If you’re looking for a book packed with plot twists and action this probably isn’t for you. If, however, you’d like a character-driven novel about familial expectations and starting life over (almost) from scratch, this is a great choice. A lovely message about finding what makes life meaningful in the everyday.

3.5

setting: new jersey
Rep: gay korean-american protagonist and author

this wasn't what I expected it to be based on what I heard about the author's previous book. this is very much a slice of life with an interesting premise (man wakes up from 2 year coma and has to get to grips with life and seeing his family for the first time in 12 years) and I wish it had done more with that. it didn't feel like he'd been away from home for so long! I enjoyed the side plot romance. I wish Jack jr had more personality himself, he seemed a bit flat and I wish we had seen more of the side characters.

3.5 stars rounded up. I was going to give this book a solid four star rating for roughly the first half or so, but my interest drifted a bit as the story went on. I really liked the characters though and their world felt authentic. It was definitely an emotional, bittersweet, character-based story. It works really well if you're in the mood for that.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I LEAVE IT UP TO YOU by JinWoo Chong, took me on an emotional rollercoaster and left me ugly crying multiple times. It’s a book with characters I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

This novel follows Jack Jr. (JJ), who wakes up from a two-year coma (during COVID) to a world that’s moved on without him. He’s forced to lean on the family he once left behind, a lover who left him, and someone new. At its heart, I’LL LEAVE IT UP TO YOU is a story about self-discovery, family, making amends, and finding your way back (again) to the people you love and that love you.

WHY I LOVED IT:

-The characters are so messy, so relatable. They make frustrating choices, but there’s also so much growth.

-I loved reading the behind-the-scenes, day-to-day look into their struggling sushi restaurant. JJ and his father, Jack Sr., navigating fish runs, prep work, and omakase service, I love dreading about these everyday mundane details of running a restaurant.

-What I LOVED MOST was the family dynamics. They hold grudges, keep secrets thinking they’re protecting each other, meddle in ways that’ll make you want to scream. BUT, they also love each other so fiercely.

James and JJ’s relationship especially had me emotional. James, the eldest, the fixer, the one who always steps in—holding everything together while carrying his own burdens and addiction.

One particular scene had me really tear up. After a heated argument at the restaurant, JJ and James say things they can’t take back. But later, when JJ shows up to drive Juno to school, the two don’t apologize outright. They just move forward with no dramatic reconciliation, just the quiet, unspoken understanding that family fights, but family also forgives and stays. It reminded me of my own siblings—how we’ve gone weeks, even years, without speaking, only to “make up” with a casual 왜 연락안했어? (Why didn’t you call?) or 집에 들어와 (come inside), both are true stories that happened between me and my sister, and my two brothers.

I LEAVE IT UP TO YOU has all my favorite things: a character-driven, slice-of-life novel filled with Koreanness, food, second chances, and the ever-complicated, ever-binding ties of family. No matter how much we drive each other crazy, sometimes, at the end of the day, 가족밖에 없다는 걸 다시 한번 일깨워준 아름다운 책.

I loved this book! The protagonist, Jack Jr., wakes up after being in a coma for 2 years. It doesn't sound funny, but it is!
Jack Jr.'s job and apartment in NYC are gone, so is his fiancee, and he has to go back to live with his estranged family and their sushi restaurant in Fort Lee, NJ.
The narrative is sharp and witty, yet shows an accurate picture of a hospital stay from the patient's view and starting over with no one except your family, whom you have not spoken to in 10 years.

Thank you @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of I Leave It Up to You by Jimwoo Chong. Jack Jr. has been in a coma for two years when he wakes up and finds that the world has changed and moved on. He had just proposed to his boyfriend, who stuck around for year and now has a new life. And Covid attacked the world and has now somewhat moved on. There is great coverage of Sushi and food, as he goes to work and take over his family’s restaurant. And his relationship with his nephew and the nurse who took care of him in the hospital are highlights of the story. Good family and relationship story, and if you like sushi this is a good one for you.

This book was a wonderful journey of discovery. Of looking into your past and re-evaluating. For seeing your future in a new light. After being in an extended coma, Jack Jr. returns to the family he hurriedly left behind. He reconnects with his nephew and serves as somewhat of a role model. He steps back into the family sushi restaurant and chooses to find a new path for his life.

This is a story of family, of expectations, of lost dreams, and acceptance.

Loved this one and I highly recommend!

This was so much more than I thought it would be.

Jack Jr. wakes up from a two year long coma and realizes that his fiancé is no longer waiting for him, his family has been by his side despite their estrangement, and the world has been irrevocably changed by COVID. He decides to come back to his family's sushi restaurant and confront the past he left behind.

This was an amazing look inside the life of a Korean-American family that's struggling to keep their restaurant open post-COVID. It's funny and tender in equal measure, and I especially loved the budding relationship between Jack Jr. and the male nurse that looked after him while he was in his coma. It felt very authentic and natural which is not something I find often in romance plots. Overall, this was a touching story and I loved every bit of it.

I enjoyed this one. Jack Jr. wakes up after being in a coma for almost 2 years. He missed Covid entirely (lucky him). Surrounded by his Korean family he left years ago after abandoning the family sushi restaurant for a life in NYC, he re-assesses his life. His fiance has moved on and he has to figure out his next steps.

It was well written and fun and the sushi parts made me hungry.

thank you to netgalley for the e-arc. i loved this, it was so well imagined and written. i wouldn't be able to begin waking up after a coma and nothing was the same as i left it and world is completely different. the family and the restaurant aspect/storyline will always be something to make me want to read the book.

Jack Jr is flawed and frustrating and funny, and his journey toward reconnection is both unique and deeply relatable. Jinwoo Chong doesn’t rush Jack Jr's healing or redemption. Instead, he lets it unfold quietly which is both frustrating and so powerful.

This book had me crying, laughing, then frustrated… then laughing again.

If you love stories about messy family dynamics, found purpose, and second chances that don’t come easy then this is the book for you!

Jack Jr wakes up at a hospital in NJ after being in a coma for a little over 2 years. He's surrounded and whisked away by family that he hasn't seen or had contact with even longer than that, and can't remember details about how he got to be in a coma in the first place.

Right away, I was expecting this to be a story about grief -- losing time, coping with how your life can change without you and grieving the life you lost in that time, and navigating difficult relationships with estranged family. This was none of that. Jack Jr makes zero fight for the life he once had and just falls back into what seems like a really comfortable routine. On top of that, we have a borderline inappropriate relationship with Jack and the nurse that took care of him while he was comatose (that nurse is also wildly immature for being 32 years old), and cagey family politics where "secrets" are kept to "protect you from the truth." I won't get into it beyond that to avoid spoilers, but overall really disappointing for me.

Also, what even was the entire "going viral" plotline? Not a fan.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a DRC in exchange for my honest review.

I apologize for the delayed review, but this was definitely a book to read, pause, think about and then continue. Like the omikase courses, this journey of JJ took time and so much reflection on family and personal expectations, figuring out who you are and your place in the world, and how to move forward after major life changes. There is hope even in the unknown. Thanks to Randon House-Ballentine for making this ARC available thru Netgalley.

An interesting look at a very complicated situation within with an equally complicated family. I always appreciate books that allow me to discover cultural and social differences and this was well represented in Jinwoo Chong's book. I will say that as a former healthcare professional, a little more research would have added some authenticity to Jack Jr and his recovery after a 2 year coma. Thanks #NetGalley #Ballantine

CW: Car Accident, Traumatic Brain Injury (Coma, Memory Loss), Hospitalization, Physical Therapy, COVID-19

Chong’s novel offers an engaging premise in following Jack Jr., a Korean American, gay man who wakes up after a 2-year coma and how he must learn adapt not only to changes in his life but in the world. He has missed the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but must now learn of it and all left in its wake; he no longer has a job, or a husband, to return to as he continues his recovery. He returns to his estranged family and their sushi restaurant, for which he once trained to take over but abandoned in pursuing a different path.

Jack Jr. is a complex figure, and his reactions to all he learns and reconnects with are varied, layered, and realistic. The supporting cast of his family, former husband, and nurse-turned-situationship are likewise well-written. The setting of the sushi restaurant may not be engaging for everyone, but I thought it was great.

When I first picked up this eARC (thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the advanced read), I stalled on the first chapter where Jack Jr. is trying to figure out where he is and what happened in the last two years. But then when I realized that he is trying to figure out wtf happened and somebody out there may know, I could not read fast enough. Intrigue was high, well done! I was hooked and then I fell off the hook when it got to the family drama stuff — that was just too real especially watching my spouse navigate the reveal of his family secrets after four decades in the making. The conflict between James and Jack Jr felt real. The obligation Jack Jr felt towards Appa. And Appa’s need to prove himself to both James and Jack Jr. And then James’ addiction stuff. And James’ well-intentioned but poorly executed relationship with Juno. All of that was just a little too on the nose — Jinwoo Chong wrote the shit out of these unspoken dynamics and it was heavy. But even heavier and heart-wrenching for me was the love between Jack Jr and Ren. Dear lord, it’s like ripping my heart out reading the love and pain they both feel. I have been planning to read FLUX for some time now and I’m definitely going to bump that up the list after reading Chong’s second novel. This one was quite the journey.

Jack Jr. wakes up from a coma after 2 years and is thrown into a life he no longer recognizes- forced to interact with a family he’s purposefully not spoken to in many years and without the man he was in love with. We follow him learning to accept what is, open himself up to new relationships, trust, forgive, and start living again.

I really enjoyed how realistic the family dynamics and conversations were. They were messy, emotional, chaotic but full of love. I do wish some of the supporting characters got more time so we could get to know them a bit deeper but who we do learn about I loved- Juno, Emil, Appa, Umma. I did feel as if some of the plot wasn’t as flushed out as I wanted but in a way it was realistic in the way life goes.

Ever since reading Flux I'd been waiting for a new novel by Jinwoo Chong. Although this felt like a complete 180 from his previous novel, it still reminded me of everything I loved about Chong's writing. The narrative voice is compelling and casual, and was a breeze to read through. The characters were all compelling, and their interactions reminded me a lot of my own family.

I liked sweet and cozy read. Jack Jr. has such an interesting story- in a coma before Covid and waking up during. I really liked Jack’s is way of seeing life, and the way the art of sushi is incorporated. I also liked the lessons about family. Overall a fun read.

Love, family, and the art of sushi. Jack Jr wakes up to learn he has been in a coma for two years. Prior to that, he essentially walked out of his family in Fort Lee for the other side of the river and his own life. While in the coma, he lost his job, his boyfriend, his apartment and is now at the mercy of his parents to whom he is mending the relationships with all while being thrust back into the sushi restaurant life during Covid. He leans heavily on his nephew, Juno, and the two share an unbreakable bond that helps Jack Jr start to recover. Throw in a maybe relationship with your coma nurse, and this book is full of what happens when you're on a redemption path in life and starting anew.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.