Coma-waken man finding new priorities in a post-COVID world.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Not that COVID plays a huge part in most of this story, it's a minor detail in two character's storylines, which happened near the end. I thought this would play more on the fact that our protagonist slept through the whole pandemic year.

But this opens with Korean advertising man Jack Jr waking unexpectedly from a 2-year-long coma, healed from a car accident but confused as to where his Manhattan-based husband is, what's happened in his absence, and finding he has to go home to his dad's Japanese restaurant to get himself back on his feet.

This is really a story about family and looking again at your life, acceptance and moving on. Jack Jr hasn't seen his family for a decade, he never introduced his husband to them before his accident. And now they won't tell him where his husband is now, and he's having to work at the family business while he works out what to do.

The story is quite gentle, there's a sweet love story running throughout, a feisty teenage nephew giving off 'Jon Favreau Chef social media' vibes. It's a slow route through Jack Jr coming to an understanding of why he nearly died, accepting what has changed for good, and deciding how to live the rest of his life.

I quite enjoyed the audiobook, the narrator was easy to listen to, the characters disarming and likeable. This didn't feel revelatory or anything new, though the context of the family culture was a little different, and the coma key to the story.

It was enjoyable and celebratory of families, family loyalty and staying in touch.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.

3.5 stars

I Leave It Up to You is a tender story about starting over, forging your own path and accepting love when it presents itself. I wasn't a fan of Jinwoo's writing in Flux and that was a lot better this time around so I was pleasantly surprised.

Jack Jr wakes up from a coma, and in the two years he has missed he has lost his job, apartment, partner and his life as he knows it. He finds himself back living with his family after a decade of disconnect and working in the family restaurant. He also finds an unlikely new (kind of) companion in the shape of a nurse who cared for him during his coma. Jack Jr is perpetually torn between clawing his old life back in anyway he can and taking the opportunity to start fresh with everything he has learned, and the overall message of this book is uplifting.

Jack Jr as a protagonist is very likeable! This book gave me so many laughs and I think the author did a fantastic job of balancing dysfunctional family antics with serious points of conflict. Each family member is fleshed-out and you know enough about their motivations and personalities. I am not Korean, but I feel like this book demonstrated the unique dynamics in Korean families in an interesting way. It was also void of the Asian parents archetypes that are often present. It was refreshing to see a gay man being embraced by his family unit without it feeling like a hallmark movie.

This book would've rated a lot higher if it weren't for the absolutely inappropriate relationship at its core (nurse dating a patient who JUST woke up from a coma, hello???) and the fact the characters never discuss the issues with their dynamic. There are even jokes about how he used to wash Jack Jr's intimate areas (again, WHILE IN A COMA) that are totally brushed off. I also am not a fan of Covid storylines in fiction for many reasons - mainly that I don't want to imagine that again - so this book also lost points for that.

If you're looking for slice-of-life comtemporary fiction with queer romance, and you aren't cringing at the romance dynamic mentioned, then I would recommend. I just couldn't really get past that.

i also got the physical copy of this from the publisher— thank you so much! this was such an entertaining and engaging book. deeply heartfelt and real.

This was a janky file and was missing chapters 1, 10, and 11 so about 20% of the story. A pretty critical part (it jumped from 79% to 91%!) by the sounds of the ending

I was enjoying the story. The premise was so unique! I enjoyed spending time with JJ and his people that orbited him as he recovered. I liked the exploration of complex family dynamics and loved the role food played in the story. The relationship between JJ and Juno was so great and I enjoyed spending time with them. The JJ/Cuddy dynamic was a bit uncomfortable because of their carer/patient dynamic but I’ll refrain from being too harsh because I know I’m missing context!

The narrator was decent with a good range of distinct character voices.

I closed the book with a lot of questions, but again, will chalk that up to the missing bits. I contacted the publisher about the missing chapters and will update this if I get access to the full version.

A solid 3.5 from what I was able to access!

Jinwoo Chong has written a multi-dimensional character so lovable and relatable and yet so dynamically + intrinsically confusing. As Jack Jr figures himself out we do too. I really enjoyed I Leave It Up To You not because I loved the story but because I loved that as a reader it was all out of my hands with very low stakes (the worst has already happened before we arrived in the story!) “I’m not the only person allowed to be important” really hit me.

It’s difficult to read stories with direct mentions of Covid and US politics. I Leave It Up To You deals with this by making the interpersonal issues with Jack Jr’s family the centerpoint of the conflicts.

I enjoyed Daniel K. Isaac’s narration and appreciate a queer Korean-American actor was chosen to represent a queer Korean-American character. This lent a lot of authenticity to the characters pronunciation and emotion. The family dynamics as well as the internalized distinctions between both Japanese and Koreans & Koreans and Korean-Americans were all well represented.

Thank you for the opportunity to read. I look forward to seeing more from Jinwoo Chong and Daniel K. Isaac.