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[Copy provided by publisher]

READ IF YOU LIKE...
� Returning home after a long time away
� Family-run businesses
� Starting life over after disaster strikes

I THOUGHT IT WAS...
A heartfelt, endearing story about family and finding your path in life. Jack Jr. wakes up in the hospital to learn that he's been in a coma for two years. With his former life in NYC completely gone, he moves back home to Fort Lee, New Jersey, back to the family he fled years ago and back to the Korean-Japanese sushi restaurant that was supposed to be passed down to him.

I'm so impressed by how Chong can write mind-mending science fiction one year (FLUX, one of my favorites of 2023) and then some moving contemporary fiction with a dash of romance thrown in the next. While I don't think I LEAVE IT UP TO YOU is as strong as FLUX, I do think I see what might become one of Chong's signatures -- a smart, effective, and deliberate structure to the story that adds depth to his themes or character development. I love this kind of intentionality in writing.

I enjoyed how Chong explored the weight of family expectations combined with the fear of being trapped into an unwanted life. There were a few things left unclear, which made me feel unsatisfied at first. But upon reflection, it also feels realistic. There are elements to every family that are muddled -- a story never fully told, someone's behavior never fully explained -- that we either have to live with or walk away from. And we each have to make that choice.

There's a moment in the novel when a character explains that family is about give and take. When you're young, you take, take, and take. As you grow older, you give more and more to try and make up for what you took. That's a beautiful summation of what this novel explores.