Rules of love in the big city

In this energetic novel, Sang Young Park paints a wry and moving portrait of millennial loneliness and the joys and misfortunes of queer life in Seoul. In "Love Rules in the Big City ," a semifinalist for the 2022 Booker Prize, we follow the story of a young gay man searching for happiness in the lonely Korean city.

Young is a young Korean who, between studies and work, intensely lives the nightlife of Seoul and collects men he meets on Tinder. He and Jae-hee—his best friend, with whom he shares an apartment—frequent nearby bars, where they put aside worries about love life, family, and money, enjoying rounds of soju and cigarettes they keep in the freezer.

However, over time, everything changes, even Jae-hee. After many heartbreaks and a busy single life, she decides to get married, much to her friend's surprise. Young then begins living alone and divides his time between a few jobs—to pay the bills—writing, and caring for his mother, with whom he has a complicated relationship and who has been diagnosed with advanced cancer.

In her eagerness to escape the constant feeling of loneliness, Young seeks companionship in a series of men, each of whom has a different impact on her life. Among them, an older, politically-minded man who struggles to come to terms with his sexual orientation; another who leaves her something she will carry for the rest of her life; and one who may end up being her true love.

Rules of Love in the Big City is a novel that, with a healthy dose of ironic humor, presents a raw portrait of the dilemmas and prejudices faced by a millennial gay man in South Korea, as well as making us reflect deeply on sensitive issues of contemporary life. As we follow Young's growth, we experience, viscerally, the struggle for the right to be who we are and the loneliness and joys that emerge from love.

"A deep dive into contemporary queer life. A brilliant chronicle of the malaise of LGBTQIAPN+ millennials." - The New York Times