oatmilktea's reviews
118 reviews

I kind of zoned out there in the middle; didn’t care about the Hayters, the Musgroves etc. But it got interesting again at the end! I might have to read a physical copy at some point because when I listen to audiobooks, sometimes some parts just go in one ear and out the other. Then again, I have only ever enjoyed Austen’s novels in audiobook format, and Ioved P&P and Emma.

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop is a fantastic read. It’s cosy, warm, reflective, highly quotable and easily devoured. All the characters, even the ones that only occur once and remain unnamed, feel like real people. There’s a bit of a romance but the friendships take centre-stage, which I find refreshing.

The first half/two thirds of the book I absolutely adored. On top of the above, there is great insight into reading and bookshops, but also big topics like burn-out, work under capitalism, and changing one’s life trajectory (at times radically). The writing is solid and straightforward, without much embellishment, which I prefer over overly adorned and wordy narratives. Since I don’t speak Korean I can’t be sure, but at times it felt like some things might have been a little lost in translation.

There was too much telling instead of showing towards the end, for my taste. The book kind of just fizzled out with each of the important characters talking about how they’ve changed. But I couldn’t always relate a character’s spelled out change or growth to their previous flaws or backstory. It felt a little directionless. I also think that we got Yeongju’s full backstory too late. I read closely, I do not skim books, so I don’t know why I struggled with following along in the final third, but I did.

All that aside, I loved this book—this cosy anti-capitalist treatise—and I’d definitely recommend it. It’s a new favourite despite it not being perfect in my eyes. 

This was not my cup of tea at all. DNFed it because three quarters in, l still don't care at all. For none of the characters. As usual, not much plot, but this one takes the cake. Boring, bland, nothing remotely engaging, and far too many unimportant characters. What a letdown after the high of Pride and Prejudice.

Interesting premise but going nowhere, and the Mary Sue protagonist is irritating to me.

The extremely (faux?) juvenile and colloquial writing  makes this book unreadable for me.