[Book Review] Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi

Synopsis (from 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…

My rating :

4/5 stars

My review :

My first Mary H.K. Choi’s book turned out to be marvelous. I loved this book. I still sincerely do.

Permanent Record is special in its own way, meaning it has its own creativity that excites the world of literature, poetry specifically. In this book, you will be meeting Pablo – can we just take a moment to breathe in his name because let’s be real, his name is seductive – and Lee as the main characters who I assume will be everyone’s favorite as we speak and of course, later in the future. This book deserves my four stars for the following reasons.

As someone who had just finished this book like forty-five minutes ago, the plot was not exactly meticulously written but I did get the idea that the story was not predictable at all (thank God for this). I loved the diversity of the plot, i.e. the introduction of social media influence, the fame’s ability to make one crazy, etc. There were many events to look forward to, and I especially acknowledged the ones that were out of the ordinary. As someone who had read quite a lot of contemporary books – though not a lot, but quite an acceptable amount – I must say that this book provided readers with events and twists that were both intriguing and exciting.

However, if I were to be brutally honest, the plot was perfectly imperfect. It was splendid, indeed, but like I said, it was not perfect. There were parts or events where I felt could have been improved as I could not grasp those particular moments properly like how I wanted to, which is disheartening. I loved the main family relationship in this book – the struggle, the ups and downs, the perfect ending in the end – and I will have to say that I loved it more than the romance itself. Read this book to find out why.

Meanwhile, the characters in this book were likeable, too! No doubt, the hero in this book, mainly known as Pablo attracted me the most because of his poetic name. Pablo is going to be my future son’s name. My future son, you gotta be prepared.

Anyway.

Throughout the book, the characters had their own versions of stories and each of them faced their own ups and downs. It was ostensibly great to have diversity in the characters’ stories, making the story more compelling and yes, agreeably intriguing. The character developments were over the roof, as well. I reckoned Pablo had the best character development ever. He turned out from being someone that I had trouble liking to someone that I would against all odds, treasure virtually and realistically. Pablo’s family and friends were something else, but they were the ones that lightened up the story and making it better.

And oh, thumbs up for the author’s fantastic writing style. I loved, loved, LOVED her writing style omg. It is difficult for me to describe my realest reaction to her writing style meticulously, so the only thing that I am going to say to conclude it is I will read all Mary’s books just to devour into her poetic writing and if I am destined to drown into it over and over again, just take my money and I will do it endlessly if I have to. If you are like me who have not read Emergency Contact yet, let us do ourselves a favour to read it now.

All in all, Permanent Record was an astonishing read that is perfect for those who want something a bit different from the casualties by having some social media and celebrities influence with a little bit of twists and turns here and there in a story. And yes, I am definitely recommending this book to everyone!

My final rating for this book is 4/5 stars. Thank you, Pansing @definitelybooks for sending this beautiful arc to me. Permanent Record will reach all great bookstores starting from 3^rd of September 2019, so stay tuned!