A funny, transporting, surprising, and poignant novel that was one of the highest-selling debuts of recent years in Korea, Love in the Big City tells the story of a young gay man searching for happiness in the lonely city of Seoul
Love in the Big City is the English-language debut of Sang Young Park, one of Korea’s most exciting young writers. A runaway bestseller, the novel hit the top five lists of all the major bookstores, went into twenty-six printings, and was praised for its unique literary voice and perspective. It is now poised to capture a worldwide readership.
Young is a cynical yet fun-loving Korean student who pinballs from home to class to the beds of recent Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female best friend and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their anxieties about their love lives, families, and money with rounds of soju and ice-cold Marlboro Reds that they keep in their freezer. Yet over time, even Jaehee leaves Young to settle down, leaving him alone to care for his ailing mother and to find companionship in his relationships with a series of men, including one whose handsomeness is matched by his coldness, and another who might end up being the great love of his life.
A brilliantly written novel that takes us into the glittering nighttime of Seoul and the bleary-eyed morning after with both humor and emotion, Love in the Big City is a wry portrait of millennial loneliness as well as the abundant joys of queer life.
Longlisted for the International Booker Prize
Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award
A New York Times Book Review Paperback Row Selection
Named a Best LGBTQ+ Book of the Year by BuzzFeed
“Intoxicating . . . In Park’s hands, Young is loud and obnoxious, insufferable and magnetic, messy and wise. The prose, translated by Anton Hur, reads like an iPhone screen, vibrant and addictive. What a joy it is to see such a profound exploration of contemporary queer life — its traumas and its ecstasies throbbing in harmony. It’s a shimmering addition to the recent genre of novels chronicling queer millennial malaise . . . Dazzling.”—Bobby Finger, New York Times Book Review
“It’s a mark of the generous spirit of the South Korean author’s English-language debut that it made me laugh on the first page. The novel’s loosely autobiographical account of a young gay man losing and finding his way in a conservative society isn’t always so funny, but even bad news is delivered with a spark . . . The modulation of tone casts out any initial fear that the novel might just skate across the surface.”—Guardian
“An exuberant hunger drives the characters of Love in the Big City, people who are young, broke and eager to indulge in the many pleasures of Seoul, be they carnal or culinary . . . There’s a generosity and biting humor that imbues his stories, with glittering descriptions that render our food-and-drink-obsessed culture in liquid-crystal high definition . . . Hur, the book’s translator, manages to preserve that rhythm in English through a flawless, breezy millennial vernacular that veers artfully between slang like ‘dickmatized’ and poetic ruminations on ‘the taste of the universe’ within the span of a single chapter. The delicious, unbridled joy in Park’s depiction of queer Korean life is revolutionary and fun as hell to read.”—Hannah Bae, Eater
“Translated by Anton Hur with startling immediacy, Park’s English language debut—as framed by this unforgettable scene—captures the ambiguous landscape inhabited by South Korean gays, of being both visible and unacknowledged . . . While reading Love in the Big City, I would use Google Maps to follow Young and Gyu-ho’s meandering walks through Seoul—their favorite city—where the names of various neighborhoods take on the quality of hypnotic prayer . . . By invoking these specific locations, Park—who calls himself a ‘citizen-writer’—has poetically mapped out a normalizing zone for his gay protagonists so they can overcome the dichotomy between safety and exposure, public and private.”—Thúy Đinh, NPR
“A vibrant and emotional breath of fresh air that tackles queer relationships, living with HIV, and coming of age in Seoul across four sections that follow the narrator through different stages of early adulthood. It’s hard to think of a more beautiful and earnest reflection on identity, growth, and pain through a queer lens than this book.”—Queerty
“A novel, told through relationships, about navigating life as a young gay man in Korea . . . The novel skips freely around in time, lending it a sense of propulsion and instability that feels entirely intentional. It’s anchored, however, by the narrator’s irresistible voice, which alternates between earnest, heartfelt emotion, and likable wryness . . . This book will sweep readers up in its sheer longing. An addictive, profound novel.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Park’s stunning English-language debut takes readers through the wild highs and lows of young adulthood . . . The strength of the narrator, notably his flexibility of voice and expansiveness, caries the narrative to great heights, making this a standout among queer literature. Brilliant, glowing, and fun, Hur’s translation succeeds in bringing Park’s effervescent voice to English-reading audiences.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A lightly comical and insightful tale . . . Offers readers honest characterizations of flawed individuals from different walks of life who are all looking to find contentment regardless of their circumstances. Park’s writing is introspective and relatable, and the broad-ranging themes make this a good candidate for book group discussions.”—Library Journal
“A bestseller in Korea for being a significant (and rare!) gay novel, Park’s lost-love(s) narrative is also a universal literary beacon for readers of all backgrounds.”—Terry Hong, Booklist
“A surprise bestseller in Korea, Sang Young Park’s electric English-language debut perfectly captures the neon-lit potential of youthful nights.” —Michelle Hart, Oprah Daily
“Sang Young Park is my new favorite writer, as in his work we see life in modern Korea in what I think of as a fuller way, due to the inclusion of queer lives there. This novel is bawdy, hilarious, heartbreaking, fearless.” —Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
“Love in the Big City is a light-streaked and dazzling novel about all the messy riots of young life. This novel made me want to dance all night and fall in love. Sang Young Park writes honestly, tenderly, and with irresistible humor and charm. I miss his characters already.” —Brandon Taylor, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of Real Life
“I am completely smitten with Young, the brutally honest protagonist of Sang Young Park’s exciting new novel, Love in the Big City. This is a book that reveals its depths slowly, carefully offering details which resonate throughout the entire work. I loved growing older with Young, and I was continually surprised by his capacity for love and disappointment. This is rich, brilliant territory that will move queer literature forward.” —Garrard Conley, New York Times-bestselling author of Boy Erased
“I love this book. I couldn’t stop talking about it with my friends while I was reading it. My friends are smart, queer, long suffering, badly loved even when they are in relationships, economically oppressed, urban, have straight best friends, get fat, are overly attached to their mothers, nursed their dying mother, have lots of sex, have no sex. Got a job and hated it, got more education, met someone in class, are obsessed with that person even though they are not interested in my friend at all. This writer, Sang Young Park, is one of my friends and everyone wants to read this book. We’re happy, we’re suffering, the condition is global.” —Eileen Myles, author of Afterglow
“A wickedly funny and unforgettable meditation on love and loss and the struggle to feel and ultimately find ourselves, Love in the Big City is a delicious exploration of both the bitchiness and banalities of surviving modern life. Park has crafted one of the most fervent and entertaining novels I’ve read in a long time. I couldn’t put this book down.” —Nancy Jooyoun Kim, author of The Last Story of Mina Lee
“Sang Young Park’s sharp, funny picaresque follows Young, our charming hero, through his rakish college days and into his still-insouciant thirties, as he drifts through boyfriends, jobs, friends, and most of all, through Seoul. Among the many pleasures of this wonderful novel are Young’s running commentaries about work, class, sex, queer domestic life, contemporary Korean family dynamics, and the literary world he finds himself in. I’m obsessed with this book.” —Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
“How could a story be as intense as this, as fresh as this? Page after page, we discover contradictory emotions that are both surprising and beautiful. I was so eager to read on that my fingers turned each new page before I’d finished the last. I hope he writes another novel that inspires such hard and fast intimacy.” —Kyung-Sook Shin, author of Please Look After Mom
“A leading author of Korean queer literature and the hottest name of the moment.” —The Hankyoreh
“I cried when I got to the end. As cliched as it sounds, reading this book made me feel that 'this summer night, this big city, because of you' I could believe in love again.” —Brunch.co.kr
“Love in the Big City is a compelling novel that deserves to be widely read. It expands our expectations and assumptions about what contemporary Korean literature is and can be.” —Yoo Jun, Professor of Korean Literature at Yonsei University
“As Young grows, yearns, and makes messy mistakes, readers will find themselves rooting for him all the way until the brilliant end.” —The Millions (“Most Anticipated: The Great Second-Half 2021 Book Preview”)
About the Author
SANG YOUNG PARK was born in 1988 and studied French literature at Sungkyunkwan University. He worked as a magazine editor, copywriter, and consultant before debuting as a novelist. The title story of his bestselling short story collection, The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta, was one of Words Without Borders's most read pieces ever. He lives in Seoul.
ANTON HUR was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He is the winner of a PEN Translates grant and a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant, among many others, and his translations include Kyung-Sook Shin’s The Court Dancer and Kang Kyeong-ae’s The Underground Village.
