A collection of essays compiled by the exhibition lead curator of Victoria and Albert Museum on the Korean Wave - by some industry key players in the South Korean Entertainment industry. Backed by the Ministry of Cultural of South Korea, Hallyu!: The Korean Wave is a beautifully curated sort of - take on the Hallyu culture and what makes it the way it is.

Informative. Intriguing. An engaging read - especially to the fans and anyone who is familiar with the K-Entertaiment industry.

Personal Ratings: 4.25🌟

Being someone who had dived into the K-Entertaiment industry since she was 10 years old, reading Hallyu! gave me a wider perspective of the insights especially when all the essays had emphasized on the importance of Hallyu culture in developing the South Korea now . As someone who is interested in the workings of the country itself, the fact that South Korea had actually been one of the worst country in the world's GDP especially during the IMF - and now it became one of the most talked about countries in the world ; and that is in conjunction and thanks to the hallyu culture.

Its interesting to see how the hallyu culture had changed the trajectory of the country - including the political, cultural and even the hospitality of the country in accepting tourists. Not only that the hallyu culture had brought in multiple technological advances and influence ; such as BTS being models for Samsung at a time and multiple famous actors like Gong Yoo becoming Coway's brand ambassador, is the fact that even the politicians are using the influence of these hallyu stars to create policies in favour of the people. Whilst there are repercussions to that - in terms of the chaebol families leading the economical aspects of the country - the undeniable truth is how hallyu played such a major influence in shaping the country as a whole that ; quoted by one of the authors - Lee Soo Man , the founder of SM Entertainment the cultural aspects of the country is shaped by the hallyu culture and not the other way round .

The popularity of certain shows like Running Man, 2 Days 1 Night and K-Dramas that had led the world by storm - in a sense that its different from the American TV Shows ; with its melancholic vibe, to the cinematography and historical aspects of the scriptwriting, the hallyu culture has integrated and given exposure to the country's economical drive and shaped how the politicians in the country to create policies within the culture itself.

Whilst the book is quite factual - as it was written by industry players, it also gave a wider perspective of the culture itself and the fascination of how it had not only increased the jobs available for the country - its the fascination of how whilst the hallyu culture had a modern take, it showed how it plays an important part in actually preserving the cultural aspects of the country itself - like how Kimchi making is now something that wants to be learnt by everyone and the practice of fermenting itself is during the times of the war where the country was once a poor country unknown by the world.

A very interesting read and I definitely loved the images and illustrations that comes with it. Loved it.
Biggest thank you to Times Reads for this copy :)