Jung Yun's third novel, All the World Can Hold, is a distinctive 9/11 story. Set on a cruise departing Boston for Bermuda on September 16, 2001, it spotlights three characters who--like the country in the wake of terrorism--face a turning point. Choosing whether to be true to themselves requires reckoning with past traumas, including bereavement, alcoholism, and racist microaggressions.
Korean American lawyer Franny hasn't told anyone that she was caught up in 9/11, sheltering inside a bank and then wandering dust-choked streets. She insisted on going ahead with this family trip to mark her mother's 70th birthday (chilsun) and recent retirement. Sixty-two-year-old Doug played a bartender on a 1970s-'80s cult television classic set on the ship and is here for the Starlight Voyages reunion. He signed up to please his agent--and he needs the cash after years lost to alcoholism and mental illness. He pops Xanax to cope with fawning middle-aged fans, a grueling schedule of appearances, and the fact that his best friend from the cast, Peter, is dead. Lucy is getting her PhD in computer science, but her passion is art. For once there's time for her painting, but she can't ignore her parents' expectation that she secure a high-paying job soon. As the only Black woman in her department, she feels she must go above and beyond to prove herself.
Yun (Shelter; O Beautiful) orchestrates subtle connections between the protagonists here. In a time of national mourning, private sorrows still sting. Franny, Doug, and Lucy illuminate themes of survivor guilt, the price of belonging, and the hope for change in this quiet, character-driven story. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader, and blogger at Bookish Beck