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New York Times featured Match Book recommends
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Praise for The Loved Ones
“A gorgeous multigenerational saga of love and race, loss and belonging . . . Every last one of Chung’s characters is wholly alive and breathtakingly human . . . Elegant and empathetic, a book impossible to put down.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“[T]his tale charts a nuanced journey that follows no convenient tropes . . . In a book full of complex characters and plot twists, the sparse and elegant prose creates a quietness that allows contemplation of one of life’s big questions, What is love? . . . it is [Chung’s] ability to be at once subversive and optimistic, radical and reassuring that makes this a must-read.” —Booklist (starred review)
From Buzzfeed Books:
“Sonya Chung’s prose is elegant, sparse, and heartbreaking in a way that reminds one of Elena Ferrante or Clarice Lispector . . . This book is a complication of the immigrant narrative in a way that is long overdue and necessary. A gorgeous and important second novel.” —Nayomi Munaweera, author of Island of a Thousand Mirrors and What Lies Between Us, and winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize
“On Sept. 24, in The New York Times, author Kaitlyn Greenidge penned a reasoned response (“Who Gets to Write That?”) [to the Lionel Shriver controversy] . . . The piece concludes with this sentence: ‘Imagine the better, stronger fiction that could be produced if writers took this challenge to stretch and grow one’s imagination, to afford the same depth of humanity and interest and nuance to character who look like them as character who don’t, to take those stories seriously and actually think about power when writing–how much further fiction could go as an art.’ The Loved Ones succeeds at the very task that Greenidge describes. Chung presents all of her characters with a depth of humanity and nuance to character, and Greenidge is right–doing so lifts the novel above the fray and offers something deeper and more artful to the reader.” —William Belcher, The Alt
“In compelling prose, Chung lays bare the devastating effects of tragedy on family — then boldly suggests the power to heal lies beyond our loved ones. Shattering assumptions about loss and longing, this shimmering tale of dangerous love will break your heart, and mend it too.” —Bridgett M. Davis, author of The World According to Fannie Davis, and Into the Go Slow
“At a time when heated conversations about diversity and cultural appropriation in literature abound, The Loved Ones is a wondrous gift, a pleasant reminder that there are many thoughtful writers who can create believable characters of multiple races, ethnicities, and genders without relying on caricature or stereotypes . . . Chung [is] a masterful technician, a writer who can delve equally into emotion and intellect while maintaining lean, memorable prose [and] seems to be able to execute with the natural grace of someone who both understands the mechanics of good fiction and has the ability to make art that extends beyond it. . . [The Loved Ones] is an efficient, vibrant novel, the type of veracious realism that feels necessary in the frantic landscape of 2016.” —Aram Mrjoian, Necessary Fiction
“Sonya Chung’s The Loved Ones is a compulsive read that is exquisitely structured. The novel’s crunchy, broken characters tell a mutigenerational immigrant saga, a mixed race family struggle, and a coming-of-age tale all at once . . . The second half of The Loved Ones is a fascinating exploration of grief and self-discovery that pairs so well with the author’s heartfelt prose and poignant dialogue. . . Chung’s voice isn’t just a welcome one in the literary world; it’s a necessary one as we try to make sense of our increasingly uncertain future.” —Daniel Ford, Writer’s Bone
“I read The Loved Ones with breathless urgency. It was as expansive as I needed it it to be while also telling the most personal of family stories. Much missing American immigration and great migration history was missing for me before this beautiful story helped piece it together. From the first page this novel is brimming with prismatic, intersectional moments I was not aware of between Korean and black Americans in the post war era. The intergenerational aspect just helps the pages race by as generations carry each other’s burdens and triumphs through the years. Fans of Homegoing and White Teeth will feel this novel is a blessing on their nightstands.” —Hannah Depp, WORD Bookstores (Brooklyn, NY and Jersey City, NJ)
“This is only Chung’s second novel, but it cements her status as a talent to reckon with . . . Chung’s prose is elegant and powerful, and this is a book that will stay with you for long after you’ve read it, and lead you to reassess the world around you; the one you thought you knew.” —Kristen Iversen, Nylon Magazine
“This is a fearless novel, one that expands the heart. . . Sonya Chung not only delivers a sensual, finely wrought page-turner; she executes a radical act of compassion. The Loved Ones is a must-read.” —Deanna Fei, author of Girl in Glass, Winner of the 2016 Books for a Better Life Award, and A Thread of Sky
“Sonya Chung has brought us an intelligent, compassionate story that crosses all kinds of divides. The pages turn quickly as we see the story of two families, their pasts, and the consequences of their current actions. Each character is empathetic and compelling, and the prose is, at some points, heart-breaking in its simplicity. This novel brings a unique perspective to immigration history in the US, and the contrasting cultures, as well as the contrast in generations, makes for a fast read and a powerful narrative. Sonya Chung’s past work has made her a writer to watch, but with this book she should jump right to the top of everyone’s to-be-read pile.” —Abby Fennewald, BookPeople (Austin, TX)
“Within a multigenerational saga about family, race, and difference, The Loved Ones unfurls an elegant love story about two people bound to one another through tragedy yet kept apart by time and circumstance. The pages of this gorgeous novel gave me insight upon insight, characters I grew to love, and the most satisfying ending I’ve read in a very long time.” —Shannon Cain, author of The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, Winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize
“Sonya Chung’s new novel, The Loved Ones, is in constant danger of being about just one thing, even though it’s richly and intelligently about how that one thing is inextricable from many others . . . Chung’s intention: to provoke in her readers as much moral ambivalence as possible . . . Chung resists portraying her characters’ motivations as purely private and psychological. The characters in The Loved Ones never exist in isolation from histories of colonialism, racism, and dispossession. At the same time, their motivations are never merely symptoms of any of these things . . . Chung’s refusal to cede the novel’s aboutness to any one thing allows The Loved Ones to be about race and sexual awakening and sexual transgression.” —Christopher T. Fan, Public Books
“Probing and heartbreaking, The Loved Ones sets its aim at the heart of what its title really means.” —Elizabeth Kiefer, Refinery29
“Told with great empathy, lush prose, and heartfelt tenderness, The Loved Ones is a tribute to the families that we create rather than the ones into which we are born. The Loved Ones by Sonya Chung is truly the American Novel of 2016.” —Pamela Klinger-Horn, Excelsior Bay Books (Excelsior Bay, MN)
“I love the intricate way Sonya Chung weaves silence, watchfulness, stillness and patience into the life fabric of her disparate characters in The Loved Ones. The world around them is often harsh and mystifying, but Chung explores the big questions (life, death, love, family, race and more) through an intimate lens, as we gradually discover who lives behind these silences. We feel what they feel, and are changed by reading our way into their lives. That is the rare and precious gift Chung offers us in her novel. As a former longtime independent bookseller, I can say without hesitation that this is the kind of book I was always seeking, one that I could place in the hands of a customer and say, “You must read this!” —Robert Gray, editor, Shelf Awareness