Pablo is an NYU drop out and is now working the graveyard shift at his local bodega, selling overpriced goods to the posh neighbours. He's in over his head with debt, dogging credit collectors' phone calls and letters, and doesn't know how he's going to come up with his next rent payment.
During a snowstorm, at 5:00 a.m., pop sensation Leanna Smart wanders into the shop. At first Pablo doesn't recognize her, she is by herself with no entourage in sight. There is instant chemistry and soon the two are involved in an intense relationship that has to be kept on the down-low—Pablo puts everything on hold to be with Leanna.
But then the world finds out...
Permanent Record is a character study and comment on society's warped obsession with celebrity culture and social media. True to Choi, her characterization is the perfect combination of complex and endearing. Pablo is an interesting, layered, and dynamic character with an affinity for creating unique pairings of junk food. With Lee, we get a glimpse of celebrity—how the public obsesses over them, the relentless machine of the paparazzi, and how image is everything no matter how fake. And in this artificial world, Pab and Lee's relationship is real and actually quite beautiful.
New York City is so much more than the setting. It becomes a living, breathing character in this story. Choi's sweeping descriptions of the city capture the grit and beauty—even if you have never been to NYC, you can visualize it because of her writing.
Choi strikes the right balance of teenage angst and awkwardness against a beautiful love story. Readers will love this cast as well as this whirlwind affair. Congratulations, Mary, on another fab book!
MARY H. K. CHOI is a writer for The New York Times, GQ, Wired, and The Atlantic. She has written comics for Marvel and DC, as well as a collection of essays. Mary's debut novel Emergency Contact was a New York Times bestseller.
Choi grew up in Hong Kong and Texas and now lives in New York.
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