![]() Pop juggernaut Leanna Smart has enough social media followers to populate whole continents. Never mind the state of his student loans. Plus, he’s up to his eyeballs in credit card debt. His graveyard shift at a twenty-four-hour deli in Brooklyn is a struggle. On paper, college dropout Pablo Rind doesn’t have a whole lot going for him. Woven seamlessly together and I’m looking forward to what Choi writes next.įrom the New York Times bestselling author of Emergency Contact, which Rainbow Rowell called “smart and funny,” comes an unforgettable new romance about how social media influences relationships every day. I do think there were areas where I wasn’t completely hooked, and part of that is definitely attached to my hesitancy about the relationship with Leanne, but I think overall, Permanent Record is doing important work in opening up a new space for a group of readers who don’t normally get represented in fiction.Īlthough I wouldn’t necessarily call Permanent Record YA (it’s definitely more NA or plain old adult with its story geared more towards 20 year olds), I think it’s still a really relatable read to older YA readers and 20 year olds, as well as a really honest and genuine coming of age story of Pablo. (Which is something that’s missing from our current landscape of commercial fiction.) Permanent Record brings the same modernĬontact did–and it’s a well-needed development. I thought Leanna was super cool and definitely a nice juxtaposition of a love interest, but she’s not the main protagonist and this is Pablo’s coming of age story. I think she did a subtle and smart job with this specific element, and it really is a good ending. And the way Choi writes it all out makes this more apparent, and I really appreciated it. Pablo, to be frank, is not in a place where he wants to start a relationship–especially not one with such a high-profile person. But by the end, I really appreciated what Choi did with the relationship. But for a large portion of the book, I was on edge about Leanna Smart and her relationship with Pablo. I won’t spoil it publicly, but I’m pretty sure you can deduce based on my reactions. ![]() If you didn’t know already, this book would fall under the “includes a romance with a famous person” category, but like I said, it’s not a love story. I wasĭefinitely undecided & wary about Leanna Smart. He also has depression and it’s a huge factor in his actions. He’s half Pakistani half Korean and has diaspora struggles that many of us feel. He’s trying to get his life back on track as a 20 year old college drop out, and it’s not easy. I think anyone who is familiar with millennial culture will really relate to, or at the very least understand, this–crushing student loans and credit card debt, a sort of lost feeling that Pablo has. Pablo sounded authentic and just as tired as all of us are. We get meme culture, checking out your crush on Instagram, New York slang, and so much more. Like her debut Emergency Contact, Permanent Record takes into account how social media is influencing life. Of this story’s biggest triumphs is how it’s truly a piece of 2019 fiction.Ĭhoi seamlessly incorporates subtle details that really make her novels modern and relatable and contemporary. Trying to stay afloat in our deeply flawed society. It’s a story about dealing with everything life throws at you and It’s labeled as YA by Simon and Schuster (14+), but I think the people who will enjoy and relate to this the most are college students and 20 year olds. Choi’s Permanent Record is not a love story.Ĭhoi’s writing style is refreshing and extremely appealing to an infrequently catered to market. ![]() Permanent Record follows a flawed but lovable character as he learns to accept the mistakes he has made during that time and finds a way to build a future around them.Mary H.K. But I had a hard time believing in or investing in a romance that's so one-sided, so ultimately, I don't think I would call Permanent Record a romance.Ībove all else, it's about that murky time between high school and everything that comes after, where you're asked to make huge decisions that will affect the rest of your life but you have no idea what you actually want. This is probably intentional - in fact, it's part of the point. ![]() So much of her is pretense and show that it's hard to know her. There are little moments where she feels like a real person and we understand why Pablo is interested, but for the most part, she feels more like a distraction than a character. But we get only Pablo's perspective, and through his eyes, Leanna is kept at a distance. It seems inevitable that Permanent Record will be billed as a romance, as the plot hinges on the arrival of Leanna in Pablo's life and their will-they, won't-they love story. Choi has a real gift for creating a character so real and complex that she can crack his psyche open like a melon and pick through all the gnarly seeds.
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