Since my Modern Love essay came out on Thursday, a few people have asked about the recently-completed second book. Here’s the pitch.
Love Love
by Sung J. Woo
A novel about art and athletics, family and adoption, remembrance and forgiveness – and Judy and Kevin, sister and brother.
Judy Lee’s life has not turned out the way she’d imagined. She’s divorced, she’s broke, and her dreams of being a painter have fallen by the wayside. Her co-worker Roger might be a member of the Yakuza, but he’s also the only person who’s asked her on a date in the last year.
Meanwhile, Kevin, an ex-professional tennis player, has decided to donate a kidney to their ailing father — until it turns out that he’s not a genetic match. His father reluctantly tells him he was adopted, but the only information Kevin has is a nude picture of his birth mother.
Told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Judy and Kevin, Love Love is a story about two people figuring out how to live, how to love, how to be their best selves amid the chaos of their lives.
Really enjoyed your story in the NYT, and now I want to read your novel (and I will). But in the meantime, can you give us your mom’s recipe for roast chicken with kimchi?
Thank you so much, Peggy — glad you enjoyed the article! As far as a recipe goes, my mother does not work with them — it’s all in her head. But I can tell you this one is pretty close:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2013/03/roast-chicken-and-kimchi-smashed-potatoes
The only difference is that she doesn’t use chicken thighs, as they are too gristly. Replace them with drumsticks, add chopped carrots and onions, and what you’ll have there is pretty close.