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Flux
A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his mysterious employers have inadvertently discovered time travel—and are using it to cover up a string of violent crimes...
Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.
So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.
Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.
Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.
So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.
Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 21, 2023
613 people are currently reading
33894 people want to read
About the author
Jinwoo Chong
4 books368 followersJinwoo Chong is the author of the novels I Leave It Up to You and Flux, a New York Times Editor’s Choice, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and named a best book of 2023 by Esquire, Apple Books, HuffPost, GQ, Cosmopolitan, and Goodreads.
His short stories and other work have appeared or are forthcoming in Guernica, The Southern Review, The Rumpus, LitHub, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Electric Literature.
He lives in New York.
His short stories and other work have appeared or are forthcoming in Guernica, The Southern Review, The Rumpus, LitHub, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Electric Literature.
He lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,334 reviews
June 18, 2024
this is an untraditional, timeline-twisting book in which a company has accidentally invented time travel and is committing inter-time violence accordingly...
and somehow the most unrealistic part was its depiction of human emotion.
the thing they never tell you about sexism is that it's boring. that's the worst part of misogyny: just the most boring female characters you've ever read.
ok, maybe not the worst part. but it's not in my personal favorites.
i am personally of the opinion that if you are going to tell me something relatively insane, such as time travel is real and being hoarded for evil by corporations (with some parts of that being less insane than others), you need to ground me in the narrative. maybe give me some lovable characters. maybe give me some real-feeling feelings. dare i say give me a dose of reality via human relationships, or human life, or human thought patterns.
this book skipped all of that, and the result was dramatic and annoying.
bottom line: logically i know i read this as a book. but in my heart, this is one of those budgetless interchangeable shows you scroll past on a lesser streaming platform and know no human has ever watched or talked about.
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tbr review
time travel!!!
and somehow the most unrealistic part was its depiction of human emotion.
the thing they never tell you about sexism is that it's boring. that's the worst part of misogyny: just the most boring female characters you've ever read.
ok, maybe not the worst part. but it's not in my personal favorites.
i am personally of the opinion that if you are going to tell me something relatively insane, such as time travel is real and being hoarded for evil by corporations (with some parts of that being less insane than others), you need to ground me in the narrative. maybe give me some lovable characters. maybe give me some real-feeling feelings. dare i say give me a dose of reality via human relationships, or human life, or human thought patterns.
this book skipped all of that, and the result was dramatic and annoying.
bottom line: logically i know i read this as a book. but in my heart, this is one of those budgetless interchangeable shows you scroll past on a lesser streaming platform and know no human has ever watched or talked about.
------------------
tbr review
time travel!!!
March 11, 2023
You know that 4 Non Blondes lyric "I scream at the top of my lungs, what's going on?" Yeah, that was pretty much me from the first until the last page on this book.
Flux was a bizarre and wild ride that had me equal parts confused and hooked. It was intriguing, clever and mind bending with a strong 'Inception' vibe. I'm not sure I was smart enough for this book but I nevertheless enjoyed the reading experience.
TW: mentions of suicide and racism
Flux was a bizarre and wild ride that had me equal parts confused and hooked. It was intriguing, clever and mind bending with a strong 'Inception' vibe. I'm not sure I was smart enough for this book but I nevertheless enjoyed the reading experience.
TW: mentions of suicide and racism
Want to read
September 1, 2022THIS COVER!
February 26, 2023
Flux is a novel as dazzling and stylish as its bright-yellow cover. It’s a time-travel mystery filtered through its central character’s obsession with a 1980s neo-noir detective show, and it also involves a suspiciously inert tech company led by a wunderkind entrepreneur (yes, there are Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos vibes here) – but at is heart is a story about family, grief, identity. Once the book hit its stride, I could hardly bear to tear myself away from it. Three narratives, each as compelling as the next, entwine to fantastic effect. The writing is excellent; the plot is beautifully structured and the details frequently unexpected, with the overall result reminding me of The Gone World, Reprieve and John Darnielle’s books. Equally thrilling and thoughtful.
I received an advance review copy of Flux from the publisher through NetGalley.
I received an advance review copy of Flux from the publisher through NetGalley.
February 13, 2023
Unfortunately this book didn't do it for me..
Even though the prose had a nice flow to it and this helped immensely with the quick pace of the book, I felt that almost everything else was lackluster.
The plot was pretty confusing and took, in my opinion, too long for everything to connect and make a cohesive story. When that finally happened (around the final third) I had literally no interest in any of the characters and so the final act didn't have the impact it could have had.
Thanks to NetGalley and Melville House for providing me with an arc.
Even though the prose had a nice flow to it and this helped immensely with the quick pace of the book, I felt that almost everything else was lackluster.
The plot was pretty confusing and took, in my opinion, too long for everything to connect and make a cohesive story. When that finally happened (around the final third) I had literally no interest in any of the characters and so the final act didn't have the impact it could have had.
Thanks to NetGalley and Melville House for providing me with an arc.
April 25, 2023
Ok so you know how in LOST you follow these characters on an island and you get flashbacks to get to know them and shit? This was just A LOT of flashbacks before we’re even told how/if the characters know each other and we get to know what their “present” is like.
I’m sure this can work for many and I really wanted to like it, but it just didn’t do it for me. The story took a long time to connect the dots and by then, I just didn’t care. I was curious, bit I was then disenchanted. So yeah, this may work for you if you like fast paced sci-fi and time travel, I just don’t like being confused for so long I guess.
I’m sure this can work for many and I really wanted to like it, but it just didn’t do it for me. The story took a long time to connect the dots and by then, I just didn’t care. I was curious, bit I was then disenchanted. So yeah, this may work for you if you like fast paced sci-fi and time travel, I just don’t like being confused for so long I guess.
September 28, 2022
Flux was certainly an interesting read: really mind-bending in many ways. I enjoyed the different styles of storytelling between chapters and it all flowed seamlessly and worked well. It's one of those stories where you just have to accept things to begin with, because everything will (mostly) become clear later on. I was still left with a few questions at the end, but not in a way that irritated me. It is a piece that focuses on a number of different themes and does so with sensitivity. It may be a little too 'out there' for some readers, but if you don't mind something on the experimental side it's definitely worth checking out. It gets 4.5 stars from me.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 23, 2023
OMG OMG OMG Get this book. Not just because it's been heralded as one to read, and Jinwoo Chung as an author to watch. Not just because of the glowing review in the NYT Books, and not just because it's a complex and nuanced look at our current world through the eyes of individuals that don't always have a voice. I love this book because I know Jinwoo Chong! He was my student at my high school - a gifted and kind tutor. What an amazing feeling to know the person behind this book that will make top ten lists all year!
ANYWAY, Flux is aptly named as nothing stand still for long as we learn more and more about three males - 8 year old Bo, 28 year old Brandon and 48 year old Blue. The three are related in some way, revealed at the end and as we learn about their lives, Chong adds speculative fiction elements in time traveling and a noirish component via an 80's detective show.
Admiss their travails there is corporate espionage, tech startup culture, gay life, and the every day indignaties of contemporary life in America. The structure, plotting and pacing is perfect and I cannot wait to see what this 27 year old writes next! if you love contemporary fiction, the novels of David Mitchell or Charles Yu, or are just read to see what the new young guns are writing about, Flux is for you!
#Melville #flux #JinwooChung #PHS #PrincetonHigh #IdeasCenter #Netgalley #Edelweiss
ANYWAY, Flux is aptly named as nothing stand still for long as we learn more and more about three males - 8 year old Bo, 28 year old Brandon and 48 year old Blue. The three are related in some way, revealed at the end and as we learn about their lives, Chong adds speculative fiction elements in time traveling and a noirish component via an 80's detective show.
Admiss their travails there is corporate espionage, tech startup culture, gay life, and the every day indignaties of contemporary life in America. The structure, plotting and pacing is perfect and I cannot wait to see what this 27 year old writes next! if you love contemporary fiction, the novels of David Mitchell or Charles Yu, or are just read to see what the new young guns are writing about, Flux is for you!
#Melville #flux #JinwooChung #PHS #PrincetonHigh #IdeasCenter #Netgalley #Edelweiss
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May 3, 2024
dnf @ 47%
it's like a normal time travel book except they keep talking about ass eating
ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ
i'm sorry for starting my aapi reads with hate towards an asian-authored book, but i really did try to soldier my way through this one. flux was very, very ambitious: with its three timelines and detective tv show cut-ins, you'd think this story would be three times as compelling as it was.
i acknowledge that i'm not the target audience, and maybe one day i'll understand the beauty of (gestures vaguely) twink orgies, but i found the writing to be vulgar and punchy for the sake of appealing to people who need a buzz word every three sentences to stay engaged.
★ i do admire what this story was supposed to be; a man's life is turned upside down when he's offered a bizarrely high-paying position, one that he suspects has him caught in a time travel loop. what i did enjoy were the themes of grief and the struggle for identity as an asian-american that were explored through each perspective.
╰› unfortunately, it was mostly just a spiteful millennial finding himself in a confusing number of sexual encounters.
it's like a normal time travel book except they keep talking about ass eating
ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 .ᐟ
i'm sorry for starting my aapi reads with hate towards an asian-authored book, but i really did try to soldier my way through this one. flux was very, very ambitious: with its three timelines and detective tv show cut-ins, you'd think this story would be three times as compelling as it was.
i acknowledge that i'm not the target audience, and maybe one day i'll understand the beauty of (gestures vaguely) twink orgies, but i found the writing to be vulgar and punchy for the sake of appealing to people who need a buzz word every three sentences to stay engaged.
★ i do admire what this story was supposed to be; a man's life is turned upside down when he's offered a bizarrely high-paying position, one that he suspects has him caught in a time travel loop. what i did enjoy were the themes of grief and the struggle for identity as an asian-american that were explored through each perspective.
╰› unfortunately, it was mostly just a spiteful millennial finding himself in a confusing number of sexual encounters.
August 17, 2023
Excuse me...
Latching onto has-been actors from obscure pieces of media as a means of navigating trauma...
This book didn't have to come for my exact coping mechanism this hard...
Not when Richard Widmark, Dan Duryea, and Trevor Goddard are my Father, Son, and Holy Ghost...
Flux really got my number on this one. The main character's relationship with the fictional 1980s cop show "Raider" and its lead actor was this book's most compelling aspect for me. The way he turned to the show as a means of encouragement and escape spoke so specifically to me, it kept me gripped the entire read.
So much so that the story's other major plot points - time travel and a scammy Theranos-esque company - felt tedious to me; like intrusions. As all good speculative fiction should, it raised some interesting moral questions, especially pertaining to trauma and grief, but I preferred examining these themes through the lens of one's singular obsession. It was a POV I truly feel like I hadn't experienced before, and I wanted to follow that further.
Latching onto has-been actors from obscure pieces of media as a means of navigating trauma...
This book didn't have to come for my exact coping mechanism this hard...
Not when Richard Widmark, Dan Duryea, and Trevor Goddard are my Father, Son, and Holy Ghost...
Flux really got my number on this one. The main character's relationship with the fictional 1980s cop show "Raider" and its lead actor was this book's most compelling aspect for me. The way he turned to the show as a means of encouragement and escape spoke so specifically to me, it kept me gripped the entire read.
So much so that the story's other major plot points - time travel and a scammy Theranos-esque company - felt tedious to me; like intrusions. As all good speculative fiction should, it raised some interesting moral questions, especially pertaining to trauma and grief, but I preferred examining these themes through the lens of one's singular obsession. It was a POV I truly feel like I hadn't experienced before, and I wanted to follow that further.
October 20, 2023
This is an interesting book that is ultimately not really for me, though it has some things going on that made me glad I read it. Even though it left me unsatisfied and mostly puzzled as to what the point was, I never wanted to stop reading (listening) to it, and I was fully engaged the whole time, which is not something you can say for a lot of three-star books. I put off writing this review very much on purpose because I was hoping the story would sort of gel in my mind, but time has not meant clarity here. The only thing it has meant is that I've forgotten details that would have made it easier to write this review.
For such a small book, a lot is packed in here (and this may have been part of my problem). There are three timelines that we follow, as well as some, er, interludes. The three timelines are Bo at age 8, Brandon at age 28, and Blue at age 48. Bo is biracial and dealing with sudden death of his mother and the behavior of his emotionally absent father; Brandon has just been laid off and finds himself working for a tech company with a mysterious and charismatic founder and nothing seems quite right and weird shit is happening; and then there's Blue who is participating in a documentary about the unethical company Flux and what happened to result in the deaths of several people. I'm gonna let the blurb take over for a sec here:
"Intertwined with the saga of a once-iconic '80s detective show, Raider, whose star has fallen after decades of concealed abuse, the lives of Bo, Brandon and Blue intersect with each other, to the extent that it becomes clear that their lives are more interconnected and interdependent than the reader could have ever imagined" (emphasis mine).
Those three cleverly disguised people are all the same person. Obviously. Now you can get on to the really important part of the book, which has nothing to do with guessing whether or not all three of these characters, who are clearly all the same character at different ages, are the same character at different ages.
This book is trying to do a lot more than trick you about the MC's identity. The fact that it's so easy to guess that these people are all the same person at different points in his life means there was no need to try and trick readers* and have them focusing on that instead of what they should have been focusing on, trying to piece together the other wackadoo shit that is going on this book, and make it make sense. I mean this literally and metaphorically. It is never clear (at least it wasn't to me) the specifics of just exactly what went on at Flux and what happened to Brandon (time travel milk?? what?), not least because his reality has been messed with, and we are never let in on which parts were real and which weren't and what happened in the missing spaces of his life.
*To be clear, I'm not saying the author is trying to trick readers, I'm saying the publisher was as a marketing gimmick. It's pretty clear once you read the actual book that he probably meant the reader to know from the beginning, or to guess really soon after starting.
The interludes are from Brandon's POV, told in the second person as he is addressing his favorite character from the TV show Raider. It's very important that he's talking to the character and not the actor because the character meant a great deal to a young Brandon (both being biracial Asian men), and a large part of the book is Brandon working through his feelings and musings about this TV show and its production and the plotlines of the show itself, as well as what it meant to young Brandon. This does tie back in to the overall narrative, and quite cleverly. The bits about this fake TV show were absolutely my favorite parts of the book, and they had the most resonance in terms of meaning for me as well.
It would be a fool's game to try and piece this book together now, five months out from finishing it, so I'll just leave you here with the final thoughts that this book was a really interesting experiment, but it sort of failed for me because I wasn't able to make the mental leaps the book wanted me to in all the parts necessary to make the story work as a whole.
I would read more from this author, for sure.
For such a small book, a lot is packed in here (and this may have been part of my problem). There are three timelines that we follow, as well as some, er, interludes. The three timelines are Bo at age 8, Brandon at age 28, and Blue at age 48. Bo is biracial and dealing with sudden death of his mother and the behavior of his emotionally absent father; Brandon has just been laid off and finds himself working for a tech company with a mysterious and charismatic founder and nothing seems quite right and weird shit is happening; and then there's Blue who is participating in a documentary about the unethical company Flux and what happened to result in the deaths of several people. I'm gonna let the blurb take over for a sec here:
"Intertwined with the saga of a once-iconic '80s detective show, Raider, whose star has fallen after decades of concealed abuse, the lives of Bo, Brandon and Blue intersect with each other, to the extent that it becomes clear that their lives are more interconnected and interdependent than the reader could have ever imagined" (emphasis mine).
Those three cleverly disguised people are all the same person. Obviously. Now you can get on to the really important part of the book, which has nothing to do with guessing whether or not all three of these characters, who are clearly all the same character at different ages, are the same character at different ages.
This book is trying to do a lot more than trick you about the MC's identity. The fact that it's so easy to guess that these people are all the same person at different points in his life means there was no need to try and trick readers* and have them focusing on that instead of what they should have been focusing on, trying to piece together the other wackadoo shit that is going on this book, and make it make sense. I mean this literally and metaphorically. It is never clear (at least it wasn't to me) the specifics of just exactly what went on at Flux and what happened to Brandon (time travel milk?? what?), not least because his reality has been messed with, and we are never let in on which parts were real and which weren't and what happened in the missing spaces of his life.
*To be clear, I'm not saying the author is trying to trick readers, I'm saying the publisher was as a marketing gimmick. It's pretty clear once you read the actual book that he probably meant the reader to know from the beginning, or to guess really soon after starting.
The interludes are from Brandon's POV, told in the second person as he is addressing his favorite character from the TV show Raider. It's very important that he's talking to the character and not the actor because the character meant a great deal to a young Brandon (both being biracial Asian men), and a large part of the book is Brandon working through his feelings and musings about this TV show and its production and the plotlines of the show itself, as well as what it meant to young Brandon. This does tie back in to the overall narrative, and quite cleverly. The bits about this fake TV show were absolutely my favorite parts of the book, and they had the most resonance in terms of meaning for me as well.
It would be a fool's game to try and piece this book together now, five months out from finishing it, so I'll just leave you here with the final thoughts that this book was a really interesting experiment, but it sort of failed for me because I wasn't able to make the mental leaps the book wanted me to in all the parts necessary to make the story work as a whole.
I would read more from this author, for sure.
May 9, 2023
Dang. I really had high hopes for this book, lots of great reviews, lots of hype from NYT and other sources, and I’ve been on bit of a sci-fi kick lately, all this leading up to what I thought would be an amazing read.
This just really fell flat for me I thought about giving it 1 star but there were some things I enjoyed about this book. I liked the weaving together of the characters and some of the buildup in the second section of the book was really great. But, that proved to be detrimental to the story as everything just never really came together for me after such a solid buildup of events/emotion. The “violent crimes” aspect that you read about in every blurb was non-existent, maybe a sentence or 2. The time travel aspect is very vague, and they never really speak to it either. The world building is lackluster.
I think Chong is a talented writer, but this story was just a bit too clunky for me and the ambiguous ending did not leave me pondering deeper questions about life or family, it honestly just kind of frustrated me and left me confused, in the worst way. If you are looking for a time travel book, I would strongly recommend Recursion by Blake Crouch.
This just really fell flat for me I thought about giving it 1 star but there were some things I enjoyed about this book. I liked the weaving together of the characters and some of the buildup in the second section of the book was really great. But, that proved to be detrimental to the story as everything just never really came together for me after such a solid buildup of events/emotion. The “violent crimes” aspect that you read about in every blurb was non-existent, maybe a sentence or 2. The time travel aspect is very vague, and they never really speak to it either. The world building is lackluster.
I think Chong is a talented writer, but this story was just a bit too clunky for me and the ambiguous ending did not leave me pondering deeper questions about life or family, it honestly just kind of frustrated me and left me confused, in the worst way. If you are looking for a time travel book, I would strongly recommend Recursion by Blake Crouch.
May 23, 2023
So I am absolutely baffled by the reviews on this book. I loved this book and its story (will note that I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic. To me it was neither hard to follow or confusing. Also, I think that people need to understand a good story makes you use your noggin and doesn't spoon-feed all its twists and turns to you.
I initially gave it 4/5 because I thought the plot was a little too obvious but I guess I'm alone on this? My biggest complaint actually was that too much of the story was given away by the blurb on the back cover but that's on the publisher. The novel uses a lot of really cool narrative devices and literary structure to create a phenomenal world and that I sad to see end - I really really loved this. Mr Chong is a great writer and I can't wait to read whatever he writes next.
Special shout out to the whole saga with Jacket Man. I loved everything about him and how Mr Chong used him like that pirate guy from Watchmen. Loved all the references to classic sci-fi.
Highly recommend the novella "Mapping the Interior" by Stephen Graham Jones to anyone who enjoyed this novel!
I initially gave it 4/5 because I thought the plot was a little too obvious but I guess I'm alone on this? My biggest complaint actually was that too much of the story was given away by the blurb on the back cover but that's on the publisher. The novel uses a lot of really cool narrative devices and literary structure to create a phenomenal world and that I sad to see end - I really really loved this. Mr Chong is a great writer and I can't wait to read whatever he writes next.
Special shout out to the whole saga with Jacket Man. I loved everything about him and how Mr Chong used him like that pirate guy from Watchmen. Loved all the references to classic sci-fi.
Highly recommend the novella "Mapping the Interior" by Stephen Graham Jones to anyone who enjoyed this novel!
June 23, 2023
Sometimes you think you’re reading a book about time travel, but you’re actually reading a book about the scars left behind by loss, grief, and regret and the unique ways that parents and children can cause each other pain. This book is beautifully written and keeps you on your toes without being gimmicky. I’m not sure that the main paradox of the plot is resolved, but the theoretical science isn’t the main attraction here. If you focus too much on the logistics, you can lose sight of the important stuff.
June 2, 2023
Being completely honest, I hated this book. I was able to get through it quickly, so it's not like I had trouble picking it up, I just wanted to get it over with already.
If it weren't for my sibling who wanted me to read it to share our thoughts, I would have ditched this book almost immediately.
My major problem, it was confusing. The switching of Brandon's younger to older POV's was also confusing at first. And without knowing they were related right away, I found it very hard to become attached to any of them. Even when it was revealed, I found myself distant from Brandon's character. I never was truly able to connect or feel for him at all.
Another issue was Brandon's job. Not only was I MAJORLY confused the entire time, none of it was explained thoroughly at all. Despite the explanation, I still had no idea what Brandon's job actually was. That could just be me, but despite that it was very hard to understand.
Along with this, it wasn't ever explained how Brandon got into a coma, at least with my knowledge. Min also being with him just because she was pregnant seemed like a very forced plotline as well. So much of this plot made me frustrated and confused, and I couldn't enjoy it whatsoever.
My biggest complaint is probably the time travel. How did it happen? Why was it possible? And the timeline of Brandon recieving his job + getting into a coma for two months didn't add up.
I did find the aspect of Brandon loving the fictional character interesting and relatable, but the chapters of describing the events in the show were honestly boring to me and hard to follow.
I think the book should have been longer and more in depth. This is something I definitely wouldn't ever read again. But I give props to the author for this being their first book, and I hope to see how they grow in the future with their work.
If it weren't for my sibling who wanted me to read it to share our thoughts, I would have ditched this book almost immediately.
My major problem, it was confusing. The switching of Brandon's younger to older POV's was also confusing at first. And without knowing they were related right away, I found it very hard to become attached to any of them. Even when it was revealed, I found myself distant from Brandon's character. I never was truly able to connect or feel for him at all.
Another issue was Brandon's job. Not only was I MAJORLY confused the entire time, none of it was explained thoroughly at all. Despite the explanation, I still had no idea what Brandon's job actually was. That could just be me, but despite that it was very hard to understand.
Along with this, it wasn't ever explained how Brandon got into a coma, at least with my knowledge. Min also being with him just because she was pregnant seemed like a very forced plotline as well. So much of this plot made me frustrated and confused, and I couldn't enjoy it whatsoever.
My biggest complaint is probably the time travel. How did it happen? Why was it possible? And the timeline of Brandon recieving his job + getting into a coma for two months didn't add up.
I did find the aspect of Brandon loving the fictional character interesting and relatable, but the chapters of describing the events in the show were honestly boring to me and hard to follow.
I think the book should have been longer and more in depth. This is something I definitely wouldn't ever read again. But I give props to the author for this being their first book, and I hope to see how they grow in the future with their work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2023
2.5 stars, rounded up to three.
Flux by Jinwoo Chong is almost dizzying in its ambition. Juggling multiple POVs (including a TV show) and jumping between timelines, I found myself often struggling to place where I, as the reader, was meant to direct my attention. The novel reminds me a lot of Severance (the show, not Ling Ma's book, though I've heard it be compared to the latter) with its central mystery and setting. Overall, unfortunately, I just never ended up connecting to any of the characters, and felt that the pacing started out too slow to properly get invested. I do commend Chong for exploring interesting facets of Asian identity, grief and family dynamics, and the predatory nature of the tech industry. The ideas and style are here, but the execution fell flat for me personally.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Jinwoo Chong, and Melville House Publishing for providing me with this ARC!
Flux by Jinwoo Chong is almost dizzying in its ambition. Juggling multiple POVs (including a TV show) and jumping between timelines, I found myself often struggling to place where I, as the reader, was meant to direct my attention. The novel reminds me a lot of Severance (the show, not Ling Ma's book, though I've heard it be compared to the latter) with its central mystery and setting. Overall, unfortunately, I just never ended up connecting to any of the characters, and felt that the pacing started out too slow to properly get invested. I do commend Chong for exploring interesting facets of Asian identity, grief and family dynamics, and the predatory nature of the tech industry. The ideas and style are here, but the execution fell flat for me personally.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Jinwoo Chong, and Melville House Publishing for providing me with this ARC!
April 24, 2023
There's something about this book that I really liked, I'm just not sure what. There's lots I don't like: the characters, even the main one, are unsympathetic; the writing is a little overthought and clichéd at times; the 80s TV series was, for me, utterly redundant. And more. Yet I kept going back to it, the plot was somehow propulsive and there's real intrigue in trying to work out where it's going. There's also an emotional depth to it that's almost surprising, given the unlikeability of the cast. The ending is also very satisfying, I thought, though it will divide readers I'm sure. Not a great book, then, but certainly an interesting one.
January 7, 2025
2 stars unfortunately!
i feel like this book had a lot of ideas which ultimately failed to make a cohesive narrative in the end. it did try a lot of things— i liked how the three perspectives ended up being connected in the end, i liked some of the themes touched on in this as well. (celebrity worship culture, growing up as an asian minority in western society, estranged families, and grief is always a hit with me if you explore it in your book). i liked some of the time travel intricacies and how certain scenes hit (blue and his father, bo and brandon in the snow).
but this book didn't feel like it knew what it was. was this a literary fiction-esque character study of brandon, his failing relationships and how he grapples with grief and trauma; or was this trying to be a fast paced sci-fi thriller steeped in mystery? the book tries to do both and is as such weak in both areas. i will say it wasn't as if this was written poorly, i did like the author's writing style and some of how the plot advanced. but the pacing left much to be desired and the plot twists into a convoluted mess that becomes increasingly hard to follow in the last 30% or so of the book.
the idea of flux was never really explained properly either— to what end was the company trying to commodify time travel? what was going on with the batteries? who the fuck was lev in all this? some of how things came about also never really ended up making sense to me— how did brandon fall down an elevator shaft with nil repercussions? how did blue figure out how to trigger time travel when any combination of things he did in the day could have triggered it? it was still unclear to me why three employees were killed in the first place as well— for something that is quite literally in the front and centre in the blurb, i thought it would have been more prevalent. another gripe i had was that i genuinely couldn't bring myself to care about the TV show sections in this and they had my eyes glazing over every time they appeared (which was unfortunately quite often).
ultimately, i think this was a case of one book trying to achieve too many things at once and succeeding at none of them as a result. i wanted to love this, but it unfortunately didn't end up being the book for me.
thank you to netgalley and melville house publishing for the copy of this book!
i feel like this book had a lot of ideas which ultimately failed to make a cohesive narrative in the end. it did try a lot of things— i liked how the three perspectives ended up being connected in the end, i liked some of the themes touched on in this as well. (celebrity worship culture, growing up as an asian minority in western society, estranged families, and grief is always a hit with me if you explore it in your book). i liked some of the time travel intricacies and how certain scenes hit (blue and his father, bo and brandon in the snow).
but this book didn't feel like it knew what it was. was this a literary fiction-esque character study of brandon, his failing relationships and how he grapples with grief and trauma; or was this trying to be a fast paced sci-fi thriller steeped in mystery? the book tries to do both and is as such weak in both areas. i will say it wasn't as if this was written poorly, i did like the author's writing style and some of how the plot advanced. but the pacing left much to be desired and the plot twists into a convoluted mess that becomes increasingly hard to follow in the last 30% or so of the book.
the idea of flux was never really explained properly either— to what end was the company trying to commodify time travel? what was going on with the batteries? who the fuck was lev in all this? some of how things came about also never really ended up making sense to me— how did brandon fall down an elevator shaft with nil repercussions? how did blue figure out how to trigger time travel when any combination of things he did in the day could have triggered it? it was still unclear to me why three employees were killed in the first place as well— for something that is quite literally in the front and centre in the blurb, i thought it would have been more prevalent. another gripe i had was that i genuinely couldn't bring myself to care about the TV show sections in this and they had my eyes glazing over every time they appeared (which was unfortunately quite often).
ultimately, i think this was a case of one book trying to achieve too many things at once and succeeding at none of them as a result. i wanted to love this, but it unfortunately didn't end up being the book for me.
thank you to netgalley and melville house publishing for the copy of this book!
March 21, 2023
This book turned out to be page-turner for me and it’s very good considering it’s the writer’s debute novel.
The book has three main characters each telling their story in their own unique style yet all connected with each other in an endless timeline. The story constantly goes back and forth giving you more details in each chapter but in the end you’ll have a lot of questions unaswered (and maybe some plot holes as well but not sure since there may have been things I missed).
The book has three main characters each telling their story in their own unique style yet all connected with each other in an endless timeline. The story constantly goes back and forth giving you more details in each chapter but in the end you’ll have a lot of questions unaswered (and maybe some plot holes as well but not sure since there may have been things I missed).
July 6, 2023
unique, odd, and very atmospheric.
November 30, 2022
Thank you to NetGalley, Melville House Publishing, and Jinwoo Chong for an ARC of this book. Flux reminded me of Ling Ma's Severance, Kevin Nguyen's New Waves, and Charles Yu's works Interior Chinatown and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. The effectiveness of Chong's structure and form is questionable; the strongest pov of the three characters has to be Brandon. I appreciated the representation of a bisexual/queer Asian American man within literature, as rarely are bisexual/queer Asian American men represented. Chong and other Asian American writers such as YZ Chin are writing an interesting perspective on the dominance of the tech industry and how Asian Americans are one of the predominant workers within the tech field. This is especially intriguing considering the techno-orientalism of science fiction and bamboo-ceiling characterizing Asian workers as cold and subservient. While Chong touches upon all of these issues, the execution was lacking and though I admire Chong's ambition the results can vary from great to lackluster. For a debut, I admire Chong's work and look forward to seeing his work in the future.
February 17, 2025
This was so good. It’s smart, sleek and extremely well paced. You can sort of telegraph the twists and turns but the convergence of the separate narratives is so satisfying, that you can forgive it for being a bit obvious at times. Aside from the in your face “sci-fi-ness” of it all, this story is also about family and grief and identity. If you like weird psychological thrillers like “Vanilla Sky” or “The Nines”, this would probably be up your alley.
May 2, 2023
FLUX by Jinwoo Chong is a massively under-hyped novel with speculative elements and a slightly experimental style that is an intoxicating elixir of taut suspense, literary craft, and family saga. It’s about a boy named Bo, who loses his mother in a tragic accident; a directionless young man named Brandon, recently laid off; and a middle-aged man named Blue, a former star witness in a trial against a notorious tech startup who is all but estranged from his family.
Bo is biracial, Brandon is bisexual, Blue is disabled, and there’s possibly some time travel involved. The racial themes are explored with sensitivity and without overshadowing the heart of the narrative. Ultimately, this is a novel that considers family, loss, the harm we do to loved ones, and repair.
The style is reminiscent of Charles Yu’s INTERIOR CHINATOWN in that you don’t know quite what’s happening and how the world of the novel actually works, except in FLUX, the pieces fall into place in one of the most unexpected and moving scenes I’ve read recently. I thought I was reading a sci-fi crime drama caper and then suddenly I was crying. A few chapters later, I was uncontrollably sobbing.
Damn. I’m Brandon, I’m Blue, I’m the schmuck who’s stuck in the death grip of behavioral ruts, the loving words weighing leaden on my tongue, the tenderness frozen to ice. Chong writes with such emotional depth - the kind that sneaks up on you, all the more powerful because of his restraint. This novel probes at our deepest regrets and asks: What would you be willing to give up for a second chance?
This book isn’t going to work for everyone - I can tell you that right now. Some will find it slow, others will want loose ends tied up. But if it clicks for you, it’s the exhilaration of a spectacular home run. I’m still riding the high. If you’re willing to trust fall into a capable author’s hands, pick up FLUX. It gripped me from the first chapter, the pacing was perfection, the prose startling and vivid. It’s my favorite read yet in 2023, and I’ve read some incredible books.
Bo is biracial, Brandon is bisexual, Blue is disabled, and there’s possibly some time travel involved. The racial themes are explored with sensitivity and without overshadowing the heart of the narrative. Ultimately, this is a novel that considers family, loss, the harm we do to loved ones, and repair.
The style is reminiscent of Charles Yu’s INTERIOR CHINATOWN in that you don’t know quite what’s happening and how the world of the novel actually works, except in FLUX, the pieces fall into place in one of the most unexpected and moving scenes I’ve read recently. I thought I was reading a sci-fi crime drama caper and then suddenly I was crying. A few chapters later, I was uncontrollably sobbing.
Damn. I’m Brandon, I’m Blue, I’m the schmuck who’s stuck in the death grip of behavioral ruts, the loving words weighing leaden on my tongue, the tenderness frozen to ice. Chong writes with such emotional depth - the kind that sneaks up on you, all the more powerful because of his restraint. This novel probes at our deepest regrets and asks: What would you be willing to give up for a second chance?
This book isn’t going to work for everyone - I can tell you that right now. Some will find it slow, others will want loose ends tied up. But if it clicks for you, it’s the exhilaration of a spectacular home run. I’m still riding the high. If you’re willing to trust fall into a capable author’s hands, pick up FLUX. It gripped me from the first chapter, the pacing was perfection, the prose startling and vivid. It’s my favorite read yet in 2023, and I’ve read some incredible books.
April 12, 2023
[Copy provided by publisher]
READ IF YOU LIKE...
• Time travel and other mind-bending sci-fi
• The lasting influence of fandom
• Questionable and suspicious tech startups
I THOUGHT IT WAS...
A captivating, thought-provoking novel that manages to blend together seemingly unconnected things into an unexpectedly perfect fit. After being laid off, Brandon falls into a mysterious new job opportunity at a unicorn tech company that's supposed to have discovered a way to create near perpetual energy, which could usher in an era of true sustainability. But the longer Brandon stays at the company, the more unhinged he becomes and the more he realizes that something is gravely wrong.
Let me first say that I don't think I truly understood the technicalities behind this novel. Normally, I'd count this as a mark against the book, but this novel was so fascinating and so well written that I don't think it matters. And truly, in this book, how the science works takes a backseat to the story and the way it's told.
It's hard for me to explain the ways this book shone without spoiling it. So let me just say that I loved the way Chong broke down the ways crucial moments in our lives make us who we are. It's a unique study in identity and it's made moreso by the fact that the protagonist is a half-Korean man who drifts away from his Asian self as he starts to embody a white hard-boiled detective from an old TV show he was obsessed with. This book both intrigued and stunned me in equal measure, making for a great reading experience.
READ IF YOU LIKE...
• Time travel and other mind-bending sci-fi
• The lasting influence of fandom
• Questionable and suspicious tech startups
I THOUGHT IT WAS...
A captivating, thought-provoking novel that manages to blend together seemingly unconnected things into an unexpectedly perfect fit. After being laid off, Brandon falls into a mysterious new job opportunity at a unicorn tech company that's supposed to have discovered a way to create near perpetual energy, which could usher in an era of true sustainability. But the longer Brandon stays at the company, the more unhinged he becomes and the more he realizes that something is gravely wrong.
Let me first say that I don't think I truly understood the technicalities behind this novel. Normally, I'd count this as a mark against the book, but this novel was so fascinating and so well written that I don't think it matters. And truly, in this book, how the science works takes a backseat to the story and the way it's told.
It's hard for me to explain the ways this book shone without spoiling it. So let me just say that I loved the way Chong broke down the ways crucial moments in our lives make us who we are. It's a unique study in identity and it's made moreso by the fact that the protagonist is a half-Korean man who drifts away from his Asian self as he starts to embody a white hard-boiled detective from an old TV show he was obsessed with. This book both intrigued and stunned me in equal measure, making for a great reading experience.
June 15, 2023
Another book I would not have read if not for the Nervous Breakdown/Otherppl Bookclub (April, 2o23 selection.) It is Jinwoo Chong's debut.
I didn't love it because I could hardly figure out what I was reading most of the time. It was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle on a carpet where the pieces somewhat match the designs in the carpet, so you can't find the right pieces or put them in the right place. Challenging, eye-crossing, sometimes fun, sometimes maddening.
In the author's Otherppl interview I learned that some of the some of the story was based on the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes scandal (for which she was imprisoned just the other day.) Whoa!
Also drug-induced time travel, including reliving the same day many times. Think Groundhog Day, the movie.
Also childhood trauma, growing up Asian in America, and having a hero from a TV cop series.
I truly do not know if this book is an astonishing feat of imagination or a hot mess. Possibly both.
I didn't love it because I could hardly figure out what I was reading most of the time. It was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle on a carpet where the pieces somewhat match the designs in the carpet, so you can't find the right pieces or put them in the right place. Challenging, eye-crossing, sometimes fun, sometimes maddening.
In the author's Otherppl interview I learned that some of the some of the story was based on the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes scandal (for which she was imprisoned just the other day.) Whoa!
Also drug-induced time travel, including reliving the same day many times. Think Groundhog Day, the movie.
Also childhood trauma, growing up Asian in America, and having a hero from a TV cop series.
I truly do not know if this book is an astonishing feat of imagination or a hot mess. Possibly both.
May 16, 2023
at first, all this book did was confuse me. i was drawn to it for the representation and science fiction elements, but the story was constantly keeping so many secrets that it was hard to keep track of anything. once i kept pushing and trying to read the story, it got much more entertaining and i was able to start piecing things together. i thought the mc's obsession with a tv show/character was very real, i related so hard about it to my own hyperfixations. however, i was expecting much MORE. i can't exactly explain what i'm missing from the story, and that goes to show just how much more i need. i feel that the book should've been longer, and everything more fleshed out? and the ending left me super unsatisfied, and just generally i wanted more to the story. i did enjoy the writing style of the author, and am interested in reading whatever books he will come out with in the future.
July 4, 2023
July 4th, 2023:
This is the kind of frustrating book where I love all of the elements individually, but the book itself feels unfocused, like it's not really picking a lane and sticking to it.
Someone at book club said they read an interview with the author and he said that he started it with the intention of doing something about the Theranos scandal. Which is abundantly clear from the beginning, see my note: Elizabeth Holmes?!?!. I think the trouble starts where the story translates so many things related to Theranos and Holmes, but it does it in a very direct way, instead of transforming it into something else. And starting from here feels like it's divorcing it from the character depth and journey.
I didn't like the main character that much until I realized he's a disaster bisexual (I'm bi-ased and protective with my people, okay? - btw, this pun was well-received at book club, don't make fun of it!), but by the end, not even that could save my involvement in the story. Just watching someone being so numbed out from grief, for a long time, is difficult - and I actually lived that for at least a decade. So reading the book was a bit of a cold, distant experience.
Even if I loved so many of the elements: like the media commentary about the TV show 'Raider', the way Io Emsworth (aka Elizabeth Holmes) spoke, the whole thing about loops and working in tech start-ups and the lifestyle of that, and the perceptions. Some scenes (the partying ones) had this fizzy energy that I really enjoyed. I liked how the catharsis-free series finale of 'Raider' overlaps with the grief of losing someone you love, both are experiences that leave you without closure (on hugely different scales, obviously, but for our main character, they were very entwined). And yeah, it does talk a lot about how art or entertainment can help process a lot of personal issues and how strong personal attachments to media can be.
There was also quite a lot about cancel culture also, mixing with the idea of public perception, appearances and so on, mirrored in other parts of the book. But it was still a looooot of elements to successfully weave. For instance, Charles Yu approached most of the same themes and topics, but he did so in two books that I really loved: media representation and family grief and how that reverberates over generations in Interior Chinatown and time travel and family grief and how that reverberates over generations in How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. It feels like Flux needed to pick one theme / topic, make it central and then weave the other ideas around it, not create other centers in the narrative.
June 30th, 2023:
More like a 3.5. Review soon, after I process the book club discussion! Till then, a preview of my bulletpoint notes:
+Elizabeth Holmes?!
+perception
+what does the cereal mean?
+painful mismanagement of grief :(
+billionaire quirks!!
This is the kind of frustrating book where I love all of the elements individually, but the book itself feels unfocused, like it's not really picking a lane and sticking to it.
Someone at book club said they read an interview with the author and he said that he started it with the intention of doing something about the Theranos scandal. Which is abundantly clear from the beginning, see my note: Elizabeth Holmes?!?!. I think the trouble starts where the story translates so many things related to Theranos and Holmes, but it does it in a very direct way, instead of transforming it into something else. And starting from here feels like it's divorcing it from the character depth and journey.
I didn't like the main character that much until I realized he's a disaster bisexual (I'm bi-ased and protective with my people, okay? - btw, this pun was well-received at book club, don't make fun of it!), but by the end, not even that could save my involvement in the story. Just watching someone being so numbed out from grief, for a long time, is difficult - and I actually lived that for at least a decade. So reading the book was a bit of a cold, distant experience.
Even if I loved so many of the elements: like the media commentary about the TV show 'Raider', the way Io Emsworth (aka Elizabeth Holmes) spoke, the whole thing about loops and working in tech start-ups and the lifestyle of that, and the perceptions. Some scenes (the partying ones) had this fizzy energy that I really enjoyed. I liked how the catharsis-free series finale of 'Raider' overlaps with the grief of losing someone you love, both are experiences that leave you without closure (on hugely different scales, obviously, but for our main character, they were very entwined). And yeah, it does talk a lot about how art or entertainment can help process a lot of personal issues and how strong personal attachments to media can be.
There was also quite a lot about cancel culture also, mixing with the idea of public perception, appearances and so on, mirrored in other parts of the book. But it was still a looooot of elements to successfully weave. For instance, Charles Yu approached most of the same themes and topics, but he did so in two books that I really loved: media representation and family grief and how that reverberates over generations in Interior Chinatown and time travel and family grief and how that reverberates over generations in How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. It feels like Flux needed to pick one theme / topic, make it central and then weave the other ideas around it, not create other centers in the narrative.
June 30th, 2023:
More like a 3.5. Review soon, after I process the book club discussion! Till then, a preview of my bulletpoint notes:
+Elizabeth Holmes?!
+perception
+what does the cereal mean?
+painful mismanagement of grief :(
+billionaire quirks!!
August 21, 2023
— 4.5 STARS —
Wow this was really good?
There was a lot going on here — a lead character who is haunted by a childhood tragedy, has an obsession with an old 80s cop show, gets stuck in a timely-wimey corporate job and has strained relationships with everyone around him. All elements of this were super engaging. The in-show and out-of-show lore about the fictional cop show Thomas Raider was very convincing and well thought out. There is a line of commentary about the idea of representation that ran through this, as well as the impact of idolizing celebrities based on their stories. Overall, this book had a lot to do with stories — the ones that shape us, and the narratives we sell about ourselves to the world.
I think the only reason this is rated this low is the ending was kind of eh. I’m still working out my feelings on it. There were some characters that I feel didn’t get a proper sendoff. That being said, the book was a dense, well-written exploration of media, representation, trauma, heritage and what it means to live.
Wow this was really good?
There was a lot going on here — a lead character who is haunted by a childhood tragedy, has an obsession with an old 80s cop show, gets stuck in a timely-wimey corporate job and has strained relationships with everyone around him. All elements of this were super engaging. The in-show and out-of-show lore about the fictional cop show Thomas Raider was very convincing and well thought out. There is a line of commentary about the idea of representation that ran through this, as well as the impact of idolizing celebrities based on their stories. Overall, this book had a lot to do with stories — the ones that shape us, and the narratives we sell about ourselves to the world.
I think the only reason this is rated this low is the ending was kind of eh. I’m still working out my feelings on it. There were some characters that I feel didn’t get a proper sendoff. That being said, the book was a dense, well-written exploration of media, representation, trauma, heritage and what it means to live.
April 24, 2023
4.5 stars. I do so love books that play with structure. This was very very cool!! This is a topsy-turvy scifi time-travel literary thriller (though heavier on the more experimental, literary side of things). It follows the story of three people: a child whose mother just died, a man who was just made redundant, and a man giving a tell-all TV interview about a tech company; interspersed with a snippets of an 80s noir TV show. It’s queer and explores Asian American identity and has such a brilliant depiction of the way grief and trauma haunt your entire life that made my currently very tender heart absolutely crumple. It’s a very difficult book to summarise and it’s absolutely one of those books you should go in knowing as little about the plot as possible, so if a queer, Asian, sci-fi literary thriller sounds like your thing, definitely check this out!!
Content warnings: death of a parent, grief, mild blood/injury detail, dementia, sexual content, drug and alcohol use
Content warnings: death of a parent, grief, mild blood/injury detail, dementia, sexual content, drug and alcohol use
November 4, 2023
I dont exactly know WHY I liked it. But I did. I think I have a thing for books that are mildly depressing and confuse me.
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