I Leave It Up to You

Chong, Jinwoo. I Leave It Up to You. New York : Ballentine 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

Waking up is an easy thing to do. To be asleep, then not. To be a mind out there in the dark with no ground underneath, no legs or arms,no chest, no blood pumping in rhythmic bursts up my neck,no body at all, no hands, no hair or eyes, no ass or dick. Yes, sir, just your eyeless, handless, assless, dickless self just handing out there in space for forever until suddenly, you're not. Because suddenly is in fact the best word I can think of to describe it.


Description:

Jinwoo Chong's captivating novel, I Leave It Up to You, has a simple premise. After a man unexpectedly wakes up from a coma after almost two years, how does he put his life back together? How does he understand a world that has experienced COVID and he has not? How does he reconnect with friends, family, lovers, and his own past? And where will these questions and answers lead him as he tries to move forward with his life?

 

Jack Jr., the narrator, is a Korean twenty-something man who, in the first pages, suddently, unexpectedly wakes up in a hospital room from a two-year, medically-induced coma. Struggling to figure out what happened to bring him to this place, how long he has been away from the world, and what this all means to the reality he now faces is fascinating to watch unfold from his point of view. Ironically, he finds he can remember everything about his past with the exception of the exact events which landed him in the hospital and his ensuing coma.

Why did my entire body feel like vibrating air? Like Jell-O? Like it was broken in every conceivable place and hastily put back together again by someone with only a loose understanding of the human body and which of its parts fit into each other?....Thinking coherent thoughts felt a little like trying to juggle a pack of angry puppies that didn't want to be anywhere near me... 

Jack Jr. remembers his partner Ren, but wonders why he has had no contact with that very personal friend since awakening. He also senses a hesitation from his family and hospital staff when asked about Ren. Jack Jr. does recall a rift with his family that made him move from their home in New Jersey ten years ago and his refusal to have any dealings with them for the past ten years. And he remembers a strong rejection while working in the struggling family sushi restaurant run by his elderly, highly skilled father. 

But now he knows he needs to move forward as well as recreate his past. Upon leaving the hospital, he tries to find Ren, work to understand his father and the sushi restaurant that consumes him, and explore new relationships both with his family and new people who become important figures to his growth.

 

This is a quiet novel, an introspection of the world and people as seen through the mind and eyes of a conflicted, confused, but wondering individual. It is also a vision of how once-close people react and adapt to someone who was taken from them for years and has suddenly returned to be a part of their lives -- or to reject them again.

[For the people waiting for him to wake from the coma]  It was not a tight, quick wound that hurt the most in the first few seconds. I bet it was slow. I bet it was like putting your hand in a  pot of cold water and turning on the stove.

I was completely absorbed by this book and the detailed characters it presented. The challenges they all faced, from family and friends trying to deal with Jack Jr.'s return and state of mind, to Jack Jr. himself and his attempts to understand the world and his newly restored life, make every page one of discovery, growth, failure, communication, uncertainty, and questions. For readers, it is a very interesting, challenging way to spend a few days, introducing you to complex people while making you wonder from page to page how the characters will fare and what roads they will take.

It was a beautiful, lucky place to be, to know someone as well as you possibly could, to know what to do to make them better. And for now, in the universe of things we had left to say, this would have to be enough. 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Feeney, Alice. Sometimes I Lie.

The narrator wakes up in a hospital room, unable to move any part of her body or respond to her husband and sister who visit. But, unbeknownst to them, she can still hear and unbeknownst to them listens in on their conversations. Through these overheard talks, she tries regain her memory and puzzle out the situation that brought her to this condition. Twists, turns, lies, deceptions, and mysteries abound in this delicious novel. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

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