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A Mind-Bending Dive Into Grief, Memory, and Identity that challenges how we understand time and ourselves.

“That was one thing about memory. It often obeyed the capriciousness of a mind trying to hide from guilt, but one, always, had to live with the deceit.”
-Jinwoo Choo, Flux

Have you ever finished a novel so layered and rich with themes that you don’t even know where to begin unpacking it? I just closed Flux by Jinwoo Chong, and I can already tell the Book Hangover is going to be intense. I honestly have nothing in my library that compares, and that’s saying something, coming from a lover of sci-fi, dystopian, and speculative fiction. Which leads us to naming Flux by Jinwoo Chong as this week’s Book Hangover Club’s weekly recommendation.

What first attracted me was the premise: a sketchy tech company using futuristic technology to exploit its employees, very much in the vein of Severance, one of my favorite shows. But as I kept reading, I realized that was just the entry point. Flux dives so much deeper, tackling grief, trauma, memory, and mixed identity through the eyes of an Asian American protagonist. It’s thoughtful, genre-bending, and emotionally resonant in ways I wasn’t expecting.

There’s so much to uncover in this book, so I’ll leave the surprises for you to discover, because this is a story best experienced firsthand. What I can tell you is that it follows three seemingly separate characters whose lives become interconnected in a major way. Some parts of the narrative might feel a little disorienting at first, but there’s always this subtle trust that everything will come together. The twists in Flux are totally earned, with Jinwoo Chong carefully drip-feeding you details that build toward big reveals without ever making you feel cheated or like he’s making things up on the fly. His writing is sharp and economical, planting clues early that pay off later, all while keeping you guessing until the end.

I like to call books like this “cardio books”; the pacing is fast, the twists are wild, and before you know it, you’re so absorbed you forget you’re on the treadmill. It’s that gripping.

Flux was released in 2023 and earned spots as a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist for Debut Novel. It was also named one of Apple Books’ Best Books of the Year. Still, I don’t think it’s being talked about nearly enough. It deserves way more recognition for both its emotional depth and genre-defying execution.

If this is the first time you’re hearing about Flux, take this as your sign to pick it up. You won’t regret it. 🙂

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