From the cover:
"After a year of college, Pablo is working at his local twenty-four-hour deli, selling overpriced snacks to brownstone yuppies. He’s dodging calls from the student loan office and he has no idea what his next move is.
Leanna Smart’s life so far has been nothing but success. Age eight: Disney Mouseketeer; Age fifteen: first #1 single on the US pop chart; Age seventeen, *tenth* #1 single; and now, at age nineteen…life is a queasy blur of private planes, weird hotel rooms, and strangers asking for selfies on the street.
When Leanna and Pab randomly meet at 4:00 a.m. in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn, they both know they can’t be together forever. So, they keep things on the down-low and off Instagram for as long as they can. But it takes about three seconds before the world finds out…"
Pre-read thoughts: I loved Emergency Contact so much that, although after I read it I promised a review would come after a second read, I have no read it four times and still can't find the words to explain how beautiful and perfect it is, so I never delivered on that review promise. All of this to say...I was pretty thrilled to get an ARC of Mary H.K. Choi's second book. My fingers are crossed that I love it as much as even more than I loved Emergency Contact.
Alright. I loved this book, but I do have to clarify one thing before we get into things. If you read Emergency Contact and were expecting another dual-narrator story, delete that preconceived notion from your head. Kinda seems from the description like we'll be rotating back and forth between Pablo and Leanna, but nope. It's all Pab. Nothing wrong with that, just putting it out there for anyone who shared my expectations.
Now, on to actual review-y things! The cover blurb makes it sound like Pablo and Leanna start dating, their spot gets blown, and then the book is about them navigating the fallout. Not the case, and honestly I think what actually happens is so much better than what I expected based on the description. Pablo is working nights at abodega health food store after taking out a bunch of student loans, signing up for multiple credit cards, and then flunking out of NYU. In the middle of what promised to be an uneventful shift, Leanna stumbles in, severely under-dressed for the sub-zero weather and looking for a middle-of-the-night snowstorm snack. The two fall into an easy exchange, and shortly after realizing that he kind of has a thing for this mysterious, clearly half-frozen stranger, he also realizes that holy shit...she's a super famous pop star. And there goes that starry-eyed dream.
Until she comes back. It's obvious that they have a connection, but it's also immediately apparent that the two lead very different lives. Leanna jets from place to place, chauffeured in private cars, flying in private plans, to manage her vast media empire. Pablo is actively dodging calls from collection agencies and refuses to open his mail to avoid confronting the massive mountain of debt he is being buried under. Leanna knows exactly what she wants from life and is hustling to get it. Pablo hesitates to make firm plans with his little brother, let alone come up with a longterm plan for his life. Can their burgeoning relationship survive their differences? And is this new relationship even what Pablo should focus on when, if it isn't to answer a phone call or respond to a text from Lee, he can't even find a reason to get out of bed most mornings?
At first blush, this seems like a sweet doomed-romance novel about an A-lister and a kid just scraping by, which I was into because in case it wasn't clear, I love Mary H.K. Choi. If she hadn't written this, though, being honest? I probably would have passed this up. Been there, done that. Nothing new. And that's why I had to point out earlier that this book is so much better than the description makes it sound! There's so much happening here. It isn't just Pablo falling in deep with Lee and trying to avoid public scrutiny, it's Pablo struggling to manage his relationships with his roommates, his parents, and his younger brother. Drowning in the expectations of others while feeling too frozen and buried to do anything or even begin to evaluate his own expectations. It's such a frank look at the weight and expectations put on young people, on the massive hole you can wake up one day and find yourself dug into because you were expected to make all these huge decisions and you didn't know what to do. This review is getting wordy as hell, but I swear it isn't enough to convey my love of this book and the perfection Mary Choi has created. I honestly don't know how she managed to build so many vibrant characters up in so short a time, but if you don't immediately fall in love with Rain, Tice, the Kims, and everyone else I don't know what's wrong with you. Permanent Record is perfection, from the first page to the last.
Alright. I loved this book, but I do have to clarify one thing before we get into things. If you read Emergency Contact and were expecting another dual-narrator story, delete that preconceived notion from your head. Kinda seems from the description like we'll be rotating back and forth between Pablo and Leanna, but nope. It's all Pab. Nothing wrong with that, just putting it out there for anyone who shared my expectations.
Now, on to actual review-y things! The cover blurb makes it sound like Pablo and Leanna start dating, their spot gets blown, and then the book is about them navigating the fallout. Not the case, and honestly I think what actually happens is so much better than what I expected based on the description. Pablo is working nights at a
Until she comes back. It's obvious that they have a connection, but it's also immediately apparent that the two lead very different lives. Leanna jets from place to place, chauffeured in private cars, flying in private plans, to manage her vast media empire. Pablo is actively dodging calls from collection agencies and refuses to open his mail to avoid confronting the massive mountain of debt he is being buried under. Leanna knows exactly what she wants from life and is hustling to get it. Pablo hesitates to make firm plans with his little brother, let alone come up with a longterm plan for his life. Can their burgeoning relationship survive their differences? And is this new relationship even what Pablo should focus on when, if it isn't to answer a phone call or respond to a text from Lee, he can't even find a reason to get out of bed most mornings?
At first blush, this seems like a sweet doomed-romance novel about an A-lister and a kid just scraping by, which I was into because in case it wasn't clear, I love Mary H.K. Choi. If she hadn't written this, though, being honest? I probably would have passed this up. Been there, done that. Nothing new. And that's why I had to point out earlier that this book is so much better than the description makes it sound! There's so much happening here. It isn't just Pablo falling in deep with Lee and trying to avoid public scrutiny, it's Pablo struggling to manage his relationships with his roommates, his parents, and his younger brother. Drowning in the expectations of others while feeling too frozen and buried to do anything or even begin to evaluate his own expectations. It's such a frank look at the weight and expectations put on young people, on the massive hole you can wake up one day and find yourself dug into because you were expected to make all these huge decisions and you didn't know what to do. This review is getting wordy as hell, but I swear it isn't enough to convey my love of this book and the perfection Mary Choi has created. I honestly don't know how she managed to build so many vibrant characters up in so short a time, but if you don't immediately fall in love with Rain, Tice, the Kims, and everyone else I don't know what's wrong with you. Permanent Record is perfection, from the first page to the last.
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