DIARY OF A CREEP

A cynical outcast keeps a diary of his misadventures in Kim’s debut novel.

In 1998, Franklin Ya lives in the small desert town of Kristie, California. Estranged from his Korean immigrant parents in Texas, Franklin feels disconnected from his heritage, preferring all-American anonymity. Having flunked out of college, he works at a video store and spends his free time smoking, drinking, and watching hours of movies and TV reruns, recording his observations in a journal. He begins an affair with Dani, his best friend Jing’s girlfriend, which collapses under the weight of his false promises. By the end of the year, he has alienated everyone in his small circle of friends, and is completely cut off from everything except the noise on the TV. The novel begins with Franklin recounting, with prurient satisfaction, the deaths of people he knew in high school (“he sinks through all that blue-green to end up the most useful thing he’d ever been in his life, food for fishes. His final memory was probably a couple of big biceps and one really pretty girl, the sum total of Marco’s life”); the narrative maintains this bleakness until the end. There is no journey of self-discovery here—Franklin seems as oblivious to his passion for movies and his writing habit as he does his undiagnosed depression. The prose does an excellent job of capturing the claustrophobia and anxiety of ennui. Franklin is a difficult character, indifferent to the point of immorality, with a tendency to stalk and spy on women. He views the cultural heritage of his parents as a burden, which he shrugs off. He tells lies (like pretending to be a screenwriter and agreeing to move to LA with Dani) which fizzle out into silence. Although most of his friends end up leaving their dead-end small town, Franklin shows no motivation to do so, even when he’s the only one left. Late 1990s pop culture serves as a throughline, with movie synopses, fast-food menus, and lists of porn stars peppered in among the journal entries. The last decade of the 20th century feels cheap, plastic, and empty here, much like the protagonist.

This story doesn’t take the reader anywhere, but the mood it creates will stick in the mind.