Love in the Big City by Park Sang-young is a bold and compelling portrait of love, friendship, identity, and life in contemporary Seoul. Celebrated for its wit, honesty, and distinctive voice, the novel has reached readers well beyond Korea through its acclaimed English translation and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize. The story has also been adapted for both film and television, introducing Park’s work to an even broader audience. This book club offers a unique opportunity to return to the original literary work and explore its characters, themes, and perspectives through thoughtful discussion with fellow readers.

This special book club series brings together a diverse community of readers at Nooroongji Books and UBC to experience Love in the Big City in both its original Korean and English translation. By reading and discussing the novel from different linguistic, cultural, and personal perspectives, participants will have an opportunity to share how they experience and interpret the same work across languages. The series will culminate in a special evening with Park Sang-young on October 16, offering book club participants an intimate opportunity to meet the author, ask questions, and engage with him directly about the novel and their own experiences as readers.

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Questions to Explore Together

1. How does Love in the Big City portray the experiences of young people living in contemporary Seoul as they navigate love, friendship, work, and the challenges of urban life?

2. How does Seoul itself shape the characters’ relationships and experiences? How might their lives be different, or similar, if the story were set in another metropolitan area such as Metro Vancouver?

3. The novel explores multiple dimensions of identity: personal, social, cultural, and sexual. How do the characters negotiate their sense of self in relation to how others see them and the expectations placed upon them?