Exhibit

A Novel

By: R. O. Kwon

Narrated by: Ami Park, Sue Jean Kim

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE

"Hypnotic...a haunting romance about desire, obsession, and ambition that is sure to get your heart rate up."—Time Magazine

"R.O. Kwon’s Exhibit is, hands down, the sexiest novel of the year."—Vogue

"A highly sensory experience...lingers like a mysterious, multihued bruise."—The New York Times

"One of the most buzzed-about books of the year…fiery, sexual, and undeniably original."—Poets & Writers

From bestselling author R. O. Kwon, an exhilarating, blazing-hot novel about a woman caught between her desires and her life.

At a lavish party in the hills outside of San Francisco, Jin Han meets Lidija Jung and nothing will ever be the same for either woman. A brilliant young photographer, Jin is at a crossroads in her work, in her marriage to her college love Philip, and in who she is and who she wants to be. Lidija is an alluring, injured world-class ballerina on hiatus from her ballet company under mysterious circumstances. Drawn to each other by their intense artistic drives, the two women talk all night.

Cracked open, Jin finds herself telling Lidija about an old familial curse, breaking a lifelong promise. She's been told that if she doesn’t keep the curse a secret, she risks losing everything; death and ruin could lie ahead. As Jin and Lidija become more entangled, they realize they share more than the ferocity of their ambition, and begin to explore hidden desires. Something is ignited in Jin: her art, her body, and her sense of self irrevocably changed. But can she avoid the specter of the curse? Vital, bold, powerful, and deeply moving, Exhibit asks: how brightly can you burn before you light your life on fire?

©2024 R. O. Kwon (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A hypnotic queer love story full of lust and longing...a haunting romance about desire, obsession, and ambition that is sure to get your heart rate up."—Time Magazine

"R.O. Kwon’s Exhibit is, hands down, the sexiest novel of the year...her examination of kink, desire, shame, lust and the liminal space we enter when we finally stop denying ourselves...makes Exhibit uniquely successful and powerfully sexy."—Vogue

"A highly sensory experience, awash in petals and colors, smells and flavors, that adds to the literature on a proclivity much discussed and often misunderstood. It lingers like a mysterious, multihued bruise."—The New York Times

Not my cup of tea

This book isn't for everyone. It appears, specifically, to be geared towards artsy, kinky Asian lesbians who would rather read poetry than a novel.

This short book prefers to be oblique. To imply, instead of describing what is actually happening. That makes it sound fancy, but does make it hard to follow the plot.

I hoped the book involving BDSM would keep it interesting - but the sex scenes, such as they are, are extremely brief in a river of mashed-together scenes. Sometimes just a sentence or two between other unrelated scenes.

Perhaps I would have enjoyed the book more if I read it instead of listened to it. The narrator's voice is pleasant, but she doesn't use character voices and has a monotonous delivery, making it hard to be engaged.

Overall, I thought the book was confusing and unsatisfying. It felt like there were plenty of unresolved plot threads, but I suspect that was due to the author intentionally wanting to hint at things or let the listener fill in with their own imagination, instead of actually providing the plot.

Boring

Too poetic and story didn’t go anywhere. 0/10 recommend. I did not enjoy at all.