When We Fell Apart

When We Fell Apart is a novel about belonging and family, as a Korean-American man in Seoul tries to find out the truth about his Korean girlfriend's suicide. Min grew up in California with an American father and Korean mother, but has moved to Seoul to try and search for something intangible. When he met Yu-jin, a university student with a powerful father, their relationship seemed perfect, but when she suddenly takes her own life, Min ends up on a trail to work out the truth, discovering that he didn't know Yu-jin as well as he thought.

This is a layered book, set up like a murder mystery, but really about the multitudes within people and how they appear different to different people. Each chapter alternates between Min's present point of view and Yu-jin's in the past, showing Yu-jin's journey from small town to Seoul, and her discovery of more than that path her parents set out for her. Her relationship with her roommate So-ra is particularly important, and seeing glimpses of the ways that Yu-jin puts up different barriers and acts with different people highlights her longing for yet inability to do and be exactly as she wants. Min stays fairly mysterious, even more of an outsider in the city and discovering he wasn't even really aware of everything going on in his relationship, but also making friends with Yu-jin's Japanese roommate.

The main characters all show different kinds of outsiders in Seoul, also depicting a lot of the city with an outsider's perspective as well, and the book explores ideas of how people manage being an outsider and where cultures do or don't have room for it. The narrative unfolds slowly, less of a fast paced mystery than a slow unfolding of layers. It would have been quite different if it was just from Min's perspective, more focused on a mystery of power and secrets, but the inclusion of Yu-jin's point of view as well makes for more of a melancholic tone, seeing a character find joys beyond her family's plans and expectations, but not know how to include them in her future. The characters' relationship to time, particularly to thinking about present and future, brings out something interesting, with Seoul seeming to represent a present for both Min and Yu-jin that they don't quite seem to see beyond.

When We Fell Apart is a slow burn kind of mystery that focuses on character relationships and perspectives, more of a literary look at outsiders in Seoul than the thriller-esque pursuit of the truth suggested in some ways by the blurb. It builds up an intriguing picture of characters who seem to purposefully only see things in certain ways and their ties to each other.

This was such a poignant and atmopsheric read that kept me engaged and swept me along in its pages. I liked the writing, the characters and the storyline and i found the setting so well described with vivid imagery. I really enjoyed reading this book.

when we fell apart is essentially about the mystery of min's (our korean american main character) girlfriend yu jin who reportedly died because of a suicide attempt in her apartment. min, who didn't think yu jin was capable and had any reasons to kill herself, think there was more to her death than the police had let on.

at first, from the blurb, i really thought this was going to be just about the mystery surrounding yu jin's death, but soon i realized that this book was more than that. we follow 2 perspective here - from min in third person as he tries to uncover what happened to yu jin and also as he tries to deal with the grief that he was left with, and also from yu jin in first as she recounted her story from the beginning of her time in seoul until her death. the two different perspectives we've gotten here for me was interesting to say the least because of how different the two paths are so i was curious about how these two paths will intersect later on in the stories. nevertheless, it made the story more gripping and interesting.

i loved the exploration of acceptance, identity, and family expectations in this. yu jin's story is more about her life, about how she wanted to become free of her family's expectations towards her but also wanting for them to accept her, about how she feels suffocated by her loved ones. i also loved the gorgeous wriiting of modern seoul, and i think the setting of this book was just a pleasant addition for the mystery as a whole.

the ending was also satisfying enough to me, although i would honestly love to see more explanation on min's background as well. i think there was so much that could be explored from min's part.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

This story takes place in two different time lines from the perspectives of Yu-jin and Min. There is a mystery and the reader discovers what happened from Yu-jin leading up to the event and from Min after the event. I enjoyed this form of storytelling as it meant I being given information in different ways. This book covers various aspects of the human experience but fundamentally I feel it is about identity. I felt so much sadness for these characters who believe they don’t quite fit. The author was also able to demonstrate the difference between what we show the world and what we feel inside.

There are so many things I would like to discuss but I don’t want to go into too much detail with regards to the story. I will say that I very much liked this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

This was Soon Wiley's debut novel and it certainly made an impact. This was such an atmospheric read that gave me much more than I expected.

When starting the book, I assumed that the plot would mainly be consumed by the mystery of Yu Jin's death -suspected by the police to be a suicide attempt. Min, Yu Jin's boyfriend, doesn't think she had any reason to commit suicide and is trying to figure out the truth - but there were so many other storylines weaving in and out giving two alternative narratives of their relationship.

A slow-burn kind of mystery that kept me gripping from start to finish, a thriller, a journey of self-discovery and how we present ourselves to the world.

I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that this novel is written in a dual narrative, and I was even more surprised when I found out there’s an important queer storyline as well.

Alternating between past and present, Yu-jin’s first-person and Min’s third-person narrative, Soon Whitley tells a captivating and well-written story about Korean American Min and his Korean girlfriend Yu-jin, who’s supposedly committed suicide. Slowly Min learns he didn’t know his girlfriend that well and slowly unravels what led to the death of Yu-jin. The author’s writing is prosaic and still so easily readable. This is a story about family relationships, power, (cultural) identity, and expectations.

Although I understood Yu-jin’s battles, the pressure she felt, Min’s voice appealed to me the most. Throughout this story, I clearly felt his struggle as a biracial man, his feelings of not belonging, never wholly being able to fit in. Sometimes I even wanted to know more of his life in the US; now, we only get snippets.

I loved that this novel was set in Seoul. I know next to nothing about Seoul, but Soon’s writing is so vivid that I could picture the city so well in my head.

Overall this is a great debut, and I highly recommend this novel. I can’t wait to read more by Soon Whiley.

It's hard to believe that this is Soon Wiley's debut - the book has all of the elements of a great mystery, but is truly so much more than that. Pitch perfect on character and atmosphere, this sort of slow burn thriller is my favorite time of read as I walk away entertained, but also feeling something and having learned something as well.