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| Book review of Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park |
I picked up this ARC on a whim, after spending too much time on AUs and suddenly craving a proper book again. At first, I thought the ARC had already expired, but since it hadn’t, I decided to dive in. The hook was intriguing, a North Korean spy in Oxford? Definitely not something I see every day.
I initially expected the story to follow a single straightforward narrative. Instead, each chapter is divided into three perspectives: The Northerner (Yohan, a North Korean spy), The Southerner (Jihoon, who runs a Korean restaurant in Oxford), and The Westerner (Yunah, a Korean-American agent).
From the author’s foreword, it’s clear that Jinwoo Park wanted to explore different facets of the Korean experience abroad. Each character embodies that in their own way. Yohan, the spy, is perhaps the most fascinating, but also the most confusing. He is sent abroad by the regime, but the book never really explains his mission. I expected espionage, intelligence-gathering, or at least a clear directive—but instead, Yohan drifts around with his mentor and Doha, without any real sense of purpose. It left me wondering: why was he sent at all?
Still, through Yohan, we glimpse the life of someone who has no real ties or identity. As an orphan, he survives only by following orders, passive and detached. Jihoon, though very different, shares that sense of disconnection. After losing his mother, the only family he had, he has little reason to return to South Korea. Yunah, meanwhile, embodies the “in-between”: culturally American but raised by very traditionally Korean parents, which creates its own kind of tension.
I appreciated the attempt at weaving these three perspectives together, but I wished the connections were stronger. While there are overlaps between the characters, the storylines often feel too separate, with Yohan’s arc lacking the strength to anchor the others. By the middle of the book, when the focus began to shift, I found myself confused rather than more invested.
This isn’t an easy read, and the plot can feel uneven. Still, if you’re interested in stories about North Korean spies or want a window into the complexities of Korean lives abroad, this book offers some fascinating glimpses—even if it doesn’t fully deliver on its promise.
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