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Something Close to Nothing
Featuring a mixed-race (Asian-white) gay male couple starting a family via a gestational surrogate, Tom Pyun’s Something Close to Nothing is a dark and hilarious debut that explores what happens when we go after everything we want in life.
Winston Kang and Jared Cahill are traveling to Cambodia to meet the surrogate of their baby girl and witness her birth. The egg donor is Korean American, just like Wynn, and Jared, who is white, can’t wait to meet his daughter and raise their beautiful, hip family. Named after Jared’s favorite star (more Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie’s Choice, less Mamma Mia and Devil Wears Prada), Meryl will be a cool Bay Area kid. She will eat organic baby food, learn French, and attend Wellesley, Williams, or Wesleyan. But when Wynn bails on Jared and Meryl at the last minute to pursue his dream of becoming a hip-hop dancer, the master plan begins to crumble. Jared starts to panic that no one in his life can talk to Meryl about her period or what it’s like to grow up as an Asian American person. Oceans away, Wynn is figuring out what it means to put himself first—auditioning for Misty Espinoza’s comeback tour, organizing a Prince-themed flash mob, and reconnecting with his old friend, Nicole, in Nairobi, where they try to make sense of their weird but mostly single lives.
Everything’s amazing, right?
Told in alternating points of view, Wynn and Jared explore the dark side of the very American idea of following one’s dreams, whether it be pursuing a career in dance or having a biological child as a gay man, a la Andy Cohen, and Anderson Cooper. Along their messy tragi-comic journey, unresolved issues of race, identity, and privilege haunt them, pulling at the loose threads of their fantasies and raising the question of whether they will ultimately face themselves and grow up.
Written by the gifted and humorous Tom Pyun, Something Close to Nothing is a sardonic and addictive page-turner inspired by the author’s personal experience building a non-traditional LGBTQ family.
Winston Kang and Jared Cahill are traveling to Cambodia to meet the surrogate of their baby girl and witness her birth. The egg donor is Korean American, just like Wynn, and Jared, who is white, can’t wait to meet his daughter and raise their beautiful, hip family. Named after Jared’s favorite star (more Kramer vs. Kramer and Sophie’s Choice, less Mamma Mia and Devil Wears Prada), Meryl will be a cool Bay Area kid. She will eat organic baby food, learn French, and attend Wellesley, Williams, or Wesleyan. But when Wynn bails on Jared and Meryl at the last minute to pursue his dream of becoming a hip-hop dancer, the master plan begins to crumble. Jared starts to panic that no one in his life can talk to Meryl about her period or what it’s like to grow up as an Asian American person. Oceans away, Wynn is figuring out what it means to put himself first—auditioning for Misty Espinoza’s comeback tour, organizing a Prince-themed flash mob, and reconnecting with his old friend, Nicole, in Nairobi, where they try to make sense of their weird but mostly single lives.
Everything’s amazing, right?
Told in alternating points of view, Wynn and Jared explore the dark side of the very American idea of following one’s dreams, whether it be pursuing a career in dance or having a biological child as a gay man, a la Andy Cohen, and Anderson Cooper. Along their messy tragi-comic journey, unresolved issues of race, identity, and privilege haunt them, pulling at the loose threads of their fantasies and raising the question of whether they will ultimately face themselves and grow up.
Written by the gifted and humorous Tom Pyun, Something Close to Nothing is a sardonic and addictive page-turner inspired by the author’s personal experience building a non-traditional LGBTQ family.
250 pages, Paperback
Published November 12, 2024
7 people are currently reading
311 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 29, 2024
Sharp, funny, and a wonderfully wild read. One of the best novels that I have read about the dark side of modern queer coupledom. Highly recommend.
January 12, 2025
Get ready to laugh out loud. The two main characters are unlikable and make poor choices. But the author brings it all together for a five star rating.
September 15, 2025
This review first appeared on my Substack newsletter, Omnivorous.
Full spoilers for the novel follow.
Something Close to Nothing is one of those books that I just happened to stumble across when I was perusing the new releases section of the local library. I swear, I sometimes find the most compelling reads by accident, and so it proved to be in this case. Tom Pyun’s novel grabbed me from its first pages, and it held me until the very last. It’s a powerful and frustrating read, grappling with some of the weightier issues and contradictions in contemporary queer dating life. It’s going to be one of those books that I’m going to have to sit with for a while in order to figure out just how I feel about it, and I personally think that’s a good thing.
This is, to be sure, a strange novel, since it is essentially a romance in reverse. Rather than showing how it comes to pass that two people fall in love, it focuses instead on how two people fall out of love and the fallout that results. As the novel progresses and they each take their own paths in life, they find themselves looking back at what’s happened to them and wondering just how they’re going to be able to piece their separate lives back together, if in fact they’re going to be able to do so at all.
When the novel begins, Jared and Wynn are a somewhat-happy couple on the cusp of adopting a child and entering a new chapter of their life together. Unbeknownst to Jared, however, Wynn is desperately unhappy in their relationship and so, when they arrive at the airport and prepare to depart for Cambodia, he just decides that he can’t do it anymore and leaves Jared right there. It’s quite an astonishing action and, as the rest of the book proves, this is very much on brand for him. The novel proceeds to follow each of them as they navigate the deeply fraught space their lives have become.
I know that some might find these two characters irritating and, to be sure, they are very annoying and engage in some pretty toxic behavior toward one another. At the same time, I think that’s precisely what makes them so compelling and, dare I say it, realistic. So often in fiction we’re given sanitized versions of queer characters, so I want to give Pyun a lot of credit for giving us two men who are, to put it bluntly, complete and total messes. These two people couldn’t get their shit together if they were paid to do so, and that’s both very sad and strangely compelling to read.
Wynn, for example, is in some ways the very epitome of a man child. He has almost no ability to regulate his emotions, which is precisely why he leaves Jared alone at the airport, at the very last moment, then proceeds to make one bad choice after the other. To be fair, though, he’s someone who’s had his own fair share of struggles. There’s the fact that he’s an Asian-American in a country that is still deeply hostile for anyone who isn’t White. There’s the fact that he’s never really figured out how to be a functioning adult and, perhaps most tragically, he’s also an orphan, having lost both of his parents. Is it any wonder that he ends up not knowing exactly how to figure out what he wants in life or how to behave in a way that doesn’t sow destruction around him?
Jared might be more competent and driven than Wynn, but that doesn’t mean that he’s any better at getting his shit together. In some ways, in fact, he’s even bigger of a hot mess, in no small measure because his childhood was deeply dysfunctional, with a single mother who clearly didn’t want to be a mother and a sister who was an addict. He might keep it together long enough to see the whole surrogacy through to completion–though not without a significant amount of drama and difficulty–but his life proceeds to spiral out of control after that. After all, this is a man who ends up having a little sexy time with two young interns, only realizing too late–when he’s confronted by HR and legal–that the two of them were still employed by his company. And don’t get me started on his various other hangups, both about sex and about being gay in general.
I have to say, then, that I admire this book for giving us two characters who are about as far from likable as it’s possible to be. There were numerous times throughout the book where I just could not with the behavior that these two men exhibited, both toward one another and toward the world in general. I mean, how are you going to just leave your partner at the airport when the two of you have already done the legwork to adopt a baby? For that matter, how are you going to have made it this far in your relationship without having at least one check-in to make sure that both of you are at least mostly happy and satisfied?
To put it differently: queer relationships, just like straight ones, are incredibly messy things, and I appreciate the way that Something Close to Nothing doesn’t shy away from showing that. This is a book that is pretty clearly for us, and that’s a powerful thing, particularly in the increasingly unsettled world in which we find ourselves. It’s a book that is at times difficult to read–there’s a twist near the end that I most definitely did not see coming–but that’s precisely what makes it so important. I’m glad that we have writers like Pyun who are willing to take risks that may or not pay off, that challenge us as readers to grapple with our discomfort.
I’m a little on the fence about the time jump that leads us to the end, but perhaps that’s the point. Life, and the stories we tell about it, are sometimes difficult, and that’s okay. Something Close to Nothing reminds us that sometimes there are no easy answers and that, too, is okay.
Full spoilers for the novel follow.
Something Close to Nothing is one of those books that I just happened to stumble across when I was perusing the new releases section of the local library. I swear, I sometimes find the most compelling reads by accident, and so it proved to be in this case. Tom Pyun’s novel grabbed me from its first pages, and it held me until the very last. It’s a powerful and frustrating read, grappling with some of the weightier issues and contradictions in contemporary queer dating life. It’s going to be one of those books that I’m going to have to sit with for a while in order to figure out just how I feel about it, and I personally think that’s a good thing.
This is, to be sure, a strange novel, since it is essentially a romance in reverse. Rather than showing how it comes to pass that two people fall in love, it focuses instead on how two people fall out of love and the fallout that results. As the novel progresses and they each take their own paths in life, they find themselves looking back at what’s happened to them and wondering just how they’re going to be able to piece their separate lives back together, if in fact they’re going to be able to do so at all.
When the novel begins, Jared and Wynn are a somewhat-happy couple on the cusp of adopting a child and entering a new chapter of their life together. Unbeknownst to Jared, however, Wynn is desperately unhappy in their relationship and so, when they arrive at the airport and prepare to depart for Cambodia, he just decides that he can’t do it anymore and leaves Jared right there. It’s quite an astonishing action and, as the rest of the book proves, this is very much on brand for him. The novel proceeds to follow each of them as they navigate the deeply fraught space their lives have become.
I know that some might find these two characters irritating and, to be sure, they are very annoying and engage in some pretty toxic behavior toward one another. At the same time, I think that’s precisely what makes them so compelling and, dare I say it, realistic. So often in fiction we’re given sanitized versions of queer characters, so I want to give Pyun a lot of credit for giving us two men who are, to put it bluntly, complete and total messes. These two people couldn’t get their shit together if they were paid to do so, and that’s both very sad and strangely compelling to read.
Wynn, for example, is in some ways the very epitome of a man child. He has almost no ability to regulate his emotions, which is precisely why he leaves Jared alone at the airport, at the very last moment, then proceeds to make one bad choice after the other. To be fair, though, he’s someone who’s had his own fair share of struggles. There’s the fact that he’s an Asian-American in a country that is still deeply hostile for anyone who isn’t White. There’s the fact that he’s never really figured out how to be a functioning adult and, perhaps most tragically, he’s also an orphan, having lost both of his parents. Is it any wonder that he ends up not knowing exactly how to figure out what he wants in life or how to behave in a way that doesn’t sow destruction around him?
Jared might be more competent and driven than Wynn, but that doesn’t mean that he’s any better at getting his shit together. In some ways, in fact, he’s even bigger of a hot mess, in no small measure because his childhood was deeply dysfunctional, with a single mother who clearly didn’t want to be a mother and a sister who was an addict. He might keep it together long enough to see the whole surrogacy through to completion–though not without a significant amount of drama and difficulty–but his life proceeds to spiral out of control after that. After all, this is a man who ends up having a little sexy time with two young interns, only realizing too late–when he’s confronted by HR and legal–that the two of them were still employed by his company. And don’t get me started on his various other hangups, both about sex and about being gay in general.
I have to say, then, that I admire this book for giving us two characters who are about as far from likable as it’s possible to be. There were numerous times throughout the book where I just could not with the behavior that these two men exhibited, both toward one another and toward the world in general. I mean, how are you going to just leave your partner at the airport when the two of you have already done the legwork to adopt a baby? For that matter, how are you going to have made it this far in your relationship without having at least one check-in to make sure that both of you are at least mostly happy and satisfied?
To put it differently: queer relationships, just like straight ones, are incredibly messy things, and I appreciate the way that Something Close to Nothing doesn’t shy away from showing that. This is a book that is pretty clearly for us, and that’s a powerful thing, particularly in the increasingly unsettled world in which we find ourselves. It’s a book that is at times difficult to read–there’s a twist near the end that I most definitely did not see coming–but that’s precisely what makes it so important. I’m glad that we have writers like Pyun who are willing to take risks that may or not pay off, that challenge us as readers to grapple with our discomfort.
I’m a little on the fence about the time jump that leads us to the end, but perhaps that’s the point. Life, and the stories we tell about it, are sometimes difficult, and that’s okay. Something Close to Nothing reminds us that sometimes there are no easy answers and that, too, is okay.
January 9, 2025
“Adulthood isn’t a fairy tale; long-term relationships don’t play out like a Hallmark movie. Relationships are primarily about having shared goals, like creating a family. You have to be in it for the long haul.”
Winston (Wynn) and Jared have been together for a number of years now. Jared is the responsible one; Wynn recently quit his corporate job to become a hip-hop dancer. But they’re about to take a major step: flying to Cambodia for the birth of their baby girl via a surrogate.
The thing is, Wynn isn’t so sure he wants to be a father. Jared may already be planning for their second child, but Wynn can’t imagine being tied down, forced to take care of a baby and give up his dreams. As they get ready to board the plane, Wynn flees, leaving Jared alone with no explanation.
Jared can’t believe that Wynn didn’t tell him sooner that he didn’t want a baby. But Jared desperately wants to be a father, so he makes the trip on his own and his mother meets him in Cambodia, where they await the birth of his daughter.
As Jared deals with the rigmarole of surrogacy in a foreign country and then settles in back at home in San Francisco with his new daughter, Wynn is trying to find himself and get started on his new dance career. Jared devotes himself to fatherhood while Wynn auditions for a singer’s comeback tour and teaches dance in different countries. Both think the other is self-centered and wonder if they made a mistake, but try to get on with their lives.
Neither character is entirely likable, but you can see how they are both right and completely wrong for one another. This is a book about what it feels like to realize you need to grow up, and how you don’t have to give yourself up to be with someone else. It’s both a funny and sad story, and very thought-provoking.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.
Winston (Wynn) and Jared have been together for a number of years now. Jared is the responsible one; Wynn recently quit his corporate job to become a hip-hop dancer. But they’re about to take a major step: flying to Cambodia for the birth of their baby girl via a surrogate.
The thing is, Wynn isn’t so sure he wants to be a father. Jared may already be planning for their second child, but Wynn can’t imagine being tied down, forced to take care of a baby and give up his dreams. As they get ready to board the plane, Wynn flees, leaving Jared alone with no explanation.
Jared can’t believe that Wynn didn’t tell him sooner that he didn’t want a baby. But Jared desperately wants to be a father, so he makes the trip on his own and his mother meets him in Cambodia, where they await the birth of his daughter.
As Jared deals with the rigmarole of surrogacy in a foreign country and then settles in back at home in San Francisco with his new daughter, Wynn is trying to find himself and get started on his new dance career. Jared devotes himself to fatherhood while Wynn auditions for a singer’s comeback tour and teaches dance in different countries. Both think the other is self-centered and wonder if they made a mistake, but try to get on with their lives.
Neither character is entirely likable, but you can see how they are both right and completely wrong for one another. This is a book about what it feels like to realize you need to grow up, and how you don’t have to give yourself up to be with someone else. It’s both a funny and sad story, and very thought-provoking.
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.
December 14, 2024
Having read quite a bit of contemporary queer fiction this year, I can state unequivocally that Tom Pyun's brilliant book stands out from the pack. This debut novel -- about one gay couple's life-changing breakup triggered by the pending adoption of an Asian baby abroad -- is packed with deft insights about and sometimes-humorous critiques of racism, classism, sexism, and internalized homophobia. Pyun holds nothing back in his savage satire of guppie/artiste capitalism; his characters are never anything but believable, even as they vacillate between deep self-awareness and just-as-deep willful ignorance. I enjoyed how the story bounced back and forth between two equally unreliable narrators and Pyun delivered one plot-twist after another without ever leaving the realm of possibility. Furthermore, I appreciated his not saving something for later but instead constantly turning up the volume and amping up the drama. That he is able to do so with such page-turning prose is even more impressive. Some might categorize "Something Close to Nothing" as popular fiction. My one question in that case is... How do I help make this book even more popular?
April 10, 2025
This novel, although engaging, left a bad aftertaste. It opens with a guppy couple headed to adopt their surrogate baby. Of course things don’t go right and the two separate. The novel follows their separate lives weaving between the past and present. One partner is obsessed with finding the perfect familial life while the other is intent on becoming a dancer - despite his 30-something age. Neither are very likable, especially the narcissist dancer. There are some very funny moments in their journeys, but toward the novel’s end, we take a dive and I had to ask myself “Why?” I am probably not in the demographic to read this book, but having been on the planet for six decades I wondered why a more satisfying ending couldn’t have been achieved. It came across as “What’s the most dramatic way to end a book?” was googled and then applied. One of the joys of reading is that you develop a relationship with the characters. Unfortunately I felt jilted by the characters at the end of this one.
Read
December 28, 2024An interracial gay couple comes apart as each man pursues unfulfilled ambitions. The tone of Tom Pyun’s début novel is dark, even hapless at times, but the characters’ journeys are engrossing and tell an impactful story about the challenge of trying to find oneself in the modern world against currents of racism, homophobia, and the relentless American drive for material success.
Read the rest of my review at Out in Print.
Read the rest of my review at Out in Print.
April 9, 2025
A darkly funny, messy, chaotic story of modern queer relationships. Wynn and Jared are at the airport, preparing to fly to Cambodia to watch their surrogate give birth to their daughter, when Wynn realizes he doesn't want to be a dad and runs away in a panic. Their frenzied choices lead them farther and farther from each other as Wynn and Jared search for their own versions of a good life. Full of shocking twists and misguided yet endearing characters, it kept me on my toes from start to finish.
July 7, 2025
Thrilling story about choosing what you want and taking the leap to build a different life than imagined. This story to me is about changing your mind and going with what you want. It explores the sensations of uncertainty and impermanence. It felt super relatable. It was playful and fun to travel to across the US and overseas following the aspirations of these characters. Also dips into the intricacies of intimacy and got quite steamy at parts xp. I enjoyed the layers of family and chosen family in this story. Also that twist at the end!
November 13, 2024
Hilarious page-turner that kept me hooked from the beginning! Somehow this book manages to leave no complexity unexamined (class, race, identity, you name it) while also just being LOL funny and entertaining—especially Wynn’s misadventures. I walked away from the book with a lot of questions and what ifs, and some true heartache for the characters. Highly recommend as a genuinely fun but thought-provoking read.
February 20, 2025
This book has a cinematic quality that captivates the reader. The author skillfully immerses us in the lives of the two protagonists, Wynn and Jared, both of whom are flawed yet well-intentioned men in search of happiness. The story is told from a first-person perspective, alternating between the two characters in each chapter. The ending is unexpected but satisfying. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and happily recommend it to future readers.
March 20, 2025
3.5 rounded up. The writing was a bit stiff but the story was quite funny, reminds me of a grown-up, written version of Never Have I Ever with main characters that are frankly downright disasters.
Also, the main character being a Queer Korean-American who doesn't like corporate work and then goes to pursue his dream which goes horribly wrong and doesn't result in acclaim and success is maybe the sign I need to enjoy my job lmao.
Also, the main character being a Queer Korean-American who doesn't like corporate work and then goes to pursue his dream which goes horribly wrong and doesn't result in acclaim and success is maybe the sign I need to enjoy my job lmao.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2024
My friend Tom's novel is a fast-paced and funny exploration of the messiness of American life. Ideas about race, sexuality, parenthood, and ambition undergird a truly entertaining story. I finished it in two days!
January 3, 2025
Interesting plot and premise. Hat tip for the sidebar into expat SRHR life in Nairobi! I can't decide if the futurist dystopian ending was a nice touch or over the top (which would be on point for this book).
January 23, 2025
This book was a very pleasant surprise. Well-paced & interesting plot: SF interracial Millennial gay couple struggling with relationship, jobs/$, and an impending surrogacy. Really liked the nonlinear storyline and attention paid to intersectionality of race/sexuality.
April 17, 2025
Wow I am so infuriated at the ending/epilogue lol?? I feel like nothing was resolved here. I get that sometimes things happen but I was following along for character growth and then it’s just… the end
January 1, 2025
This was a fun read and unexpected!
January 31, 2025
A compelling book with characters you can’t help but want to know more about, even as they repeatedly stumble.
September 3, 2025
full of cliches and stereotypes. Totally devoid of cleverness. The only thing special about it is its uniqueness.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews