I was very drawn to the premise of this book, as I love multigenerational family sagas, especially those rooted in Korean history. And while this book told an exceptional story, the pacing felt a bit sluggish at times with the writing sometimes too dry to connect to the characters emotionally. But I liked the book and Eunice Wong is an exceptional narrator.

Long and complex, this story starts off as a typical family story of a young protagonist realizing that her parents had lives before her but it weaves in threads of geopolitical unrest and danger including North Korean trafficking. Your parents are always more complicated than you give them credit for, indeed.

My only firsthand experience of Susan Choi prior to reading Flashlight was Trust Exercise, a book whose scope is very narrow. Flashlight could not be more different. Vast in scope, considering generational trauma, global political, social mores, this is a dark and mysterious story about coming of age, about family, and about our place in the world as individuals. While the plot was meandering and the book is far from concise, Eunice Wong is the absolute best of the best when it comes to narration and she knocked this one out of the park. Readers who choose the audio version will be shocked to find how long the book is because Wong's narration sucks you in and keeps you going until the very last page.

Choi’s expansion of her New Yorker article with the same name is narrated through multiple perspectives, with a seemingly arbitrary order. I loved getting each of them and the slice of history Choi revealed about DPRK and Japan and how she turned it into a fascinating, emotional and unexpected story. Some parts might have felt a bit long if I didn’t have the audio, but Eunice Wong’s narration made it a breeze to listen to.

When Louisa is ten years old, she and her father take a walk on the water. He has a flashlight, but cannot swim. Later, Louisa is found soaked and barely alive, her father gone, and she has no memory of what happened.

This is how Flashlight begins. A story told to a young girl about what happened to her father. Or maybe a hazy memory. Then the book goes back in time to Serk, a young Korean boy growing up in Japan who doesn’t realize he’s not Japanese. We meet Anna, a young adult estranged from her family who must make a difficult decision. We see how the two met, had Louisa. The book jumps in time and POV circling around the catastrophic incident by the water showing how it shaped this family.

I loved Trust Exercise by Susan Choi. I still remember where I was the moment the twist in the story happened. I think about it often even though I’m not at all sure I understood it. But it was grounded in things I knew—theater and relationships—and I loved the whole experience. I left Flashlight with the same sense that I’m probably not smart enough to understand the book, but I didn’t have the grounding elements. The writing is insanely gorgeous. Every page is filled with some line I could ponder for hours and wonder how the author came up with it. But I didn’t know enough about the history between Japan and Korea to follow what was happening. I was expecting more of a family drama, and while this was partially that, it was also very much about history, and I wish I had been more done some research before reading.

Eunice Wong does a great job narrating the almost 18-hour audiobook, and it made me wonder about the choice to have a single narrator for a book with so many POVs. Was there something in unifying the voice of the characters that added to the themes of the book? It certainly seems possible.

FLASHLIGHT by Susan Choi opens with a hint of mystery: a girl is found washed up on a beach in Japan, her father has disappeared, presumably drowned. What happened?

The rest of the book explores the characters and their lives both before and after the fated trip to Japan, particularly centering on family secrets and how they linger. There is Louisa, the brilliant girl who is forever impacted by that moment. There is Ann, Louisa’s mother, who had a child at 19 that she has never told her family about, and who is facing increasingly limited mobility. And there is Serk, Louisa’s Korean father who was raised in Japan but keeps details of his past secret from his American wife.

Rich layers fill the book, and I found myself longing for the characters to find acceptance and belonging as I also longed for the fuller picture of what transpired.

Choi explores human nature, complex family and cultural dynamics, and what it could mean to find peace. Eunice Wong, as the perfect narrator of the audiobook, draws listeners in and keeps them hooked until the end.

(Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.)

The family mystery of this story had me absolutely hooked. I loved the writing and the way the story progressed, but these characters are what truly stood out for me while reading.

The story opens with 10-year-old Louisa grappling with the loss of her father, Serk, a Korean man brought up in Japan after WWII. Louisa’s mother, Anne, raises Louisa as a single mother and juggles learning to relate to her firstborn son, Tobias, whom she had before her marriage. The story takes us from Korea to Japan to America and back to Korea, and we hear from the perspectives of Serk, Anne, and Louisa, though primarily from Louisa’s. Choi considers the repercussions of colonization, war, and geopolitical boundaries and how these affect a nuclear family’s life. Although the plot contains welcome movement and travel, I found it difficult to connect with the characters, and perhaps the novel’s length added to this oddity. The texture of the characters’ inner lives never heightened my senses to the level I desired. I rate Flashlight 3.5 stars.

My thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for an ARC. I shared this review on GoodReads on May 30, 2025 (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7529046791).

<u><b>Flashlight</b></u>
Susan Choi
Narrator: Eunice Wong
Release Date: June 3, 2025

Digital galley and audiobook courtesy of FSG and MacMillan Audio.

National Book Award winner Susan Choi’s latest novel, <i>Flashlight</i> is an expansive, introspective novel which deals with relationships and family, in the backdrop of post-WWII Korea and Japan. It delves into childhood trauma, and the secrets in the dark corners of our psyche that need illumination to understand. The narrative is non-linear, and takes off in different directions and multiple perspectives. The storytelling is deliberate, with some parts that were admittedly difficult for me to slog through. And in combination with Eunice Wong’s sing-song narration, I frequently found my mind wandering. Switching to the e-galley definitely helped.

Despite this, if you stick to it, the read is a rewarding experience in profound reflection. This is my first time with Susan Choi, and I look forward to reading more.

3.5 stars
3 stars for narration

I don't know if it was the narrator or the pacing of the novel or what but that was rough! I didn't enjoy that at all. Made me not want to read anything else from the author.

“Flashlight” by Susan Choi is a family saga that spans decades. Louisa, at the age of 10, was found washed up on the beach barely alive and her father, Serk, a Korean born but raised in Japan, is no where to be found. What follows is the story of how that single night affected the rest of their lives.

I love historical fiction, but typically struggle with long family sagas that cross multiple decades. Unfortunately, this leaned heavily towards the family saga rather than the historical fiction. This was a #gifted audiobook, which probably contributed to my confusion of both time and place. This book jumps points of view frequently and seemed to shift back and forth in time. I did appreciate the historical perspective and would have loved the history of that part of the world post WW2 to be highlighted more. Overall, this would probably be better in written format for somewhat that love a good family saga.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC!

This book is simply incredible. I’m confident it will be one of my top reads of this year.

Choi does an amazing job developing deeply complex and compelling characters, as well as a satisfying plot. Her exploration of memory and family relationships is thoughtful and thought-provoking. I also appreciated that, while the book covers the span of many decades, it feels purposeful instead of compulsory like so many “dual timeline” reads that are popular right now.

I will be thinking about this novel for a long time and will be recommending it to everyone.

The history of the relationship between Japan and Korea is a long, tangled, and unhappy one. So, too, is the story told in Flashlight, Susan Choi's latest (audio) book. At times, the story of Serk, a Korean whose parents moved to Japan when he was very young and who then returned to what is now North Korea, who eventually moves to the US; his Caucasian wife Ann; their daughter Louisa; and Ann's son Tobias moves so slowly as to risk losing the reader's interest. The most finely wrought characters are Serk and Ann. Louisa, whom we know fairly well as a child but then lose sight of, and Tobias, whom we don't meet until he is 17 but whom we get to know a bit better in his adulthood, which is spent in Japan, are much less developed.. Others come and go, often all too quickly. Most perplexing in this novel, though, is Ann's medical issue. The symptoms begin to be described just before the family leaves for Japan on an assignment Serk reluctantly accepts from the University where he works; the symptoms are so obvious that I recognized them for what they are despite having no direct experience with the disease. Yet, it seems implausible that the doctors to whom Serk took Ann in Japan could not diagnose her illness at all despite it having been first recognized and diagnosed based on symptoms in the nineteenth century. Despite these flaws and enhanced greatly by the excellent narration we have come to expect from Eunice Wong, Flashlight will appeal to readers who are looking to understand more about the Korean-Japan relationship and those who appreciate stories of characters seeking their identities.

Flashlight is a slow burn that pulls you in and delivers in the second half. Susan Choi’s storytelling is brilliant and her characters interesting. The themes traversed are deep and thought-provoking, as this story touches on real events that tragically occurred. Flashlight is a gripping story exploring concept of family. I highly recommend on audio, especially with the hefty length. Eunice Wong’s narration is top tier.

this is a gorgeous book, but i just couldn't connect with the characters (but that's the point!) every time i would put it down, i couldn't pick it back up. it's harrowing and sad and so complex!
the narration was just so good too!!!

Ten-year-old Louisa and her family are spending the summer in a coastal Japanese town when the unthinkable happens.... her father disappears while Louisa and her father spend the evening by the beach. When Louisa, washes up on the water, she doesn't remember anything and has to piece together the events of the evening. After the traumatic event, shattered Louisa and her American mother return to the U.S. This story is a beautifully written story about a family, grief and the politics of the time. I loved that there were several secondary characters included in the story to enhance the main story. That being said, I admit that at times I had to stop listening and come back to the book as I found some parts to drag a little.

I'm looking forward to the release of the book as I can't wait to see this beautiful cover in person!

[4.25] I can count on Choi to keep me unsettled—and at times, adrift. But I trust her, so I relaxed into the intricate tapestry of Serk, Anne, and Louisa’s lives. The novel sheds light on issues of identity, race, and memory; the treatment of Koreans in Japan; the lives of prisoners in North Korea —but at its core, it’s about the complicated and difficult relationships within a family. A powerful, satisfying, and expansive read. (Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC)

This book is amazing. There is such a complex, interwoven cast of characters who should know each other really well as they are one another’s closest family, and yet they don’t. A man with a complicated past as an immigrant in the country he was born in, a woman who was the ignored runt of the litter, and a daughter coping with loss and instability are the main protagonists here, with a Zenned out wayward son as a sometimes narrator who fills in the cracks left by the brittle three. While this is the story of the journey to the making of a family of three and the lack of anything holding them together, it is also the tale of holding tightly to secrets to keep those closest to you at bay.

I heard Susan Choi talking about the origins of this book, and I wish some of that has been included. She is such a talented writer.

Fantastic audio narration.

This was a me issue because I did not realize the book leaned more toward historical fiction, which I usually need to be in the right mood for. I almost DNF'd Flashlight due to its slow pace and heavy historical fiction elements, but I am glad I stuck with it. Though the pacing can feel sluggish at times and the historical details overwhelming, the story eventually pulled me in. The character development made the slower moments worth it, and I even learned a bit along the way.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmilan Audio for the chance to listen to this title in exchange for my opinion.

I struggled a bit with this book, mostly because I don’t tend to enjoy books where the majority of characters are rather unlikable. The narration was excellent and the writing was wonderful — I found myself wishing I had a physical copy or ebook so I could highlight passages that were particularly beautiful. It is a very slow book, plot-wise, but really dives deep into the complexities of family, relationships, and historical context. I felt it was a bit too slow for me to really love, but it all does come together quite nicely in the end that made the slow burn worth it. A 3.5/5 star read for me, which I will round to 4.