"The Name Drop" by Susan Lee

The Name Drop (Sept. 12, 2023) by Susan Lee.

<This is a standalone novel.>

I’m Lee Yoo-Jin. I’m Lee Yoo-Jin. Is there an echo in here? No. Jessica Lee and Elijah Ri (he’s going by Ri to be more difficult) are two teenagers who happen to have the same Korean name. They’re both set to work at tech giant Haneul Corporation’s NYC office, Elijah as the Executive Training Program intern in the fancy clothes residing in a spacious brownstone in the Upper East Side and Jessica as a summer intern at the bottom of the corporate cesspool ladder in her cheap clothes residing in a shoebox apartment with nine other interns in the Lower East Side. What happens is that Jessica finds herself in the gorgeous brownstone with an all-new upscale wardrobe and an office on the executive level, while Elijah is the one in a shoebox wearing a t-shirt lent to him by his bunkmate, Jason, working at the bottom of the totem pole for $15/hour.

            The two catch on quickly that there’s been a mix-up, but they decide to leave things as is. Operation Name Drop is a go. Elijah likes the anonymity and the chance to discover what he wants, and Jessica thrives in her role, leading the other interns in their summer project, a hackathon. The risk of discovery is omnipresent. If not amongst their fellow interns, then by their fathers. There’s Lee Jung-Woo, who’s always concerned about money and wants Jessica to keep a low profile in her internship, not wanting anyone to know they’re related. Then there’s Lee Jung-Hyun. He’s the controlling chairman and CEO of Haneul that’s outdated in terms of misogynistic attitudes and behaviors, which Hee-Jin, Elijah’s brilliant 24-year-old sister, deals with daily despite being Chief Operations Officer and second-in-command. If this charade blows up in their faces, they don’t only risk humiliation; it would be disastrous to both their futures, but especially Jessica’s, because she doesn’t come from a chaebol family. Will the spark between them ignite a flame of success or disaster?

            While this YA novel is grounded in serious themes of discovering your own life so you can live it, social class and combating misogyny in the workplace, it also has in its foundation an energizing framework of humor, big-heartedness and budding romance with a healthy K-drama vibe. When a male exec says to Jessica, “Please use feminine cursive handwriting to make it lovely and pleasing for us to read later,” I wanted to spit. And when I read the line where Elijah thinks of himself as “emotionally constipated,” I laughed out loud. Lee’s writing is current and whip-smart, though I will forever say that expletives do not move a story forward. However, don’t let language deter you from this story (thanks to The Good Place, I use “fork” and “shirt” as replacers) that is swoony, comedic and well-turned-out.

            Favorite line: “If anyone looks at you weird, look at them back even weirder.” --Elijah to the intern cohort (p. 110)

            Also by Susan Lee: Seoulmates