Booksimmigrants from Korea in search
of a better life. It’s been a long road:
Known for illustrating his wife
Nicola Yoon’s hit novel Everything,
Everything (the basis for the 2017
film), he’s been a lifelong writer. He
has books, short stories, and screen-
plays “just sitting there.” But it took
mining the depths of his own life to
get the publishing world’s attention.
Yoon’s SoCal childhood laid the
foundation for Frankly; it shares the
same setting, and centers on Frank
Li, a 16-year-old facing challenges
not unlike what Yoon struggled with:
lack of belonging, seismic cultural
differences with his parents, a ban
on dating non-Korean girls.
It’s that last point that Yoon spins
into a frothy alt-history. “I basically
had to hide my entire love life from
[my parents],” the soft-spoken Yoonsays. (The only girlfriend he intro-
duced them to was his now wife,
Nicola, who’s Jamaican-American.)
Two years ago, he conceived a fresh
update on the fake-dating rom-com
plot trope: Two Korean-American
teens pretend to be a couple so they
can secretly date outside their race.
But Frankly isn’t just a romance:
Through this “light, fun” story, and
in part because he’s the father of a
7-year-old himself, Yoon attempted
to better understand his parents,
too. Growing up, they were a “huge
mystery” to him, working very long
hours and staying closed off emo-
tionally. Frank’s parents display
racism toward other ethnic groups;
as survivors of war, they approach
life believing “everything is ephem-
eral.” Yoon admits he’s “scared
to death” of his mother reading the
book because of how much it’sbased on their life, “warts and all.”
Inevitably, Frank’s parents catch
his lie, forcing an examination of its
motivation. “Frank is the kid I wish
I could’ve been,” Yoon says. “He has
the conversations I wish I could’ve
had with my parents. At the end of it,
you’re left [asking], ‘How do you
accept people for who they are with-
out wishing they were someone
else? How do you love that person?’ ”
Yoon always comes back to love.
It’s in everything, even the generous
food descriptions. (“I grew up with
Korean dramas in the background.
The actors don’t f--- around like
American actors do. They’re always
eating while they’re acting.”) Per-
haps that’s why Frankly is set to be
the next big YA smash. “YA always
has a kernel of hope,” Yoon explains.
“And I’m a hopeful person. I think
I have to be, to live in this world.”’ s Nextu perstar
THE WAILING
“This epic masterpiece is filed under
horror, but it has so much more,”
Yoon raves of the acclaimed 2016
Korean film. “It’s a brilliant mash-up
of the highest order that mirrors
life’s emotional complexity.”THE OFFICE
Yoon says he “basically worships”
the beloved NBC sitcom (2005–13):
“You’re just immersed in a world
that’s absurdly comical one moment,
then heartbreaking the next. And that
feels like truth to me.”THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR
For her lauded 2016 novel, made into
a 2019 film, Yoon's wife, Nicola, drew
from their romance, depicting a
Jamaican girl and a Korean boy falling
in love, which inspired and paved the
way for his own book.In the Mood for Love
YOON ON THE POP CULTURE THAT INSPIRED HIS WHIMSICAL ROMANCE. BY DAVID CANFIELD