After Choi’s phenomenal debut novel Emergency Contact, the expectations have been high for whatever comes next. Permanent Record has an eye catchy cover just like its predecessor, but its story may not be considered as heartwarming as the previous one.
Pablo Neruda Rind – yes, his parents really did name him that – is waiting for his nightshift at the deli to end, not knowing that his life will be turned upside down soon. Leanna Smart – the big teenage star singer – enters his life by buying some junk food. From that moment on, they feel drawn to each other. When they meet for the second time, Pablo finds the strength to ask her out without knowing that she will take him with her to L.A. They just click. It feels right. It feels like a wonderful dream.
Even though the story did not catch me as I hoped for, Permanent Record is still well worth your time. Choi focuses on some important topics, which she combines perfectly. While Leanna is Mexican, Pablo is half-Korean/half-Pakistan. He, more than she, has to face the high expectations of his mother who came to America to become a doctor and wishes for Pablo and his brother, Rain Maria, to become their best selves. She means well but does not see that this pressure is forcing Pablo to do the opposite. He may not go to university and get a degree, but he still can live a happy life.
Leanna is trying to cope with fame, or more so the negative side of fame. She loves to sing, or so it seems, but she is just a puppet and there to help everyone else make a profit off her. Being a star is not as awesome as one may think. In fact, you are mostly carted around the globe to do the next big thing to promote yourself every day as long as they not have enough of you, which hopefully will not happen tomorrow.
If you are hoping for a happy ending, well, yes you get one, but not in the way you are expecting. Choi focuses more on the personal happiness as on the potentially every lasting love interest. More so than in any other book I have read in a long time, Permanent Record puts the process of becoming an adult at its center. Both are feeling lost and looking for something that makes sense to them. Leanna sees Pablo as her rescue line who will bring her out of the cage she is living in. Meanwhile, Pablo learns that starting to take responsibility for his life and stop living without purpose will never fulfil him.
Permanent Record is for sure one good contemporary novel in which everyone will see themselves in it. Because, lets face it, we all have been there.
Permanent Record is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
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…
