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Flashlight
Flashlight | Susan Choi
11 posts | 8 read | 10 to read
A novel tracing a father's disappearance across time, nations, and memory, from the author of Trust Exercise. One night, Louisa and her father take a walk on the beach. He's carrying a flashlight. He cannot swim. Later Louisa is found washed up by the tide, barely alive. Her father is gone. She is ten years old. In chapters that shift from one member to the next, turning back again and again to that night by the sea, Susan Choi's Flashlight chases the shockwaves of one family's catastrophe. Louisa is an only child of parents who have severed themselves from the past. Her father, Serk, an ethnic Korean born and raised in Japan, lost touch with his family when they bought into the promises of postwar Pyongyang and relocated to the DPRK. Her American mother, Anne, is estranged from her family after a reckless adventure in her youth. And then there is Tobias, Anne's illegitimate son, whose reappearance in their lives will have astonishing consequences. What really happened to Louisa's father? Why did he take Louisa and her mother to Japan just before he disappeared? And how can we love, or make sense of our lives, when there's so much we can't see?
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review
Graywacke
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Pickpick

My 6th from the #Booker Prize longlist is a book of surprises with an international scope. It opens in LA after dad has gone missing in Japan, along a rocky beach. A mystery of sorts. Louise and mom must carry on.

It's wordy by style - the key strength and weakness of the book. Choi uses this to create atmosphere. There is also a lot of Japan, and Korea.

I enjoyed this. It was tough for me up front, but nice once it got going.
#Booker2025

46 likes1 stack add5 comments
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JenP
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Pickpick

Book #3 (and last for today) is Flashlight. This was less polarizing for our panel than others. I loved the writing style (sentences meticulously crafted and beautiful) but wasn‘t my favorite and dragged in some parts. #booker prize

Our panel reviews are at the link below. Drop a comment with your reviews/links.

https://thereadersroom.org/2025/08/29/2025-booker-longlist-flashlight-by-susan-c...

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rmaclean4
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this novel and never found it predictable. It was much more than I thought it would be in the end. I did have trouble picking it up. 4 🌟
#booker2025
@Bookistrish @JenP @AnneCecilie @TheKidUpstairs @Leniverse @charl08 @Chelsea.Poole @JamieArc @BarbaraBB @Graywacke @Ruthiella @ChaoticMissAdventures @vikaplus321

Ruthiella Glad to hear it! I think she is an interesting writer. I am definitely going to pick this up at some point. 2w
Graywacke Yay. Glad to see this. I have about an hour left on audio 2w
BarbaraBB Great recommendation. I want to read this too. 2w
22 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Mattsbookaday
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Pickpick

Flashlight, by Susan Choi (2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Premise: A man‘s disappearance while out for a walk on the beach with his daughter in 1970s Japan reverberates across the decades.

Review: Books told from multiple perspectives rise and fall with the sharpness of those perspectives, and this was my experience with this Booker longlist title. The sections dealing with the mother and daughter‘s lack of understanding of each other shine. ⬇️

Mattsbookaday It‘s a hard relationship told with so much empathy from both perspectives. Compared to these incredible highs, the chapters about the father felt a bit flat to me, but even these are saved by their strong themes of displacement and exile. In all, this is a remarkable achievement

Bookish Pair: For similar themes, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (2017)
2w
Chelsea.Poole I‘m looking forward to this one. Nice review! 2w
Mattsbookaday @Chelsea.Poole I hope you really enjoy it! 2w
10 likes3 comments
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mjtwo
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Pickpick

13-5 Aug 25 (audiobook)
#Bookerlonglist2025 No 3
Epic story of a broken American Korean family‘s lives in various locations in the American mid-west, Korea and Japan. Each character battles with isolation, exile, disability and the tension of family ties.
I found this to be a gripping story which provided some further insight into 20th century Korea. Interesting that Korean stories seem to be trending in the past few years.

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squirrelbrain
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Pickpick

#bookerlonglist #12

I loved this epic, character driven chunkster. Louisa goes walking on a Japanese beach with her father one night. Sometime later Louisa is found, barely alive. Her father is never found.

We look back at their lives, and those of other peripheral characters, & also at the post-war history of Japan / Korea and China, a period of time I don‘t know much about and found fascinating.

At the top of my list, alongside Seascraper.

TheKidUpstairs Great review! I've got this one lined up next 👍😁 3w
BarbaraBB Sounds like a book for me too! 3w
JamieArc I just got Seascraper today! It was out for a little while after the Longlist was announced so I‘m glad to finally get it. 3w
See All 11 Comments
squirrelbrain I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! @TheKidUpstairs 3w
squirrelbrain Yes, I think you‘d really like it @BarbaraBB 3w
squirrelbrain @JamieArc - I‘m sure you‘ll enjoy Seascraper - looking forward to hearing your thoughts. 3w
Cathythoughts Great review Helen , I like the sound of this one. Stacked. 3w
squirrelbrain I think you‘ll really like it @cathythoughts (edited) 3w
Chelsea.Poole I have this one checked out. Happy to hear it‘s a winner for you! 2w
Hooked_on_books I was originally going to avoid this one, as I HATED her last book. But this sounds completely different and also interesting to me. I have it on hold, so we‘ll see where I land on it! 2w
squirrelbrain @Hooked_on_books - I haven‘t read any of her authors so can‘t compare. I hope you like it! 🤞 2w
60 likes2 stack adds11 comments
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RaeLovesToRead
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Bookshop.org.uk haul (Station Books)

I want to read all the books but I'm feeling rather ill today so am not really good for much except lying around complaining.

Jas16 Hope you feel better soon 3w
AmyG Feel better! 3w
Eggbeater I complain when I'm too sick to read, too. I hope you feel better soon. 3w
See All 9 Comments
RaeLovesToRead @Jas16 @AmyG @Eggbeater If I complain enough maybe I'll complain myself better! 😅🤣 3w
PurpleyPumpkin Ugh so annoying when that happens! Hope you feel better soon. 💜 3w
RaeLovesToRead @PurpleyPumpkin Thank you! 💕 3w
RaeLovesToRead @Luke-XVX Trust me, I'm a doctor! 3w
Gissy 📚😍🙌 3w
62 likes9 comments
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JenP
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Traveling through Italy while the character in my book are also moving around. Really enjoying this book so far but I‘m reading very slowly this vacation.

wildwoodreads I hope you have the best vacation! 4w
32 likes1 comment
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JenP
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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Making my way through the Booker list. Loving the writing in this book. In 2 days I leave for vacation with my daughter to Italy where we will eat, read, and go to the beach. This is our annual tradition - 1-2 weeks traveling to a new to her place (I have been to Italy many times) over the summer. Time flies, she will be 15 this year and our trips will likely stop when she goes off to college. #bookerprize

Ruthiella This is probably the one longlisted title that I will read regardless. I really liked and was pleasantly confused by 1mo
squirrelbrain This is the last one I can get hold of - waiting for a library hold….. have a lovely trip with your daughter! 🇮🇹 1mo
JenP @squirrelbrain thanks! You are speeding through the list. I‘m enjoying your reviews. 1mo
See All 8 Comments
JenP @Ruthiella this is the first of her books I‘ve read. I own trust exercise but haven‘t read it. Heard it‘s great by people who generally have same book tastes as me 1mo
BarbaraBB Hopefully you‘ll have plenty of time to read in Italy. How wonderful to travel with your daughter 💕 (edited) 1mo
squirrelbrain Thanks Jen! 😊 1mo
Chelsea.Poole Your breakfast looks delicious. Have a great trip! 1mo
tpixie What a beautiful tradition with your daughter!! ( that bagel 🥯 looks delicious) 1mo
29 likes8 comments
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Graywacke
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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I get so excited about the #Booker longlist, and then I start the 1st book, and it‘s like - wait, who are you? I need to step back and look a bit and get acquainted with this year‘s list of books. Can‘t take these relationships too fast…. This one is 1st. Possibly my only one on audio. Not sure yet if this ten year old in the prolonged is a sociopath. #Booker2025

squirrelbrain From the synopsis, I wondered if this might not work well on audio. I‘m waiting on a hard copy from the library but I‘ll still be interested to hear your thoughts when you get a bit further in. 1mo
Graywacke @squirrelbrain The opening works ok. Maybe only ok. Narrator is only ok. 🙂 1mo
ImperfectCJ @Graywacke That's unfortunate to hear! I usually love Eunice Wong's narration. 1mo
Graywacke @ImperfectCJ you may really like it! It‘s a taste thing - readers. 1mo
49 likes4 comments
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Graciouswarriorlibrarian
Flashlight | Susan Choi
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I opened up my #stayaction package just now. @bumpinthenight , you spoiled me! I have discovered new authors and can‘t wait to dive into these books. The bookmark, neon stickers, hair clip are amazing. And the teas and popcorn are amazing! Thank you so much and many thanks to @Chrissyreadit and @DinoMom for organizing this #staycation.

bumpinthenight I hope Flashlight is great - I picked that up before I saw your comment about something more romance-themed and so far I‘ve heard really good things from those who have read it. 2mo
Chrissyreadit 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 2mo
DinoMom That butter rum crunch sounds delicious! 2mo
43 likes5 comments