All the World Can Hold

by Jung Yun

Three passengers from different backgrounds board a cruise ship shortly after 9/11 and discover they can’t outrun their regrets about risks not taken.

It’s Sunday, September 16, 2001. Franny and her husband have traded in their elegant Park Avenue co-op for a suite on board the Sonata, a once-glittering cruise ship with a complicated history now long past its prime. Although they’re not “cruise people,” Franny is determined to host the trip as planned because it’s her mother’s seventieth birthday, or chilsun, a major rite of passage celebrated by Korean families. But as her husband keeps pointing out, Franny and her mother aren’t close, and it’s surreal, even wrong, to be on a cruise as the death toll from the attacks on 9/11 continues to rise.

Also on board is Doug, an ageing actor and former star of Starlight Voyages, the hit Love Boat–style television series famously filmed on the Sonata.

Meanwhile, Lucy, the only Black female graduate student in her department at MIT, has uncharacteristically accepted an invitation to join her roommate on the cruise at a time when tech companies are trying to hire her.

All the World Can Hold explores how we balance our needs, our wants, and regrets. While the great world spins, interpersonal dramas don’t cease, even as more dire ones play out in the larger world.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Summer, Audiobook, Contemporary, Family Drama

Audible Audio

First published March 10, 2026

About the author

Jung Yun was born in South Korea, raised in North Dakota, and has lived in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and most recently, Baltimore, Maryland, where she currently resides. Her short fiction has appeared in Tin House, The Best of Tin House: Stories, The Indiana Review, and The Massachusetts Review.

Her latest novel is All the World Can Hold, which will be published by 37 Ink/Simon & Schuster in March 2026. Her other novels are O Beautiful, a The New York Times and Amazon Editor’s Choice, and Shelter, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, an Amazon Best Book of the Month selection in two categories (Literature/Fiction and Mysteries/Thrillers/Suspense), an Indie Next selection, an Apple iBooks' Best Books of the Month selection, and a Goodreads Best Books of the Month selection. It was also long-listed for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, a semi-finalist for Good Reads' Best Fiction Book of 2016, and a finalist for the 2016 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program.

Reviews

[Liana Gold · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️ 4.25 ⭐️ Shortly after 9/11, three wildly different passengers board a cruise ship heading to Bermuda. Each passenger was preoccupied with their own interpersonal drama while simultaneously processing the events and the aftermath of 9/11. While this is not a 9/11 novel it had all the undertones of 9/11 just like I remember—the horrors, the smoke, the fear and the screams of that unforgettable day. I appreciated the gentle writing, the dedication and time that the author took to underline grief and remembrance. The book promised to explore the topic of balancing our needs and wants and I want to praise Jung Yun on her delicate approach on regrets and chances and what they mean to us when something larger is going on in the world.

Franny and her husband board the Sonata to celebrate her mother’s 70th birthday. While they are not “cruise people”, Franny tries really hard to please her mother and honor her through Korean traditions. As we learn about their strained mother-daughter relationship, we learn that Franny’s marriage is not as strong as it may appear from the outside. Franny carries a sense of emptiness and longing that keeps putting her at odds with her closest family members. It doesn’t help when her husband keeps pointing out to her how wrong it was for them to take a cruise so shortly after 9/11. This triggers Franny even more, allowing for more secrets and “things left unsaid” to come to the surface.

Doug is our second passenger who brings his nephew along with him so he can keep tabs on him and his addiction. He is an aging actor and a former star of a hit show that was filmed on the Sonata in the 70s. He is a heavy drinker with uncontrolled anxiety and a secret that’s so heavy, it weighted him down all his life preventing him from making amends and moving forward. He carries the grief of “the lost years” and keeps reflecting on unresolved acts of the past for which he blames himself deeply.

Meanwhile, Lucy is our young Black American female computer scientist with a doctorate from MIT looking for a job. Her desire to be a different person than who she is allowing herself to become is loud and clear. The cruise is a disaster for her- lost luggage, sunburn and seasickness and a roommate who keeps prodding and poking about her love life. She’s lonely and overwhelmed from grappling with never ending expectations of her parents. She has a hard time connecting with anyone because she prefers to keep everything and everyone at a distance. Her struggles are evident with how she thinks and speaks to others.

Even though the characters don’t intertwine or interact with each others, their stories are loosely entangled in the web of 9/11 madness. Each affected in their own way, their regrets and guilts are evident as they reflect on the events of 9/11 and the mourning that is followed. I was only a teen when I saw black smoke and panic in everyone’s eyes, especially my grandmothers who was crossing the Brooklyn Bridge when she saw the first plane hit the tower. My homeroom teacher lost her brother that day. I will never forget the emptiness and sadness that I saw in her eyes for many years afterwards. The day, its horror and fear will always stay with me. Yun boldly highlights these emotions and memorably explores how a big story changes something in the lives of small people.

I also want to point out that as an avid cruiser, this book was a breathtaking piece of accurate observations and details. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the story because when people ask me why is it that I love to cruise so much, my response is always the same “because you can see all that the world can hold”.


Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster and the author, Jung Yun for an early ARC.

Publication date: March 10, 2026

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published March 10, 2026.

4 stars

It is September 16, 2001, and a cruise to Bermuda (hey, I’m on a cruise as I type this, but not to Bermuda) that was supposed to leave from NYC is headed out from Boston instead. Onboard are: Franny, a daughter who is determined to properly host her mother’s chitsan, her seventieth birthday, a milestone in Korean families. She and her husband are fronting the celebration for her down at the heels brother and his girlfriend. Franny isn’t close to her mother and everything seems to go wrong.

Doug is an older, has-been actor, whose last major role was on a nighttime soap set on the very boating which they are sailing (think “Love Boat”/Pacific Princess, and how amazing/sad is it that the name of that ship is still etched in my mind after all of these years? Charo would be proud!) The eternal bachelor Doug has brought his nephew, Ethan as his plus one as he performs (constantly. He really needs to have his agent review his contracts more carefully) on a reunion/nostalgia tour for the series alongside two of his former costars.

Lucy is the only black, female graduate in her major at MIT, and she’s as solid as they come, so it’s a shock to all when she takes off on a cruise with her roommate whom she does not know well. It’s interview season and she’s nervous about all these tech companies that are hiring, especially one her mentor is excited about that has a funny name.

The book is interesting. Its blurb says it isn’t a 9/11 book but I beg to differ, and I think it was well done. The three primary characters and the main supporting ones are presented very well and the drama is all solid and quite believable. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Recommended.

[Tini · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the world can hold, and all we carry within it.

On September 16, 2001, three very different passengers board a cruise originally scheduled to depart from New York City but - after the attacks on the World Trade Center five days earlier - now leaving from Boston. Each has their own reasons for embarking on this unlikely voyage at such a fraught moment in time, with the country still reeling from unimaginable tragedy. What unites them is not only a shared wariness of the cruise experience, but also the regrets they carry aboard, each of their lives on the cusp of change as they search for meaning in the face of grief and uncertainty.

In All the World Can Hold, Jung Yun crafts a quiet, deeply reflective novel about the ways our private struggles continue even as history unfolds around us, about the quiet weight of regret in a world forever changed. Both the setting - a ship once featured in a television series reminiscent of The Love Boat - and the timing of the voyage on September 16, 2001, are autobiographical, according to the author's note. Yun's personal connection to the premise shines through in this tender exploration of collective grief, personal guilt, and the regrets we try, often unsuccessfully, to outrun.

This is not strictly a 9/11 novel, but the events form an essential backdrop, especially for one passenger who witnessed the fall of the first tower. The historical details are handled with remarkable care and restraint, grounding the story without overwhelming it. Instead, Yun focuses on the interior lives of her three protagonists.

Both the plotting and the lyrical prose are exceptional, and the characters are drawn with remarkable compassion and honesty - from Doug, the washed-up former TV star haunted by his past, to Franny, the painfully people-pleasing eldest daughter hosting a fraught family celebration, to Lucy, the graduate student trying to find her place in a rapidly changing world. At times, each seems to carry the weight of the entire world on their shoulders, yet Yun never judges them. Instead, she portrays them as deeply human, each carrying the quiet proof that some regrets follow us wherever we go.

The fact that these three characters never even exchange a word - each storyline unfolding in separate chapters - quietly underscores how much people carry within themselves, often unseen by those around them.

Thought-provoking and beautifully written, unflinching yet not without hope, All the World Can Hold is a tender reckoning with the end of the age of innocence.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster | 37 Ink for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

"All the World Can Hold" publishes today, March 10, 2026, and is available now.

[*ೃnaziba ˘͈ᵕ˘͈ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting ensemble style novel that surrounds our three main characters, Franny, Doug, and Lucy, each boarding a cruise ship immediately after the fallout of 9/11 for reasons that are as personal as they are complicated. Although they all come from vastly different walks of life, what binds them is the ache of regret, and the search for meaning in a life that has only become more unstable than it was before.

What struck me most is how Jung Yun resists the temptation to weave their stories into a neat intersection. Instead, the characters remain parallel lines –close enough for us to notice echoes and resonances, but never touching. This choice makes the novel feel like the literary embodiment of sonder: the realization that every person around us carries a life as vivid and intricate as our own, even if we never truly cross paths.

I really liked the cast of characters-
- Franny⌚️A Korean American woman who has organized the cruise to honor her mother’s milestone birthday, though the gesture is complicated by their strained relationship. She embodies the push and pull between duty and ambivalence, while simultaneously juggling a strained relationship with her husband, Tom.
- Doug 🎭 Once a well known actor in the 1970s, Doug now finds himself washed-up, invited back to the cruise ship where his fame took off. The adrenaline-fueled lifestyle that once defined him has given way to solitude and a desire to retreat from public view. His story carries regret and resilience, exposing the cost of reinvention and loneliness of living behind a mask.
- Lucy🩱A young Black woman whose intellect sets her apart, ends up on the cruise almost by accident, thanks to her obnoxious roommate’s spare ticket. She navigates questions of identity, belonging, and the uneasy privilege of being both underestimated and exceptional.

All the World Can Hold reminded me a lot of David Auburn’s Fifth Planet and Other Plays. (And not because I am part of the production right now) Like Auburn’s characters, Yun’s figures live in the liminal space between intimacy and distance, orbiting without ever colliding. Where Auburn sketches fleeting encounters and small scenes, Yun expands them into layered portraits, giving us the chance to dwell in their contradictions and longings. The result is a novel that feels theatrical in its attention to character and rooted in the historical moment after 9/11. This would play out wonderfully as a film.

I enjoyed this story, thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this! It will be out on March 10th, 2026!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars for All the World Can Hold

The story opens five days after 9/11. The world is still reeling, bodies are missing in the rubble, the news is dominated by Osama Bin Laden, there is talk of war, and industries are collapsing, especially travel.

Three unrelated characters are about to set sail from Boston to Bermuda on the Sonata, a cruise ship originally scheduled to depart from New York but rerouted for obvious reasons. Marketed as White Lotus meets Let the Great World Spin, I was expecting a high stakes, character driven drama.

We meet:
Franny – A married Korean woman traveling with her husband, brother, his girlfriend, and her mother to celebrate her mother’s chilsun which is a milestone 70th birthday in Korean culture. Family secrets and regrets surface along the way.
Lucy – A young Black woman, brilliant and ambitious, interviewing with a pre IPO Google. She is accompanied by her obnoxious roommate who offers her to travel on the cruise for free.
Doug – A former 1970s TV star who once lived on the ship during his Love Boat type show. He is reluctantly on board for a reunion event with fellow cast members, signing autographs and making appearances he would rather avoid.

While the setup promised White Lotus style tension, I struggled to connect with the characters. Doug was the most engaging for me, probably because I remember the Love Boat era. The plotlines often felt flat and Lucy’s 15 page struggle with the ship’s fifteen dollar a minute phone was excessive. The three storylines never truly intertwined.

The writing itself is not bad and I stayed with it because it is very much a character driven novel. However, there was no real connection between the narratives and the ending felt lackluster. It left me wanting more punch.

Nothing terrible, but nothing that stands out either.
Thank you Simon Books for my ARC!

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a prologue Jung Yun calls this her most personal book of all particularly since she and her family took a cruise on the Pacific Princess, best known to television viewers in the 70's as The Love Boat, during the week following the 9/11 attacks. This novel, fictionalized account of such a voyage, has three central characters each, as Yun has explained, representing a different part of her. Immersive and haunting, the one flaw is that after an emotional investment in all three characters, there are questions as to what happens to them although there is a brief bringing up to date of how the world changed after that horrific event, underlying the fact that the passengers on the cruise disembarked in a cloud of innocence unaware of what was to come.

[Mai H.]

ANHPI TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and 37 Ink

[Vmndetta ᛑᛗᛛ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. The writing is good and I liked the setup: three different people on a cruise right after 9/11, dealing with their own problems. Their background is unique. Franny with the Korean chilsun tradition for her mom, Doug the aging actor dealing with his past, and Lucy the young Black female grad student questioning her path. Cool concept. But honestly, I only really connected with one of the POVs. The others were fine but I sometimes found myself skimming to get back to the one I actually cared about.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Sunday after 9/11, three different passengers with three different agendas board a cruise ship bound for Bermuda. Franny is committed to honor her mother's 70th birthday, a milestone in Korean culture. Doug, a cast member from a 'Love Boat' style television show, is there as a reluctant participant in a reunion cruise for fans of the show. And Lucy, the only black graduate student in her program at MIT, is there on an impulse, invited by her roommate, and grappling with her ambivalence about her future. In the background, the world has changed, and each character confronts secrets and challenges, Jung Yun weaves a compelling story. Loved it.

[Brandon Copley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was only 18 and just starting my first semester in college when 9/11 hit, plummeting our country and the world into a new reality and a new normal. I still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I saw the towers fall.

This book takes place on a cruise ship, less than a week post 9/11, with the story jumping between three different characters. All three are still living in a sort of fugue state, not only because of the after effects of this terrible tragedy but because of the unresolved state of their lives.

There are a lot of themes to grapple with in the book- guilt, forgiveness, betrayal- but the one I came away feeling the strongest was hope. That combined with the insightful and articulate storytelling by Mrs. Yun made this a very thought provoking and enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and 37Ink for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Of Paper & Planes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was drawn to “All the World Can Hold” because of its fresh take on the 9/11 attacks and its themes of memory, connection, and trauma processing. It promised depth and reflection, which I was excited to explore. The concept is simple. Three individuals with heavy emotional baggage—Franny, Doug, and Lucy—head out on a cruise less than a week after September 11, 2001. The prose was straightforward and lovely; Yun writes with clarity and polish. The setting was vibrant and authentic. The 9/11 attacks were handled with grace and empathy. Additionally, the themes were strong and the overall premise was ambitious and intriguing. However, I struggled with this book.

I love a good “no plot, just vibes” book. Give me all the character-driven narratives. But, the pacing of this felt stagnant, with little drive to keep me turning pages. More importantly, a character-driven story requires the characters to be likable, interesting, and/or deeply relatable. I found the three narrators to be unlikable, but not so unlikable as to be interesting. And ultimately, I couldn’t relate to any of them. They were three miserable people with no real desire to take steps to become less miserable. This made them unsympathetic; I struggled to care about their journeys. Also, as the three narrators never really cross paths, it made their tales feel very disjointed, interrupting the momentum each time the voice changed. Finally, the ending was highly unsatisfying, leaving each of the three character’s stories unresolved and undercutting the impact of the narrative as a whole. Since the focus of the book wasn’t on 9/11, it felt forced to end with such a heavy-handed diatribe on the consequences of the attacks, instead of resolving the character’s emotional journeys.

Overall, “All the World Can Hold” is a book with good ideas and strong potential, but the execution didn’t land. Sharper character development and tighter pacing would have made this a much more enjoyable read. I actually think the premise would have worked much better as a collection of short stories with even more characters’ perspectives. It would be interesting to get inside the captain’s head as he grapples with 9/11, to see Franny through her mother’s eyes or her husband’s, to learn more about Doug’s co-worker, Renee, or Dario, the Italian painter, or Siobhan from Guest Services. Ultimately, this wasn’t the book for me. While I appreciated its ambition and occasional glimmers of beauty, the lack of compelling characters and momentum made it a difficult read.

Thank you to 37 Ink via NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

All the World Can Hold stood out for its elegant, understated prose and the way Jung Yun crafted such nuanced, fully realized characters. I appreciated how the 9/11 backdrop was handled with sensitivity, keeping the focus on the personal rather than the sensational. The cruise ship setting worked beautifully as both a literal and symbolic space for exploring regret, resilience, and second chances. On top of that, I really connected with the themes in this story—how it explored regret, resilience, and the possibility of second chances against the backdrop of personal and collective change. That said, the pacing felt slow at times, and the low-stakes plot didn’t always hold my attention. The shifting perspectives occasionally disrupted the flow, and I found myself wishing for a stronger emotional payoff by the end.

Thank you Net Galley and Simon & Schuster for an ARC in exchange for my review.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five days after the catastrophic 9/11 attacks in New York City, the Sonata cruise ship is re-routed to deport from Boston and the passengers make their way onboard for the five day cruise to Bermuda. On board are three passengers, whose perspectives are rotated through over the course of the novel: Franny, a Korean-American lawyer in NYC who's planned a family cruise for her mother's chilsun (70th birthday) for the last several months; Doug, a washed-up actor who's been roped into the reunion cruise for the dated Starlight Voyages show he previously starred in; and Lucy, a black graduate student at MIT who joined the cruise last minute thanks to the (free) invitation her roommate offered to her.

In the days that follow, we come to learn more about each of these characters and their individual struggles. For Franny, she's borne the weight of the family's eldest child, juggling a stressful career in law, being a wife, and trying to please her mother, who seems to favor her unemployed, financially irresponsible younger brother Jae in spite of her efforts. Doug has joined the cruise with his nephew, and despite what he anticipated to be a relaxing trip, has been roped into nonstop events and reunions with former colleagues, which bring up past memories and truths he's long overlooked. And for Lucy, she's on the cusp of a number of tech interviews that will decide her future, but struggling to come to terms with her true passions and the countless microaggressions she continues to experience as a black woman in academia.

"All the World Can Hold" is very much a character-driven novel, but I thoroughly enjoyed the steady reveal for each of these characters, and how much I came to empathize with each of them - especially Franny, as someone who grew up with a similar upbringing and expectations. Yun also layers in the the looming events of 9/11, and the devastation and chaos that the ensuing days had across the world, including this group of passengers on a seemingly disconnected world. TIn the span of five days, we see how these characters come together and how the time they spend changes their lives and relationships going forward.

Very much a recommended read when this novel is published in March 2026!

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up! This book was an emotional journey for me. Although 9/11 happened over 20 years ago—this year marks 25 years! Wow!—it brought me right back to that day. All those feelings of uncertainty, grief, and the realization that the world kept moving struck me deeply. The story focuses on three people who set sail on a cruise just days after 9/11, each with their own story and life amid the backdrop of this tragic event.

Franny, a lawyer who takes her family on a cruise to celebrate her mother’s seventieth birthday amid their strained relationship and her uncertain marriage.

Doug, an aging actor who reluctantly joins former castmates on the cruise for a reunion of the Love Boat-style show he used to star in. He’s now sober and still haunted by his past behavior.

Lucy, the only Black female graduate student in her department at MIT, joins her roommate on the cruise when she should be prepping for an interview with the funny-named new tech company, Google.

The author’s writing is exceptional, and I was completely drawn into the lives of these three characters. Each character, so distinct from the others, has their own problems, and this cruise forces them to face these underlying issues directly; their stories are complex and messy.

This is ultimately a story about how ordinary lives persist despite devastating events. It’s a reflective narrative on human connection in the face of a world-changing tragedy.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this novel and could not stop listening. This book is about 9/11. But it's not about the events of the day but rather the ripple effect of what happens what people grapple with how life can change in an instant. I was hooked from the start and found myself eager to learn more about each person has their story unfolded throughout the book. There are characters you love, characters that frustrate you, and characters that break your heart. This is a book I will not soon forget. I'm so excited to meet Jung Yun at Booktopia this May and hear more about what inspired this novel.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the week after 9/11, three vastly different people set sail on a cruise to Bermuda that was already planned and have mixed emotions about the trip and their lives. This extremely compelling story sucked me right into the narrative and didn't let me go until we docked back in Boston! I immediately felt immersed into the lives of these characters, eager to know what was going to happen next. Highly recommend!

[Amy]

Yes: A book I borrowed from the library to try before I buy (tired buying hundreds books and hating half)

I read first ch or more -first 10-100 pages skim around at times. I read many of my GR friend’s reviews. This is what I did and didn’t like:

Love the cover.

I’m loving everything this author has written. I love the
Way she writes and creates ch even if they are not likable. I love this plot!! Yes Amazon $23.07.

[Bronwyn Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nuanced, smart, and insightful: this is almost like historical fiction meets a post apocalyptic world with its location on a cruise liner days after 9/11. Each of the three characters experience life so differently and their stories and plot in this book hardly intersect so it is almost like three novella POVs in the same setting. Well written and moving.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

[Stephanie Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow but good - brought me right back to the surreal weeks after September 11. This felt more timely than ever

Thanks to Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

[Jen G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the e-ARC.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I did, I liked it a lot. Not much happened, but it was a very realistic portrayal of three people trying to make the best of a horrible time in history, and trying to be good to other humans while carving out room for their own happiness.

A bit slow at times, but so life-like. 4/5 stars. Would definitely read more by this author.

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is 9/16/2001 and The Twin Towers have collapsed. Cruise ships that were originally scheduled to leave from NYC on 9/16 are no longer able to do so. The city is in chaos and there are still people missing from the attack. Boston is the new departure location for the cruise and registered passengers have to quickly find a way to get there before their ship,The Sonata, leaves for their Caribbean travels. The trip is a themed cruise to celebrate the reunion of the cast of a 1970's television show, 'Starlight Voyages'.

On the ship are three separate groups, each onboard for a different reason. There is Doug, an actor from the original Starlight Voyages show who is nine years in recovery from decades of alcohol and drug addiction. Memories of his misbehaviors while 'under the influence' are vague or nonexistent. Accompanying him is his nephew who he hopes to get to know better. Lucy, a very successful black MIT graduate student, was invited to accompany her roommate for a free trip. They don't know each other well and this will be a voyage of discovery. Additionally, these several days away from her usually conscientious life, are troubling to her. Will her vacation away from academia have a negative impact on her future. Franny is a Korean-American attorney who has invited her family on this cruise in order to celebrate her mother's Chilsun, or 70th birthday, an important landmark in Korean culture. With her are her husband Tom, her mother, and her brother Jae and his girlfriend Esther. As she looks at her life, perfect from the outside looking in, she sees cracks ands problems she may not be ready to address.

As the cruise takes off for its five day sun-filled voyage, family secrets, uncomfortable dynamics, old resentments and new discoveries get uncovered. This is supposed to be a celebratory time but, juxtaposed with the recent collapse of the twin towers, it is a source of pain and sadness. It becomes more burdensome than happy as each of the travelers gradually realizes that their lives are not as they thought they were. Franny realizes that her relationship with her mother and husband are laden with difficulties. Doug realizes he is no longer in his prime and has little to look forward to. Lucy questions whether being a tech expert is what she really wants to do with her life.

All of the characters are deeply realized and the author weaves a narrative that is uneasy and troubling as it unfolds. I laughed out loud at the tongue and cheek observations of cruising and the ways in which each character adapted to their misconceptions about this vacation. The writing is stellar and the characterizations spot on. This novel is page-tuning literary fiction and historical fiction at its best. There were no missteps and the book has my highest recommendation.

I thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for granting me access to this advanced review copy.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three parallel stories of people on a Bermuda cruise that sails just days after the 9/11 attacks. How can we carry on with "life as usual" as our entire country has been thrown forcibly into their "unusual and unreal" reality post 9/11? Each of these characters stumble through their days on the cruise ship as they deal with the secrets they hold back from their loves ones, as well as themselves.

Franny, a Korean American daughter, wife, and NYC attorney, has organized a family cruise to celebrate her mother's birthday. It seems as though she is the only one in her family who wants to honor her mother by holding a traditional Korean chilsun (seventieth birthday) celebration Her American husband is angry that they are on the cruise and acts quite miserably.

Doug, a down on his luck actor whose one claim to fame was co-starring on a much-loved cult classic TV series set on this very cruise ship, the Aria. He was the friendly, good listening, and great advice giving bartender who really hasn't found his place in his post-fame life. He's only on the cruise because his aging agent and good friend convinced him that he needed to participate in this reunion cruise along with his castmates whom he has been estranged from for years. His nephew, Gideon, accompanies him.

Lucy, a young Black post-graduate student studying computers and AI was invited by her roommate Mariah since she had a spare ticket at the last minute. What Lucy should be doing is preparing for and going to job interviews. Instead she is fearing the fallout from missing classes, possible interviews ,facing the wrath of her parents, and learning the Mariah can be obnoxious and self-centered.

I loved that the author did not find it necessary to weave the stories of the three characters together, but to keep them separate and parallel. Each character is struggling over their own life issues as well as adjusting to the terror of the attacks. Yun's characters each explore what they find important in different times of their lives and each of those stories are filled with sadness, grief, confusion, facing unsure realities, and the changes within themselves.

All The World is Can Hold is a very sad book, filled with deep soul-searching, emotional pain and realities, but it is so worthy of being read and loved because of the pain and sadness. It makes the readers look at life a little differently as we see that so many of those around us are just getting through their days, struggling with silent issues that the choose not to share, and that we often separate ourselves from the very ones we need to hold close to our hearts.

Add this to your TBR - NOW!

Thank you, NetGalley, Simon & Shuster, and Jung Yun for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Jan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The layering of the immediate aftermath of 911 with the lives of three struggling characters locked in a staged capsule of controlled happiness and activity was fascinating. Who could imagine what it would be like to board a cruise ship several days after the destruction of 911, when the extent of how the damage would change our world was unknown, with passengers both burdened and unburdened with what happened are locked together within the constant party of a cruise ship? Within that environment, the novel explores the lives of three passengers very different from one another, who have losses of their own they must absorb and decisions about how they want to live their lives.. Each of these characters is fully drawn.

It's several days after 911. Passengers are boarding the Sonata, the former setting of a Love Boat type TV show, Starlight Voyages, for a 5 day trip to Bermuda. Several members of the former TV show are part of the draw to this cruise.

Franny, a highly successful estate attorney, has arranged for her husband and family to take this cruise in celebration of her mother’s seventieth birthday Her intent is to mark her birthday with the Korean celebration, Chelsun, an important ritual in the culture. Franny’s husband is white and has never been accepted into the family. He tells her repeatedly, how wrong it is to be on a cruise as the 9/11 death toll rises, especially since Franny and her mother have a strained relationship. For all Franny’s success, she has been shut out in favor of her dependent brother. The dynamics are fraught with tension.

Lucy is a young black academic superstar, degrees in hand, ready to enter the work world. She is on the cruise at the invitation of her spoiled, bossy roommate and feels totally out of place. She has lived under extreme pressure by her parents to live as a symbol of American success. That has taken an extreme toll on her. As the days wear on, she grapples with what she wants her life to be.

The third character is Doug, an aging, basically unemployed actor, and former star of the Starlight show. He came with his nephew, Gideon, never having read his contract requiring him to work many events with and around other former cast members. His past is riddled with secrets and bad behavior. His former coworkers remember much of what he has tried to forget.

The three stories overlay what you would expect from cruise ship life—abundance, perpetual activity, the fake happiness swirling through the air. How Yun wove all the stories together is testament to her skill. The summary at the end perfectly describes the trajectory of the world after that unimaginable tragedy.

Highly recommend.

Many thanks to Netgalley and 37 Ink (Simon &Schuster for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the yearly fan reunion of the Sonata, the ship used in the popular eighties’ television series Starlight Voyages. Many of the show's actors are on board for this cruise to Bermuda, and Doug, "the bartender," is joining them this time, as his other money-making ventures didn't materialize. Doug and the rest of the cast partied hard in the show's heyday, causing him to lose friends and family, but he has gotten sober and hopes to make amends while he still can. He brought his teen nephew as his plus one and looks forward to a relaxing time with his nephew and without too many responsibilities to the passengers/fans. He has misread the situation.

Franny, the Korean wife of a prestigious white lawyer, brought her family along on the cruise to celebrate her mother’s seventieth birthday. In Korean tradition, a parent’s seventieth is an extremely important event, celebrated with precisely made foods, flowers, and, above all, reverence. Franny is doing the best she can for her oblivious parent, who has spent her years catering to others at the restaurant she owned-she wants to do right by her mother, and perhaps have her mother finally acknowledge her. But she has some other unresolved issues of her own.

Instead of prepping for the job interviews that Lucy has lined up, she uncharacteristically decides to join her roommate’s offer of a free cruise. Lucy is graduating from MIT with an engineering degree and her work on data mining is attracting a lot of interest from lucrative companies-and even that upstart, Google. What most people don’t know about her is that she earned a double major-one in engineering and one in art. As her father keeps telling her, she has the capability to become very well off as long as she drops her dream of creating beauty, and as a rule, museums don’t feature female black artists. She has a lot to think through.

All these problems are exacerbated by the fact that the ship’s cruise is dated September 16, 2001-a week after the tragedy of September 11th. It is the duty of Sonata’s crew and the ship’s entertainers to show their passengers a wonderful time and make them forget what’s going on back home. Could that be the reason that phones and laptops have no WIFI?

Everyone has seen The Love Boat, the program on which this novel is based. The author does a great job of channeling the show, especially using its format of three stories as the frame for the book’s structure. However, while the TV plots are always resolved before the passengers leave the ship, dilemmas in the book are left open-ended, giving the reader room to keep wrestling with the characters’ problems long after the concluding sentence.

[Helen | readwithneleh · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Jung Yun’s newest book, ALL THE WORLD CAN HOLD, three different people board a cruise ship called Sonata that is headed to Bermuda, just five days after 9/11. Franny and her family are celebrating her mother’s 70th birthday, chilsun (칠순), a major milestone in Korean culture. Though not exactly a close-knit family, Franny is still determined to celebrate her mother’s birthday because that is what good daughters do. And Franny is a good daughter. Doug is an older actor who was the star of a Love Boat-style show that was filmed on the Sonata. At the urging of his agent, he reluctantly signs on for a reunion cruise for the fans of the show. Lucy is the only Black female graduate student at MIT who decides to accept an invitation from her roommate to go on a cruise last minute, instead of preparing for her interview at a new tech company named Google.

As the three set sail to Bermuda together, they embark on their own journey individually as they are confronted with the ghosts of their past and the realities of their present. The lives of these three characters are not intertwined. In fact, they do not come into direct contact with one another at all in this book, but rather circle one another, orbiting each other as often people do when they are stuck in one place together—a cruise ship or in someone’s mind. According to the author, this was the most personal book she wrote. Each of these characters represented a different part of who Yun was back in 2001. And knowing this, I paid more attention to the characters. I saw how, with each character, Yun explored painful endings, hopeful beginnings, and the journey between the two—all within the undercurrent of a national tragedy with immense consequences that would reverberate for years to come.

As the eldest Korean daughter myself, I related to Franny the most. The weight of being the planner, the caretaker, the fixer, the one to hold it all together, it’s a lot to bear. While her and her mother’s relationship do not mirror my own, Franny’s need for both approval and absolution was something I deeply resonated with. And probably because of this, I felt her story and her character was the most complex and captivating. Each character had their distinct voice, though out of the three, I felt Lucy’s story was the least compelling. But I am, once again, in awe of how Yun builds her characters, layer by layer, each with all the world can hold.

I loved Yun’s SHELTER and this one did not disappoint. This book reminded that I still need to read O, BEAUTIFUL, and that I should and will read whatever she writes next.

<>Thank you to the publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

[Preeti Mahatme · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the World Can Hold by Jung Yun is set on a cruise ship sailing to Bermuda in the week following the September 11 attacks. Rather than focusing directly on the tragedy itself, the novel places its characters in a moment when the world is grieving but life continues awkwardly onward. The novel unfolds through three parallel storylines that feel almost like three separate novellas set on the same cruise ship. The characters share the same environment but their stories rarely overlap.

The storyline I found most engaging revolves around Franny, who has arranged a chilsun (70th birthday celebration) for her mother aboard the cruise. Her husband Tom is uneasy about travelling so soon after 9/11, while her brother Jae and his maverick girlfriend Esther add another layer of tension. Their interactions bring out suppressed family tensions, unresolved past trauma, and complicated emotional dynamics. The second storyline follows Doug, an aging actor from the once-popular television series Starlight Voyages. The cruise doubles as a reunion event for fans of the show. Doug carries his own regrets and struggles with fading relevance, though this storyline did not resonate with me as strongly as the others. The third narrative centres on Lucy, who joins the cruise after her roommate’s grandmother cancels at the last minute. Lucy is navigating job interviews with tech companies and trying to figure out the direction of her life.

One element the novel captures well is the emotional conflict among the passengers: they are trying to enjoy themselves on vacation while their fellow citizens are still mourning the trauma of 9/11. At the same time, reading the novel today can make the setting feel somewhat distant, as the world has since experienced many other conflicts, wars, and tragedies. Overall, I found the book engaging and easy to read, though not particularly groundbreaking. Some sections felt repetitive, but the character-driven storytelling keeps the narrative moving. What stood out most was the final chapter, where the author reflects on the broader aftermath of 9/11—touching on the rise of global terror groups, ongoing geopolitical intervention, and the sense that the world may not have learned enough from that moment in history.

This novel will likely appeal to readers who enjoy literary fiction, family drama, and character-focused stories set against historical moments.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

🌅 I saved this novel to read in September. I thought it was fitting to recall the prevailing attitude of the country and the world during that time, over two decades ago. However, reflective as it was, I expected 9/11 to play a more significant role. This novel wasn’t above fireworks despite the story taking place during the aftermath of 9/11. All the World Can Hold lent itself more to quiet introspection. Jung Yun sets her characters adrift, literally, on a five-day cruise to Bermuda, just one week after the 9/11 attacks. The backdrop is striking: a ship suspended between destinations, mirroring passengers who are suspended between the lives they have and the lives they long for.

The book follows three central perspectives:
• Franny, a Korean American woman navigating tension with her family during her mother’s 70th birthday cruise.
• Doug, a washed-up TV actor reluctantly attending a reunion for the 1970s Love Boat–style show that defined his career.
• Lucy, a young Black woman torn between the security of a prestigious career in tech and her passion for painting.

Each is burdened with grief, regret, or yearning, and Yun’s restrained prose gives their inner lives weight. I found the 9/11 thread present but subtle and never sensationalized, more of a quiet current influencing the way each character processes their own personal crises. The cruise ship became a fascinating stage: both festive and claustrophobic, ordinary and surreal.

That said, the novel isn’t without flaws. While the prose is elegant and the themes powerful, the narratives often feel disconnected. Aside from one fleeting dinner scene, the three characters don’t meaningfully intersect, leaving the book reading more like three novellas loosely bound together. Lucy’s arc felt underdeveloped, with her motivations and emotional trajectory less fully realized than those of Franny or Doug. Pacing can also drag, especially when each voice shift disrupts the momentum. And the ending, I found that rather than resolving character arcs, Yun leaned heavily into a reflective commentary on 9/11, which undercuts the intimacy they built earlier.

Still, there are moments of brilliance. Doug’s reckoning with the ghosts of fame is quietly poignant. Franny’s family dynamics cut deep, textured with cultural specificity and long-buried resentments. And Yun’s writing shines when she captures the liminality of both ship life and emotional life—the feeling of existing between identities, eras, or choices. As one line puts it, “Sometimes breakthroughs don’t come in the form of grand gestures, but in the words left unsaid for too long that finally slip free.”

Ultimately, I found All the World Can Hold to be more contemplative than plot-driven. It was a bit slow-paced and frustrating, as I usually prefer stories to have a clear resolution at the end rather than just lingering. But if you enjoy layered character studies and elegant prose, it offers plenty to appreciate. I truly appreciate NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with the ARC in exchange for my unbiased opinion. I think I just expected more from reading the book description.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars)
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[Mal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced readers copy

3.5 stars

Three very different people board the Sonata cruise ship on September 16, 2001: Doug is returning to the ship after decades, since he played one of the starring roles in a "Love Boat" like sitcom. As a cast member returning for a reunion cruise, Doug suffers through the realities of a failed career and having to take this gig for the money; Lucy is a young Black PhD student at MIT, whose roommate offered her a free trip on the cruise when the roommate's grandmother couldn't go. While Lucy appreciates the gesture, and even finds moments when she finds some happiness, her anxiety around finishing her degree and interviewing for potential jobs keeps her from being able to be in the moment; and Franny is a Korean lawyer who bought passage for her mother, brother, and her brother's girlfriend, in order to celebrate her mother's 70th birthday (an important one in Korean culture). She also hopes that the trip will make her and her family closer, though her lie about where she actually was during 9/11 threatens to pull everything apart, even her nascent marriage.

While none of the characters in this book are likeable, Yun creates such a sense of pathos for them by setting the cruise in the wake of 9/11. I found myself being angry and then softening at the characters' behavior when considering the grief and shock they feel from the tragedy. Franny was the most interesting character, for me, as someone trying to connect with those around her (her family, her husband) but in doing what she thinks others want from her, she's keeping them all from really knowing her. Doug felt like the least compelling character. The reveal about him halfway through the novel gave his story some depth but I found myself skimming over his pages. The book lost half a star for me because of the last chapter; instead of leaving us with final images of each character, the last chapter is a summary and light polemic about what happened after 9/11, leading up to more recent events/decisions by the U.S. government. After such lyrical writing and being unsettled with these characters, the last chapter felt like it belonged to a different, almost more academic, book.

All the World Can Hold is out March 10, 2026

[Olivia Caridi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars – Thoughtful, but emotionally distant

All the World Can Hold stood out to me for its elegant, understated prose and Jung Yun’s ability to create emotionally layered, nuanced characters. I also appreciated how the book handled the 9/11 backdrop with care, never sensationalizing it, but instead using it as a quiet undercurrent to explore personal transformation. The cruise ship setting was a clever choice, serving as both a literal and metaphorical space of limbo - between places, between lives, between who these characters are and who they might become.

The novel follows three separate characters:

Franny, a Korean American woman on a family cruise to celebrate her mother’s 70th birthday, navigating decades of buried resentment and cultural tension.

Doug, a washed-up TV star returning to the ship that once served as a set for his show, reluctantly facing the ghosts of fame and relevance.

Lucy, a young, ambitious Black woman interviewing with a pre-IPO Google, brought on board by a chaotic friend and grappling with questions of identity, opportunity, and ambition.

Each character’s story has interesting elements on its own. Franny’s family dynamics are textured and culturally specific, and Doug’s quiet crisis of identity is genuinely poignant. Lucy’s storyline, however, felt the least essential to me. Her emotional arc remained murky, and by the end, I wasn’t quite sure what she had learned or how the experience had changed her.

What ultimately held the novel back for me was how disconnected these stories felt. Despite the shared setting and backdrop of post-9/11 uncertainty, the characters never truly intersected, aside from one short dinner scene between Franny’s family and Doug. I was expecting something more intertwined, White Lotus-style, where the lives and decisions of one character might ripple into the others. Instead, it felt like three loosely related novellas sharing a cruise ship.

The themes, grief, reinvention, regret, are there, and they resonate in moments. But the pacing dragged at times, and the emotional payoff I was hoping for didn’t fully land. I finished the book admiring its ambition and craft, but wishing for more cohesion and impact.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this book grabbed me immediately. Three different main characters, each in the midst of their own personal dramas, embark with their parties on a famous-but-aging cruise liner heading for Bermuda. The Sonata is famous because it was once the setting for a popular TV show called Starlight Voyages (think The Love Boat). So what’s the catch? This particular cruise sails on Sept. 16, 2001, five days after the horrific events of 9/11. Phew. I had to know what would happen.

For anyone old enough to recall that time, this novel brings back some feelings. Most of the novel’s events occur elsewhere, but the early aftermath of the attack is present on every page. The author also nails the atmosphere of the cruise experience, and in tandem with the tragedy of 9/11, there is a slight unease to the entire setting that really fit the story.

I loved the meta quality to this novel. All The World Can Hold takes place during the course of one sailing, follows three main characters, and brings each story to some sort of resolution by the time the ship docks (aka the end of the novel). If you’re *really* of a certain age, that format may sound familiar. It’s very much the way each episode of “The Love Boat” unfolded, though those stories were generally less messy, and more fully and happily resolved. Nothing is easy or neat for the characters in the novel, which should be expected given its premise.

- Franny: A Park Ave attorney, who has arranged a celebration trip for her mother’s seventieth birthday, known as chilsun, a major milestone in Korean families.
- Lucy: A graduate student at MIT, the lone Black woman, invited on the cruise by her roommate Mariah, while in the midst of high pressure interviews for coveted jobs with newly formed tech companies like Google.
- Doug: A former actor on the TV show, Doug is hired by the cruise line to participate in the Starlight Voyages Reunion Cruise. He is harboring many resentments from his time on the show, and dealing with addiction and other issues.

I really enjoyed this one. The characters had depth, it held my interest, and kept me turning pages. Overall, the novel did a great job of exploring the changing world at that time, as it spun outside the Sonata and as things changed in the lives of the characters. Recommended for readers of character-driven, family dramas and recent historical fiction. 4+ stars.