Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi | Review

Thank you to Atom for sending me a copy of Permanent Record to review for my blog.

Content warnings: panic attacks, ableism, debt, depression, assault, abandonment in an unknown city

Cast your minds back a few months to when I reviewed Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi. This was one of my favourite books of the year and a book I got a few or my friends to read. Now Permanent Record is out; a book I was super excited for and sent a begging email to the publisher so I could get an early copy of to review.

Permanent Record follows Pablo Neruda Rind (named after the poet), who is a Pakistani-Korean American, as he is struggling through his late teens. He dropped out of University which caused a rift in his family and he felt it was best to move out. He’s struggling with money and doesn’t know what he wants to do with himself when he meets Leanna Smart, world superstar, who gets him swept up in her wild lifestyle.

So, I didn’t like this as much as I liked Emergency Contact. I was a little disappointed in it to be honest. But I still plan on reading whatever Choi writes because I love her writing style. This had the same melancholy vibe as EC so I know it’s a personal thing. I actually think if you didn’t like Emergency Contact you might bond with this one a little better.

My biggest problem was that I just didn’t like Lee. There was something I didn’t like about her vibe and attitude. She got Pablo completely wrapped up in her world and, because he didn’t have much going for him, it was all about her. And I’m not saying that’s her fault, he’s as much to blame for not having his own onus. Whenever Pablo was on his own struggling and trying to figure out what the heck he was doing with himself I enjoyed it much more. Every time Lee came in to whisk him away physically or mentally I just felt like “ugh this again”. This may have been helped if she had her own POV. What she does towards the end of the novel as well really left a bad taste in my mouth.

What I did really like though was seeing Pablo struggling, which sounds bad. But late teens are a really messy time. I liked seeing that period of someone’s life; where they have absolutely no idea what’s going on and they don’t have it all together. His progression throughout the novel as well is stunning. I felt the book picked up when he Pablo begins to realise he actually needs to stop faffing around and actually do something before it’s too late.

Again, Choi’s writing style really matches up with my vibe. Her books are almost completely character driven. Sometimes this isn’t my vibe, but I really enjoy the way she writes her characters (bar Leanna); they’re messy and so human. I feel like I really relate to her characters even if I haven’t gone through any of the same things. I always connect to the things they are feeling and I think that’s a testament to her craft.

Seeing Pablo’s family and seeing the difference in cultures with his dad’s Pakistani background and his mum’s Korean background was something that stood out to me. Quite often when someone has a mixed race family one of those races is white; it was nice to read something where that was not the case. I liked how Choi navigated that. She also navigated the things Pablo felt through having this kind of familial background. He didn’t really feeling connected to either culture. I think this could be cathartic for some people.

So, mixed feelings towards this book. I’m still glad I read it because I really do like reading about people being messy and being stuck in life. I felt stuck for quite a while myself.

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