After much success in the Young Adult arena, Renée Ahdieh is set to make her mark on the Adult Fiction market with the unforgettable Park Avenue. Early buzz is making comparisons to Crazy Rich Asians, Succession, and even Dickins’s Bleak House—all of which are accurate—but this novel is so much more. A later-in-life Korean bildungsroman with a dash of glitzy consumerism.
Park Avenue is the story of Jia Song, the daughter of Korean bodega owners who has slowly and steadily climbed the ladder of success. Recently made junior partner at Whitman Volker, a prestigious Manhattan law firm, she is shocked when she is presented with a chance to head up a potentially highly-lucrative new case. Once she discovers that the clients are the children of the Park Family—one of the most famous Korean families in the world—she thinks she understands why she was brought on board.
Suzy and Sora (twins) and Mark Park are the children of Seven and Jenny Park and heirs to the Mirae cosmetics fortune. Or at least they were, until Seven suddenly decided to divorce a now terminally ill Jenny and cut everyone out of the will. Which is where Jia comes in. She is assigned to investigate the financial truth of what Seven is claiming. According to the kids, he is vastly under-reporting the value of the company in order to punish his family.
What follows is an investigation into the secrets of this influential family, unspooling much like any standard mystery novel would, however, the focus here is on the interpersonal dynamics at play and how each person involved chooses to approach the situation and what they learn during the process.
Park Avenue is very much an immigrant story—showing both the good and bad side of the American dream through the lens of Korean eyes. The Parks and Songs couldn’t be more different and yet, there is a bond and understanding that links them as outsiders. Jia is a delightful main character that most readers will easily identify with. That desire to better ourselves is universal—but at what price? The developing relationship between Jia and Darius (one of the Park Family’s most trusted advisors) brings all the feels and will have readers turning the pages as if this were meant to be a romance novel.
Which brings us to the truth of Park Avenue. Renée Ahdieh has crafted a novel that defies compartmentalization. It takes elements from mystery, romance, legal thrillers, travelogues, K-dramas, etc. and molds it into something that feels wholly original and delightfully distracting. Park Avenue is the perfect summer read—pack it for your next vacation and prepare to be whisked away in all the drama, having more fun than you ever could have expected.
BUY LINKS: Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh
Disclaimer: A print galley of this title was provided to BOLO Books by the publisher. No promotion was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.
