Jae-hee, soju, me, and the blueberries and cigarettes in the fridge

　　★Jointly recommended by Chosun Ilbo / JoongAng Ilbo / Dong-A Ilbo / The Hankyoreh / Kyunghyang Shinmun
　　★YES24 Annual Book Award nominee　
　　★Winner of the Young Writers' Award Grand Prize, Shin Dong-yup Literary Award, Heo Gyun Literary Award
　　★New York Times Book Review selection
　　★BuzzFeed's Best LGBTQ+ Books of the Year　
　　★Highly praised by international media including The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, and O, The Oprah Magazine

　　#LiteraryYouth #TOP5 #NovelsOfOurTime #AnnualBook #YoungAuthorLeadingTheFutureOfKoreanLiterature #TypesOfLove #UnusualLove #MeaningOfLove #Queer　

　　Park Sang Young is one of Korea's most promising young authors. This witty, moving, sweet, and melancholic novel immediately topped the bestseller lists of all major bookstores in Korea upon its release, with a record-breaking 26 printings. The book comprises four novellas, depicting a young man's stumbling search for happiness in the city of Seoul. These stories articulate the anxieties of the new generation regarding friendship and love, family, work, and their way of life, earning widespread reader affection and unanimous praise from literary critics. Prior to its publication in Korea, the book was sought after and signed by a British publisher, an unprecedented event that garnered significant attention in the Korean literary world. The English edition, published in 2022, was subsequently shortlisted for the International Booker Prize.

　　This book features four works, including "A Goby and the Taste of the Universe," for which Park Sang Young received the Young Writers' Award Grand Prize, showcasing the author's unique literary charm. After reading the love letter that urged him to pursue writing but only made him contemplate suicide, his dearest friend; his closest roommate who accompanied him through his bewildered youth but eventually chose marriage, leaving only a red Marlboro in the refrigerator; the lover who he tried to heal through writing but made him realize that the past could only be frozen in memory; the post-coital tristesse with a dating app match in a foreign hotel... The four stories, with a lighthearted yet melancholic tone, articulate the loneliness and bewilderment of the millennial generation, creating what literary critics have lauded as "a beautiful ending akin to Wong Kar-wai's 'In the Mood for Love'."

　　All four stories in the book are linked by the same protagonist, "Young." "Jaehee" first reflects on Young's wild youth, opening with his best friend Jaehee's wedding, then flashing back to their student days. At that time, Young's days revolved around home, school, and one-night stands from Tinder. He and Jaehee used chilled soju and cigarettes to alleviate their anxieties about love, family, and life. As time progressed, Jaehee moved towards marriage, and Young realized that no matter how beautiful the times, they might not last forever.

　　The award-winning work "A Goby and the Taste of the Universe" fully demonstrates Park Sang Young's astonishing creative talent. The story describes Young, while caring for his mother with terminal cancer, receiving a letter from an old flame years ago. With his usual self-deprecating yet unique style, he reminisces about the daily life with his mother and the journey of meeting and falling in love with his partner. This lover helped him understand the forty-eight emotions that philosophers struggled to identify, and led him through a heartbreaking transformation and growth. "Love in the City" depicts another unforgettable romance, where the two decide to go to Shanghai to build a future but face the test of reality. "Late Rainy Season Holiday" takes the setting to Bangkok, where through a dating app, he meets a new person. Spending a night in a luxury hotel, he thoroughly understands that the most unforgettable love is still etched in his heart...

　　Park Sang Young's writing style is lyrical with a self-deprecating black humor, full of a unique charm that makes one smile yet feel a sense of loss. The entire book, with its humorous and emotionally rich prose, leads readers into the sparkling nights and sleepy mornings of Seoul, depicting the loneliness and emotional life of the millennial generation. The story weaves through the streets and alleys of Seoul, with vibrant and vivid charm in every line. The setting extends from Seoul to Bangkok, further presenting the borderless nature of the internet generation that breaks geographical boundaries. The content encompasses the reality of young people trapped in corporate careers, their helplessness and uncertainty about the future, and their dating methods through dating apps... all incredibly real. Most moving are the surging emotions pervading the stories; the author's pen reveals a classical and eternal melancholy that resonates deeply and leaves an endless aftertaste.