More than a Romcom

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Frankly in Love by David Yoon was on most best 2019 YA lists. I get why. I think the book’s musings on racism are so important. But the complaint I kept reading was that the book wasn’t what people were expecting, and that’s a fair criticism. It was marketed, even titled, as a teen romance, and that isn’t really accurate. Yes, there’s romance, but it’s definitely not…I’m struggling to find the right word here, because the romance is central, it just doesn’t feel that important.

Frank Li is a Korean American over-achieving senior who would describe his parents as racist. They stopped speaking to his sister when she married an American African man. Frank struggles with his responsibility in all of this is. Should he speak up when his parents say racist things or keep the peace? Should he date who he wants and risk being shut out of the family or find a nice Korean girl? The latter is less of a problem because he hasn’t really dated anyone, but then Brit Means from AP Calculus shows interest, and Frank has to make a decision.

He ultimately chooses not to decide. At least not on the record. He’ll pretend to date a Korean family friend. Joy Song needs cover because her parents wouldn’t like her Chinese boyfriend. Frank doesn’t tell Brit and Joy doesn’t tell her boyfriend. And we all know what happens in a fake relationship trope. Except, strange pacing made me wonder if the fake romance would stay fake. I couldn’t figure out where the book was going, or, more importantly, where I wanted it to go. I didn’t care if Frank stayed with Brit or ended up with Joy, because I didn’t feel attached to either girl. And maybe it doesn’t matter because that’s not really what the story was about—it’s about family and identity and what defines those things—but a lot of time was spent on the romance, so....

Three quarters of the way into the book there’s a two-page fight all in Korean that isn’t translated, and the focus of the story changes. Not that there wasn’t foreshadowing, but it did suddenly feel like a very different, much heavier story. I’m really glad I read Frankly in Love, but it was a very different book for me going in then coming out.