Review: The Oks are Not OK by Grace K. Shim
Publisher summary: Seventeen-year-old Elena Ok (pronounced “Oak”) has mastered the art of being both a Los Angeles party girl and financially savvy influencer, but her family doesn’t see the brilliance behind her carefully curated image. Instead, they endlessly praise her older brother, Gavin, whose most impressive achievement is consistently forgetting his homework. All of Elena’s hard work and social clout disintegrates when the Oks, founders of the wildly popular (and now bankrupt) fast-fashion brand It’s Ok! (pronounced “OKAY”), lose their fortune overnight.
With their empire crumbling and an investigation underway, the Oks flee to Blaire, CA—a farming town that’s as glamorous as Temu. Mr. Ok, a now-disgraced retail mogul, and Mrs. Ok, a now-also-disgraced fashion-forward matriarch, realize they’ve spent decades perfecting their public personas at the expense of actually knowing their kids. Meanwhile, Elena and Gavin are stuck in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to distract them from their family’s unraveling dynamics—or each other’s annoying habits.
But life in Blaire isn’t all bad. As the family reconnects with their Korean farming heritage, Elena discovers a hidden gem: the Blaire Fair, the local market brimming with untapped potential. Applying her business savvy, she helps the small-town vendors thrive and sees how they put their profits back into the community. For the first time, Elena begins to question her own definition of success.
The Oks Are Not OK offers humor and drama to tell a story about family, self-discovery, and the fine line between building a brand and building a life.
My Thoughts: To start, I love the jacket art by Michelle Kwon with the design by Kristin Boyle. The cover caught my attention and then the jacket flap convinced me I needed to read this one immediately. I was in the mood for something humorous and fun so the Oks seemed like the perfect fit for the week.
On Instagram, the author has indicated that Schitt’s Creek was an inspiration and that does show through. The premise of a wealthy family needing to relocate and figure out life in a new (to them) place with very little money is similar and there are also a lot of reasons to smile, laugh, and occasionally cringe. Since I have watched Schitt’s Creek and loved it, I had mixed feelings going into the story worrying that it would follow too closely or be a swing and a miss, but Shim did create something unique. While there are quite a few similarities, the story and situations are new and the characters certainly have their own little quirks.
Elena and her family seem to have everything and appear to have perfect lives, but this huge reversal of fortune shines a light on many things that were very far from ideal. There are important characters outside the family too, but most of the story is centered around the family and the relationships within the four. We get to see the siblings interact with each other and also see how they both seek and avoid the attention of their parents.
There are quite a few moments of humor related to the fish-out-of-water situation, but there are other times when the joke is miscommunication or misunderstandings within the family. The author doesn’t simply rely on the one method for bringing readers to laughter or smiles.
One thing that was very interesting was how little Elena and Gavin knew about their parent’s lives when they were younger. As the story unfolds, they learn more and more about the challenges their parents faced in Korea as the nation was moving forward after years of war.
Most of the story is told through the eyes of Elena and it’s conversational, but there is also some background information delivered through excerpts from the book their father wrote about life and business and from interview transcripts with their mother. It was helpful because through those bits and pieces, readers get to hear some of their perspective without being filtered through Elena. It’s also another way to see how the parents are trying to present themselves to the world.
Recommendation: Overall, this was a warm and funny family read that made my day a little brighter. Get it now if you are looking for a contemporary book that will entertain and give cozy vibes.
Publisher: Kokila
Pages:352
Review copy: Via the public library
Availability: On shelves now
Extra for K-drama fans: Anbandegi (I wanted to known more after I read about this village mentioned in the book and when I looked it up, it seemed familiar. Then I realized the views were from the K-drama Cinderella and the Four Knights.)