and relationships, and generally, life.

Despite having a few things in common with the narrator, I didn't related to him a lot, but I still enjoyed this glimpse inside his head and his life.

"Love in the Big City": 4 ⭐

(Unpaid Review: thanks to @netgalley, @sangyoungpark and the publishers for allowing me to read this eArc copy in exchange for a review).

I love reading books about queer culture and this one was just so much fun and easy to fall in love with. Humorístic, fun and loving, that's the work of the author and translator of this book.

This was a really interesting book. I’ve never ready anything with this type of character, so I’m glad to have the opportunity to do so.

Love in the big city is a normal divided into four parts detailing that life and relationships of a Korean gay man with his mother best friend a romantic partners. The novel is simply an exploration of his life and I relationships of these important figures and how each someplace a vital role in his story however you cannot separate the protagonist from from these individuals as his personality shine through every page I especially enjoyed his relationship with his mother and the strange relationship they have Marcius experiencing cancer. Also the protagonists relationship with his partner in the latter half of the novel was thrilling and its exploration of love and loneliness

[TW: mentions of homophobia, alcoholism, disease/cancer, some violence]

The reading experience was smooth and effortless. The words flowed naturally and easily.

The narrative voice was strong and opinionated from the very beginning, thus making the book very compelling from the first pages onwards.

Each story had this "slice of life" ring to it, that I enjoyed a lot. It was also refreshing to get an insight into Korean society.

Some parts were really poetic and raw.

I would not go as far as to say this book was revolutionary— but it was beautiful and honest, overall a raw, pleasant read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this ARC!

Millennial loneliness, human need for love, gay life, I absolutely loved reading this book. The book has a fresh voice, interesting perspective on life, and is soulful in depicting the humor and emotion when one goes searching for love in the current times. A heart-tugging read!

Definitely a very gay book. It has every thing in a gay book formula: drinking, promiscuity, a girl best friend, a first love turned into broken heart, middle-class afflictions, etc. To be quite honest there's not much new in this book that hasn't been done before, but it's funny and surprisingly has this optimistic tone that I like despite the depressing things going on in the story.

Love in the Big City revolves around Park Young, a young gay millennial, and his search for love. The book divides into 4 independent stories focusing on different episodes and ages. The first story focuses on his college days and a non romantic relationship. Sharing an apartment with a female college friend, Jaehee, at least until her marriage, they drink and play hard, while switching a lot of bed partners.

The second story focuses on an obsessive love to an older man who was a student activist and has polar political views as well as a deeply ingrained abhorrence to their mutual sexual identity. The story also reveals a lot about the narrator's troubled relationship with his deeply religious Catholic mother, whom he has to nurse through a cancer recurrence. The third story focuses on the love of his life, a Jeju-do burn bartender who eventually moves in with him. The story also reveals that he has contracted the HIV virus while in the military. The fourth and the shortest part takes place mainly in Bangkok where he vacation with an older guy he met through tinder while reminiscing about the trip he made previously with the Jeju-do boyfriend.

There are a lot of cultural codes and cues to unpack in Love in the Big City, from the use of differential language or informal one, the meaning behind gestures like putting a flower in your hair, addresses that spell affluence, generational gaps and differences in politics. However nothing is spoon fed to the reader. I loved that the stories spoke fore themselves, describing what being gay in a conservative country entails. All in all I highly recommend.
Thank you NetGalley and Grove Press for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
#LoveintheBigCity #NetGalley

What I love about Love in the Big City is just how much personality it has. The narrative voice comes through so strongly in this novel, and you can tell that almost immediately. This is not a story where you can really separate plot from character, because every element of Love in the Big City is suffused by the personality of its narrator. And that's really the beginning and end of it when it comes to this book: whether you enjoy Love in the Big City or not is going to hinge on how well you get along with that narrator and their voice. Young is deeply flawed, as all good characters are, and this novel offers a space for him to grapple with those flaws and the ways they are sometimes amplified and sometimes highlighted by the circumstances of his life and the relationships he forms, and dissolves. And those relationships are so important because they form the scaffolding of Love in the Big City: each of this novel's chapters focuses on a relationship, whether platonic or romantic, fleeting or lasting. I found it a really compelling way to structure a story, especially because it brings to light the many ways in which we understand our relationship to ourselves through our relationship with others.

Make no mistake, though: this is not a self-serious novel. Part of what makes it so enjoyable is that it doesn't always take itself seriously. Young is an often sarcastic and snarky narrator, not afraid to trivialize or make fun of the things he should, presumably, approach with gravity. This is what makes him such a fun character, but also such a flawed one. His flippancy is what allows him to survive his circumstances, but also what holds him back from confronting them and, by extension, growing.

I really enjoyed this novel, if you couldn't tell, and I can't wait to see more of Sang Young Park's work get translated into English.

Thanks so much to Grove Press for providing me with an e-ARC of this in exchange for an honest review!