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Love Love
Judy Lee's life has not turned out the way she'd imagined. She's divorced, she's broke, and her dreams of being a painter have fallen by the wayside. Her co-worker Roger might be a member of the Yakuza gang, but he's also the only person who's asked her on a date in the last year.
Meanwhile, her bother Kevin, an former professional tennis player, has decided to donate a kidney to their ailing father -- until it turns out that he's not a genetic match. His father reluctantly tells him he was adopted, but the only information Kevin is given about his birth parents is a nude picture of his birth mother. Ultimately Kevin's quest to learn the truth about his biological parents takes him across lines he never thought he'd from tony Princeton to San Francisco's seedy Tenderloin district, from the classy tennis court to the gritty adult film industry.
Told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Judy and Kevin, Love Love is a story about two people figuring out how to live, how to love, and how to be their best selves amidst the chaos of their lives.
Meanwhile, her bother Kevin, an former professional tennis player, has decided to donate a kidney to their ailing father -- until it turns out that he's not a genetic match. His father reluctantly tells him he was adopted, but the only information Kevin is given about his birth parents is a nude picture of his birth mother. Ultimately Kevin's quest to learn the truth about his biological parents takes him across lines he never thought he'd from tony Princeton to San Francisco's seedy Tenderloin district, from the classy tennis court to the gritty adult film industry.
Told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Judy and Kevin, Love Love is a story about two people figuring out how to live, how to love, and how to be their best selves amidst the chaos of their lives.
306 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2015
12 people are currently reading
543 people want to read
About the author
Sung J. Woo
7 books29 followersSung J. Woo's short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, PEN/Guernica, and KoreAm Journal. He has written two novels, Love Love (2015) and Everything Asian (2009), which won the 2010 Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award (Youth category). In 2014, Everything Asian was chosen for Coming Together in Skokie and Niles Township. A graduate of Cornell University with an MFA from New York University, he lives in Washington, New Jersey.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
October 1, 2015
I'd rate this somewhere between 4 and 4.5 stars. Maybe 4.25?
Sometimes you read a book you know very little about, and it utterly surprises you. That was the case with Sung J. Woo's Love Love , a moving, thought-provoking, endearing, and slightly zany novel about two siblings whose lives aren't quite going the way they planned—and every step they take seems to throw them another curve.
Judy Lee is, to put it mildly, unhappy. She hasn't pursued a relationship since her marriage ended, she hasn't forgiven her father for her mother's death, she has no career prospects, and she doesn't know what she's going to do with the rest of her life. And when she meets a new man she might be interested in, he's a little more complicated than most, plus he may or may not have been a member of the Japanese Yakuza gang at some point.
"Everyone else she knew was doing productive things like buying bigger houses, raising smart kids, getting promotions. And here she was, a temp at age thirty-eight, with no husband, no house, no job, nothing. She knew she should be concerned, and to some degree she was, but whenever she fully recognized her utter lack of everything, the sheer emptiness of her life filled her up, leaving no room in her heart to even feel scared."
The only constant in Judy's life has been her older brother, Kevin. But Kevin has more than enough problems of his own. His career as a professional tennis player never really hit its stride, he's still mourning the end of his marriage, and he's just had one heck of a bombshell—after preparing to donate one of his kidneys to their dying father, he learns he isn't a genetic match. That's right, he's adopted, and he's finding this out for the first time at age 40, and all his father can give him is a nude picture of his birth mother from the 1970s.
Love Love is about trying to cope and move forward when nothing in your life seems to be going right, and when every possibility turns up more chaos than you expected. It's the story of two siblings trying to decide whether to wallow in their misery or take control of their lives when they seem utterly, completely out of control on all fronts. It's also an interesting meditation on how we choose to live our lives, on the difference between selfishness and independence, and how much of a role fate plays in the choices we make.
I found this book utterly endearing and enjoyable. I really liked both Judy and Kevin's characters, and found many of the supporting characters to be so much more fascinating and complex than I imagined. At times things happen as you expect they will, at times Woo really throws some crazy twists into his story, and while it makes the book a little quirkier than I imagined it would be, it also makes it more entertaining. Woo is a terrific storyteller and you can tell that he cares about his characters, which makes you care about them, too.
What a pleasant surprise this was! Nothing like some good family and relationship dysfunction to entertain you.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
Sometimes you read a book you know very little about, and it utterly surprises you. That was the case with Sung J. Woo's Love Love , a moving, thought-provoking, endearing, and slightly zany novel about two siblings whose lives aren't quite going the way they planned—and every step they take seems to throw them another curve.
Judy Lee is, to put it mildly, unhappy. She hasn't pursued a relationship since her marriage ended, she hasn't forgiven her father for her mother's death, she has no career prospects, and she doesn't know what she's going to do with the rest of her life. And when she meets a new man she might be interested in, he's a little more complicated than most, plus he may or may not have been a member of the Japanese Yakuza gang at some point.
"Everyone else she knew was doing productive things like buying bigger houses, raising smart kids, getting promotions. And here she was, a temp at age thirty-eight, with no husband, no house, no job, nothing. She knew she should be concerned, and to some degree she was, but whenever she fully recognized her utter lack of everything, the sheer emptiness of her life filled her up, leaving no room in her heart to even feel scared."
The only constant in Judy's life has been her older brother, Kevin. But Kevin has more than enough problems of his own. His career as a professional tennis player never really hit its stride, he's still mourning the end of his marriage, and he's just had one heck of a bombshell—after preparing to donate one of his kidneys to their dying father, he learns he isn't a genetic match. That's right, he's adopted, and he's finding this out for the first time at age 40, and all his father can give him is a nude picture of his birth mother from the 1970s.
Love Love is about trying to cope and move forward when nothing in your life seems to be going right, and when every possibility turns up more chaos than you expected. It's the story of two siblings trying to decide whether to wallow in their misery or take control of their lives when they seem utterly, completely out of control on all fronts. It's also an interesting meditation on how we choose to live our lives, on the difference between selfishness and independence, and how much of a role fate plays in the choices we make.
I found this book utterly endearing and enjoyable. I really liked both Judy and Kevin's characters, and found many of the supporting characters to be so much more fascinating and complex than I imagined. At times things happen as you expect they will, at times Woo really throws some crazy twists into his story, and while it makes the book a little quirkier than I imagined it would be, it also makes it more entertaining. Woo is a terrific storyteller and you can tell that he cares about his characters, which makes you care about them, too.
What a pleasant surprise this was! Nothing like some good family and relationship dysfunction to entertain you.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
December 20, 2015
Maybe 3.5, but I'll round up because this book really surprised me. What starts as a smart family drama ends up twisting its way through tennis, art and pornography. It's definitely strange, a little bit uncomfortable, but it's also compellingly readable.
Read
September 26, 20152 stars. I suppose it's possible to combine tennis pros, adopted and not adopted Korean citizens of New Jersey, a German Shepherd named Snaps, an ex-member of the Japanese mafia, porn stars, sometimes-enlighted artists in San Francisco and a lot of scrambled eggs and come up with a moving book, but it seems like a challenge. This is messy and sloppy, but there's potential in the writing and I'm not convinced it couldn't have worked with another good edit or two. -Sarah
October 5, 2015
This was a good read. It follows two siblings in their rapidly deteriorating lives- they are 2 years apart, Kevin 40 and Judy 38. Told in alternating chapters they each have come to a point in their lives where they have to learn to deal with their crap. Judy was left by her husband and is going from one dead end job to another and Kevin, a former tennis pro also lost his wife who wanted a divorce.
Near the beginning of the story we find out that Kevin learns a big secret that sends him across the country from NJ to California. Judy meets someone and learns about love.
There is a rattlesnake involved and a dog. And a lengthy diversion into the porn industry.
Over all it was an entertaining story.
Near the beginning of the story we find out that Kevin learns a big secret that sends him across the country from NJ to California. Judy meets someone and learns about love.
There is a rattlesnake involved and a dog. And a lengthy diversion into the porn industry.
Over all it was an entertaining story.
January 7, 2016
In Love Love, we meet two siblings, Kevin and Judy. Kevin is a tennis instructor and Judy is kind of a drifter in life. When the novel starts, Judy is about to walk out on her temp job, and Kevin is about to donate his kidney to his ailing father. Both of these things cause the two sibling's lives to take dramatic turns in different directions. This book was very well written and had excellent characters. I particularly liked the character of Claudia, but the main characters were equally engaging and interesting. Overall, I found this to be a fast paced, enjoyable read that had me gasping a few times at some of the events that occurred.
Read
April 15, 2019sort of enjoyed but also did not enjoy parts
September 16, 2015
I absolutely loved this novel. It's the story of two adult siblings whose lives are a mess. Judy is divorced, broke, and completely rudderless. Kevin, a 40 year old former professional tennis player, has decided to donate a kidney to their ailing father. Until, that is, he learns that he is not a genetic match. He was adopted, but never knew.
LOVE LOVE is a fabulous novel. It's sad and funny and smart. It takes on big topics-- family, marriage, loss, and will take you to the genteel world of professional tennis, the tony art world, and the seedy adult film industry. It has so many twists and turns that you won't be able to put it down. I certainly couldn't. A must read for fall.
LOVE LOVE is a fabulous novel. It's sad and funny and smart. It takes on big topics-- family, marriage, loss, and will take you to the genteel world of professional tennis, the tony art world, and the seedy adult film industry. It has so many twists and turns that you won't be able to put it down. I certainly couldn't. A must read for fall.
January 27, 2024
3.75/5
reminds me of pachinko in that it’s about where we come from and who we are and where we grow…
nice little tidbits of life sprinkled throughout with an interesting plot. somehow i missed the part of the cover where it says it has to do with the adult film industry, so that was interesting.
it’s a bit strange, the way that so many characters just end up making out with kevin, the main character. like, why?
has good potential, with a bit of a windy plot and somewhat interesting characters. some of the plot seems a bit silly or arbitrary or just unnecessary, but maybe that’s just life and i’m being silly.
reminds me of pachinko in that it’s about where we come from and who we are and where we grow…
nice little tidbits of life sprinkled throughout with an interesting plot. somehow i missed the part of the cover where it says it has to do with the adult film industry, so that was interesting.
it’s a bit strange, the way that so many characters just end up making out with kevin, the main character. like, why?
has good potential, with a bit of a windy plot and somewhat interesting characters. some of the plot seems a bit silly or arbitrary or just unnecessary, but maybe that’s just life and i’m being silly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2015
Sung J. Woo's second (and long awaited) novel, LOVE LOVE, had me from page one. Families - can't live with them or without them...and you'll keep turning the pages as Woo's writing draws you in to the Lee Family and the (sometimes shocking) truths that are revealed. Brothers, sisters, moms, dads, lovers/spouses/exes - they're all there. Go meet these characters...you'll care about what happens to them and find Woo's writing leaving you wanting more. Don't take so long so long to give us another novel, Sung!!!
March 20, 2017
The writing in this book drew me in. There are some brilliant sentences, and the way that he could combine description with poignancy was masterful.
But... the plot was so intense, with so many huge, crazy happenings, that by about three quarters of the way through I was tired of the twists and turns. Woo's writing is good enough to sustain a less plot-driven story. I liked the characters, but I didn't like the actual story.
But... the plot was so intense, with so many huge, crazy happenings, that by about three quarters of the way through I was tired of the twists and turns. Woo's writing is good enough to sustain a less plot-driven story. I liked the characters, but I didn't like the actual story.
August 12, 2024
Picked this book at random, and am very glad I did. It was a really fun and easy read. Some harsh subjects of death but in a digestible way.
So many fun moments… never ever would have guessed any of them.
I wish there were some more loose ends tied up at the end… but overall a great story.
So many fun moments… never ever would have guessed any of them.
I wish there were some more loose ends tied up at the end… but overall a great story.
February 13, 2016
I found this book utterly endearing and enjoyable. There is nothing like some good family and relationship dysfunction to entertain you.
December 10, 2015
Would make a great quirky, heartfelt movie.
November 5, 2024
crazy happenings & so entertaining
October 25, 2018
Rating: 3.5 stars Sung J. Woo has written an interesting story about love and its' complexities.
'Both Kevin & his sister, Judy, became single again within just months of each other-how the hell did something like that happen?'
'Why did we try so hard? Judy asked. Brian's answer was heartbreakingly simple. "I think we just wanted to be happy.' He'd begged her to let him go, so she finally did. She hung up the phone.
From afar, people and things looked solid, but upon closer examination, faults revealed themselves.
It was always easy to believe in hindsight.
How sad it was that so many things that used to exist didn't exist anymore. Everything, no matter how permanent it seemed, had a future date with oblivion.
Whatever I've done, good or bad, that's it, no do-overs. No regrets. A waste of time.
You were supposed to live in the moment, because that's all there ever was, and yet it was maybe the hardest thing to do.
We Americans have this notion that we should always be happy. It's even in the Declaration of Independence, right? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It sounds so optimistic.
Our lives are just stories we tell ourselves.
So why are you still thinking about what happened in the past? What good is it doing for you?...Think it, and then let it move through you. By looking at the past and latching on to it, you're actually in denial of the present. So be here instead, in the now. The Buddhists call this sati--mindfulness.
How sad it was that so many things that used to exist didn't exist anymore. Everything, no matter how permanent it seemed, had a future date with oblivion.
'Both Kevin & his sister, Judy, became single again within just months of each other-how the hell did something like that happen?'
'Why did we try so hard? Judy asked. Brian's answer was heartbreakingly simple. "I think we just wanted to be happy.' He'd begged her to let him go, so she finally did. She hung up the phone.
From afar, people and things looked solid, but upon closer examination, faults revealed themselves.
It was always easy to believe in hindsight.
How sad it was that so many things that used to exist didn't exist anymore. Everything, no matter how permanent it seemed, had a future date with oblivion.
Whatever I've done, good or bad, that's it, no do-overs. No regrets. A waste of time.
You were supposed to live in the moment, because that's all there ever was, and yet it was maybe the hardest thing to do.
We Americans have this notion that we should always be happy. It's even in the Declaration of Independence, right? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It sounds so optimistic.
Our lives are just stories we tell ourselves.
So why are you still thinking about what happened in the past? What good is it doing for you?...Think it, and then let it move through you. By looking at the past and latching on to it, you're actually in denial of the present. So be here instead, in the now. The Buddhists call this sati--mindfulness.
How sad it was that so many things that used to exist didn't exist anymore. Everything, no matter how permanent it seemed, had a future date with oblivion.
June 8, 2017
Love Love provided insights into a subset of the Asian American community without being cheesy or stereotypical. The book follows a middle aged Korean American brother and sister in their quest for identity and stability in their lives. The ending is believable and does not seem phony. I never felt like I had to suspend disbelief to enjoy this book. One of the characters in the book has to step into California's adult film industry to learn about his family history. There are graphic written descriptions of the inner workings of adult films. That is the only thing that kept this book from being perfect in my opinion.
November 22, 2021
I wanted so much to love this book and sprinkle five stars on it.
I did, until 75% of it.
This is a book about two siblings, Kevin and Judy. In addition to friendship, I think siblings are also underexplored relationship in the fiction world. Judy quit her temp job in her thirties and Kevin found out he was adopted. Sounds like Anakku Bukan Anakku telenovela style, but so many twist and layers unfolded, it kept me on the edge of my seat! The writing style is enjoyable, a nice pace of action, description and dialogues. Also, Kevin's profession as a professional tennis player/coach was the hook for me.
I'm not going to spoil anything, but if you okay with pornography, then go on..
The last quarter of this book is a bit meh for me. Too much explanation. I feel Woo needed to tied too many loose ends. Kevin's grieve at the end feels like a bit rushed.
However, this was an enjoyable read and I'm glad I spent a week with Kevin, Judy, Claudia, Momo and Snaps.
I did, until 75% of it.
This is a book about two siblings, Kevin and Judy. In addition to friendship, I think siblings are also underexplored relationship in the fiction world. Judy quit her temp job in her thirties and Kevin found out he was adopted. Sounds like Anakku Bukan Anakku telenovela style, but so many twist and layers unfolded, it kept me on the edge of my seat! The writing style is enjoyable, a nice pace of action, description and dialogues. Also, Kevin's profession as a professional tennis player/coach was the hook for me.
I'm not going to spoil anything, but if you okay with pornography, then go on..
The last quarter of this book is a bit meh for me. Too much explanation. I feel Woo needed to tied too many loose ends. Kevin's grieve at the end feels like a bit rushed.
However, this was an enjoyable read and I'm glad I spent a week with Kevin, Judy, Claudia, Momo and Snaps.
March 23, 2022
The best part of this novel is the pretty cover! Seriously, the novel has too many themes. It's about relationships between immigrant parents and children, bereavement, pornography and sex work, adoption, growing into middle age without a partner and children and romantic love. AND then there is the cost of medical care and a ridiculous scene where one of the characters is bitten by a rattle snake of all things and doesn't have medical insurance and is flipping out about the cost. But, magically, her problems go away because her brand new boyfriend has millions of dollars in the bank that he inherited.
March 11, 2019
This one took me a long time to get through. It's well written, but I just really didn't ever connect with the characters enough to care about finishing to see what happened to them. Interesting treatment of a common enough premise - man finds out he's adopted and goes in search of his birth parents - and I thought the secondary characters of the artist mother/tennis student daughter, porn actor/therapist biological father, porn actress faux-sister, and Snaps the dog were all more interesting than the brother and sister main characters.
did-not-finish
July 15, 2018DNF at 52%. I would’ve given up sooner since it never really caught my interest — neither of the siblings are particularly sympathetic characters; it’s hard to care what happens to such passive, seemingly misandric individuals, especially when that something is so full of cliches — and the writing style feels awkward, but I was hoping to finally knock out the “summer sport” book from my reading challenge. Guess I’ll have to keep looking.
August 27, 2021
Overall good book
minor quibbles - the plot did get a little ridiculous at times. the chapters from Kevin were way more engrossing than the chapters from Judy, and Judy was somewhat of a frustrating/unlikable character, though maybe that portrayal is purposeful esp in the context of likely mental illness.
Overall though enjoyed the plot and themes.
4/5.
minor quibbles - the plot did get a little ridiculous at times. the chapters from Kevin were way more engrossing than the chapters from Judy, and Judy was somewhat of a frustrating/unlikable character, though maybe that portrayal is purposeful esp in the context of likely mental illness.
Overall though enjoyed the plot and themes.
4/5.
July 9, 2025
DNF page 133. I don’t really know how to explain my thought. The story was interesting and sometimes I really wanted to keep reading it but damn was it slow. I was not interested after feeling like I’ve been reading it forever and was barely on page 100. I thought I would be able to push through but I give up. No thank you
June 6, 2019
Great characters! A wacky plot line that is surprisingly realistic. It’s about the love you look for in a partner and the love you wish to rely on with family members, and how these relationships can get intertwined.
May 30, 2017
This book is definitely not what I expected, but it is written well, the characters are developed well, and it's truly a unique yet heartwarming story, even if certain scenes may shock some readers.
February 26, 2019
It was good. I had no idea what it was about but gave it a shot and I enjoyed it for sure.
October 13, 2019
Story of a brother and sister and their adventures through life.
March 30, 2020
I found this to be a weirdly awkward book, but endearing .
December 23, 2021
Engaging story of two middle aged, recently divorced siblings.
May 26, 2025
Love a good tennis metaphor
August 10, 2025
Much like Challengers, a beautiful piece that’s about tennis but also not about tennis and kind of no one wins in the end but in a good way.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews