Blog tour: When We Fell Apart

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Welcome to the blog tour for When We Fell Apart by Soon Wiley!

More about the book…

When the Seoul police inform Min that his girlfriend Yu-jin has taken her own life, he’s sure it can't be true. She was successful, ambitious, happy, just on the cusp of graduating from university and claiming the future she’d always dreamed of.

Min, on the other hand, born to an American father and Korean mother, has never felt quite the same certainty as Yu-jin about his life’s path. After growing up in California, where he always felt ‘too Korean’ to fit in, he’s moved to Seoul in the hope that exploring his Korean heritage will help him find a sense of purpose. And when he meets Yu-jin, little does he know that their carefree relationship will set off a chain of events with tragic consequences for them both.

Devastated by Yu-jin’s death, Min throws himself into finding out why she could have secretly wanted to die. Or did she? With a controlling and powerful government official father, and a fraught friendship with her alluring and destructive roommate So-ra, Yu-jin’s life was much more complex than she chose to reveal to Min. And the more he learns about her, the more he begins to doubt he ever really knew her at all.

As Yu-jin’s story – a fraught exploration of selfhood, coming-of-age, and family expectations – collides with Min’s, the result is an engrossing page-turner that poses powerful, urgent questions about cultural identity, family bonds, secrets, and what it truly means to belong.

More about the author…

A native of Nyack, New York, Soon Wiley received his BA in English & Philosophy from Connecticut College. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Wichita State University. His writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and earned him fellowships in Wyoming and France. He resides in Connecticut with his wife and their two cats. When We Fell Apart is his debut novel.

My impressions…

A superb debut. It takes you from wherever you are and transports you directly to Seoul. The setting is so well described that it’s like being there with Min and Yu-jin. Much more than a mystery novel, this is a skilfully crafted dual-narrative story about identity and conforming.

Did the book meet my expectations? Everything, from title to cover to synopsis, made me fall in love with this book at first glance. I expected something special, something different, and I was most definitely rewarded. It was even better than I thought it would be. An amazing debut!

Three words to describe it. Evocative. Haunting. Beautiful.

Do I like the cover? Stunningly scintillating, just like the Seoul portrayed in the novel.

Have I read any other books by the same author? This is an impeccably unforgettable debut.

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