The Future Perfect

A Novel

De: Cay Kim

A radiant, exquisitely told portrait of a young woman growing up between cultures, in search of her future self

Before you are anything, you are a daughter.

At first, you are a child at home in your mother’s belly: a beloved daughter, a vision of the future. But who will you become? At the Dol ceremony on your first birthday, dressed in a bright fuchsia hanbok, your family gathers around to see which item you’ll reach for that will determine the course of your life. You choose the pencil.

As your family moves from Seoul to snowy Minnesota, you and your mother find yourselves in a new American life that you must navigate together, mastering its language and customs. Soon enough, you are in pursuit of perfection—your mother marshaling you through a childhood of achievements to shape you into the person she most wants you to be. But you are not just your mother’s daughter, despite her sacrifices. As the years go by, you want to build a life between these two cultures that feels yours—an identity that lies somewhere in between your homeland and motherland.

Told in incandescent prose, Cay Kim’s debut novel is a portrait of a brilliant young woman growing up between worlds, and a glorious love letter to girlhood, family, and the great dreams we hold for ourselves, no matter where we’re from.

©2026 Cay Kim (P)2026 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Timeless, taut, and daringly tempestuous . . . The Future Perfect is an indelibly shrewd and scorchingly beautiful read. This is a masterful and unforgettable debut.”—Paul Beatty, author of the Man Booker Prize–winning The Sellout

“A book I have been waiting for all my life. Cay Kim has written a daring, sonic, incandescent debut, full of verve and heartache. A story about the pain and love between daughters and mothers, the deep gulf between desire and duty, and the particular experience of straddling both Korean and American homelands, this is a magnificent debut.”—Crystal Hana Kim, author of The Stone Home and If You Leave Me

“Intense, lyrical, heartfelt. A restless immigrant narrative that does not provide easy answers, The Future Perfect explores the tensions of identity in its use of languages that inform, overlap, contradict, and enrich each other. Written with gorgeous attention to detail and a sense of wonder. A beauty.”—Yoon Choi, winner of the Whiting Award and author of Skinship