Frankly in Love: Plot Summary
Frank Li is torn between his parents’ expectations, and his own desires. His parents emigrated from Korea and are adamant that their children can only date Koreans. Unfortunately for Frank, he’s fallen for Brit who, for all her wonderful qualities, is white. His friend Joy is in a similar position with her Chinese boyfriend, so the two of them hatch a plan. By pretending to date, they can win the time and space they need to date their real partners, without arousing suspicion from their parents. It seems like the perfect plan, at least at first.
For another great YA read, check out American Royals!
My Thoughts
Frankly in Love, by David Yoon, is dealing with a lot. The book is a whirlwind tour of love, identity and honesty, featuring endearingly nerdy characters and complex relationship dynamics.
Frank’s relationship with his parents is complicated. He loves them, but he doesn’t really understand them, or vice versa. There’s also the fact that they’re deeply, distressingly racist. As much as Frank appreciates what his parents have sacrificed for a better life, he finds their ignorance and limitations impossible to reconcile with his real life.
When the beautiful Brit shows an interest in him, Frank is aware that his parents would not approve. To put it mildly. Dating a white girl would get him disowned, so Frank comes up with a cunning alternative. He and Joy, another Korean from his family’s social circle, will pretend to date each other. This will get their respective parents off their backs long enough that they can spend some time with their actual partners.
My main issue with Frankly in Love
The major problem with this plan, from my point of view, was that neither of them told aforementioned partners what was going on. Not that I don’t see why; how do you tell your new girlfriend that your parents can’t know you’re with her because they’d hate her? And not because of anything she did, but because she’s white. That’s an awful conversation to have, and I can see why Frank’s problem-solving began and ended with avoiding it. Unfortunately, that means their relationship is based on deceiving Brit as much as it is about deceiving Frank’s parents. And we all know how well relationships based on lies end up.
Frankly in Love makes room for non-romantic relationships as well. Frank’s friendships are sweet, he and his best friend Q having a number of deep and thoughtful conversations throughout the course of the novel. Some of the other friends fade into the background somewhat, particularly one unfortunate character. His avatar is killed off in a game of Dungeons and Dragons, seemingly to explain why he doesn’t show up for a solid third of the story. The fact that his absence makes no difference to the plot seems to indicate he wasn’t all that necessary to begin with.
The second half of the book introduces some new threads, which could feel overwhelming but is managed well. I can’t say much about the directions the plot moves in without heading into spoiler territory. Suffice it to say, although the story handles a lot, it does it deftly, leaving room to appreciate the nuance without getting bogged down in it. And there is a lot of nuance to appreciate.
Want to hear me talk about my thoughts on this book? Check out my podcast! in Episode 1, I talk about Frankly in Love and my co-host Josie Moone talks about Solitaire.
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