Reading Widely Book Club - Sea Change by Gina Chung

About the Event

Join us for a small group discussion of Gina Chung's Sea Change on Thursday, May 18th at 5:00 p.m. Those of us who attended the Short Short event in April are already jazzed about this novel, so join us to talk about it! Book club titles are 10% off in the store and online.

About the Book

Ro is stuck. She’s just entered her thirties, she’s estranged from her mother, and her boyfriend has just left her to join a mission to Mars. Her days are spent dragging herself to her menial job at a mall aquarium, and her nights are spent drinking sharktinis (Mountain Dew and copious amounts of gin, plus a hint of jalapeño). With her best friend pulling away to focus on her upcoming wedding, Ro’s only companion is Dolores, a giant Pacific octopus who also happens to be Ro’s last remaining link to her father, a marine biologist who disappeared while on an expedition when Ro was a teenager.

When Dolores is sold to a wealthy investor intent on moving her to a private aquarium, Ro finds herself on the precipice of self-destruction. Wading through memories of her youth, Ro has one last chance to come to terms with her childhood trauma, recommit to those around her, and find her place in an ever-changing world. 

About the Author

Gina Chung is a Korean American writer. Born in Queens and raised in New Jersey, she is now based in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of the novel SEA CHANGE (Vintage, March 28, 2023; Picador, April 13, 2023 iin the Commonwealth and in the UK on August 10, 2023), which was a 2023 B&N Discover Pick and a New York Times Most Anticipated Book, and the short story collection GREEN FROG (Vintage, 2024; out in the UK/Commonwealth from Picador in 2024). A recipient of the Pushcart Prize, she is a 2021-2022 Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellow and holds an MFA in fiction from The New School's Creative Writing Program and a BA in literary studies from Williams College.