About the Book
-
Author:
- Sarah Suk
- Genres:
- Boy-Girl Romance
- New Adult
- Science Fiction
- Voices:
- Canadian
- Cis Boy
- Cis Girl
- Korean Diaspora
- Straight
Cover Story: Me and Who?
BFF Charms: Eventually, True Love
Talky Talk: Memory Mixtape
Bonus Factor: Immigrant Stories
Factor: Alzheimer’s
Relationship Status: Sounds Good
Cover Story: Me and Who?
It’s not easy to visually portray memories being erased, but the eerie way one of these people is dissolving into pixels does the trick. Also, it really is “blue hour” according to that sky.
The Deal:
Yena Bae and Lucas Pak were best friends – until Lucas moved away without even saying goodbye. Four years later, Yena is drifting through life, too afraid to get attached to anyone or anything in case they let her down. For lack of anything better to do, she gets a summer job at a clinic run by her mother, a neuroscientist who has invented a method for erasing and/or recovering memories. That’s where Yena runs into Lucas, who is hoping for a cure for his grandfather’s Alzheimer’s disease. The catch? Lucas is a former patient too … and the memories he erased are all about her.
BFF Charm: Eventually
Yena starts out pretending not to care, while secretly simmering with resentment for everyone who’s left her behind: her mother, who left her with her father in Vancouver to start her clinic in Busan; her father, who is careless about answering his phone; most of all Lucas, who had her erased from his memory. Gradually, though, she learns to stand up for herself in a mature and respectful manner, and to understand others’ points of view.
True Love
Lucas is one of the kindest, most loyal people you can imagine. When Yena literally runs into him, scrapes her elbow on the sidewalk and runs off, he buys bandages on the off-chance of seeing her again, even though she’s a stranger in his eyes. He’s willing to stand on a hot and crowded street corner every day just to get his grandfather onto the clinic’s wait list. This makes it even harder to believe that he would erase his best friend from his memory, but rest assured, there’s more to the story than that.
Swoonworthy Scale: 6
Yena and Lucas are adorable together. Suk doesn’t try to use their past friendship and his flashes of deja vu as a shortcut. She takes her time building up the relationship as if it were the first time, showing how Lucas is drawn to both Yena’s bubbly surface and the vulnerability underneath. For her part, angry as she is, Yena has the sense to keep in mind how little she knows about Lucas’ situation, and to recognize how kind and patient he is with his grandfather and with her. I loved the little K-Drama-style moments they share, such as when he gives her those bandages, or when he sees her running across the street to meet him. I could almost see the still shots with ethereal lighting they would use at the end of an episode.
Talky Talk: Memory Mixtape
Since Dr. Bae’s memory erasure technique works with sounds, every flashback of Yena and Lucas’ shared past is linked to a specific sound: a popcorn machine when they first met at a Studio Ghibli premiere night, a lawn mower for all the times they walked to school together, and the music from an ice cream truck for a moment I won’t spoil 😉 Writing from the perspective of an inanimate object may sound cheesy, but it worked for me. That popcorn machine is downright smug (“It’s nice to have fans”) and the lawn mower unexpectedly poignant:
“The truth? It was just another day. It was many of those very simple ordinary days.
But I couldn’t help but wonder if that was the reason his eyes lit up so. Because every time he saw her, he was reminded that he got to enjoy his “just another days” with her.”
Bonus Factor: Immigrant Stories
Yena, Lucas and their parents neatly subvert the cliches of immigrant parent-child conflict. Lucas actually looks forward to taking over the family business; the only trouble is that his parents prefer him to work in admin, while he wants to be a chef like his grandfather. Meanwhile, Dr. Bae would be happy with any career for Yena, as long as Yena commits to it. Both protagonists are trying to honor their familial and cultural legacies, even when it’s difficult. Recording the sounds of Busan, eating local food and practicing the language becomes something they do not just for Lucas’ grandfather, but also for themselves.
Factor: Alzheimer’s
Lucas’ grandfather taught him everything he knows about cooking and leadership, but now he wanders into the kitchen and forgets what he was doing. There is strong disagreement in the family about how to cope with his condition, but all the arguments come from a place of love. Sci-fi elements aside, it’s a realistic but compassionate depiction of a difficult topic.
Relationship Status: Sounds Good
*cup clinks* *toast crunches* *e-reader clicks* … Now these are sounds I don’t want to forget.
Literary Matchmaking
The Memory Book by Lara Avery also features childhood friends-to-lovers and a character dealing with dementia.
Spells To Forget Us by Aislinn Brophy is a queer, multiracial fantasy take on amnesiac romance.
The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon is another Korean-immigrant love story sprinkled with chapters from unexpected points of view.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review.
