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325th out of 804 books
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656 voters
Your Republic Is Calling You
A foreign film importer, Gi-yeong is a family man with a wife and daughter. An aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi, he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years. Suddenly he receives a mysterious email, a directive seemingly from the home office. He has one day to return to headquarters. He hasn't heard from anyone in over...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published
September 28th 2010
by Mariner Books
(first published 2006)
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I started out this book with serious doubts. The description looked really good but I had read a previous book by the author and hated it -- honestly it was one of the worst books I've read in my entire life. But I thought I'd give this a go, and just give up if I didn't like it. I'm glad I read it because it was excellent. It's a spy story, but it's more than just a thriller. All the characters have depth and texture.
The entire novel takes place over the course of one day in the lives of Ki-Yon...more
The entire novel takes place over the course of one day in the lives of Ki-Yon...more
I imagine being a sleeper agent is a lot like crashing a drunken party. You walk in the door, pretending to be invited. You eat a couple chips and drink a beer. You join conversations and chat with people, avoiding specific conversation topics but not really holding back. ultimately the consequence of your actions may be discovery and ejection from the party. Depending on the climate of the group, you could be offered to stay, or you could be painfully beat to the ground, you could simply be ign...more
Please accept my apologies for a single star in this review. I could not like the narrator and I could not care about him. Was this because the author twiddled the time line so much I couldn't spend any time trying to get to know him? Or was it because Mr. Kim expressly desired his readership not to know his protagonist--his being a mole and all so deeply under cover he was unknown even to himself?
Perhaps you've heard me bitch about the loss of texture in translated texts before. Writers write b...more
Perhaps you've heard me bitch about the loss of texture in translated texts before. Writers write b...more
Young-ha Kim is a really fantastic writer. I thought the plot of the book was interesting, but I was expecting it to be a bit too preachy, or a bit too action-packed. It was neither of those things, but ended up being almost boring in a way that I couldn't put it down. It was intriguing, yet I couldn't understand why: essentially it is just life and relationships and everything a regular adult experiences. Except not. The obvious answer as to why is that it involves a situation most of us will n...more
When you're a spy, and you've gone a number of years without anyone accusing you of it, you start to forget that's what you are. You settle in and soon enough your false self becomes your real self, with the original self starting to seem like another life, a facade, or as though it never existed at all. So when you get an email giving you a rendezvous time and extraction point, it's tough to match that up with your life as a small business owner, husband, and father. Add in the demise in ideolo...more
this is the kind of book that seems to beg for your typical back-cover blurb words: "highly charged," "meditative," "emotionally taut," etc. (note: all actual descriptions found on the back of the english translation). it's well-paced and sufficiently contemplative enough to fend off hollywood-spy-genre charges, but i think in the end the decision to focus on a single day (punctured with carefully crafted flashbacks loaded with Psychological Significance) was not the best one. it makes for a nar...more
I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I could have read it in the original Korean. The translation was definitely awkward in places, and the cultural references flew right over my head (I clearly need to read up on Korean pop stars). Still, this is a fascinating tale about a North Korean spy, placed in South Korea as an undercover operative, but then apparently forgotten about for the past 10 years. In the meantime he's gotten married, had a child, and established himself as an im...more
A North Korean spy, having lived under a different identity in South Korea receives a message one day recalling him back to his homeland, his assignment, apparently over. He has 24 hours to return and eliminate all incriminating evidence.
We watch him through the day slowly attempting to erase himself from the life he has built for himself in South Korea since he was sent over and adopted a dead South Korean man's identity more than 30 years ago. In the process of erasing traces of his life, we s...more
We watch him through the day slowly attempting to erase himself from the life he has built for himself in South Korea since he was sent over and adopted a dead South Korean man's identity more than 30 years ago. In the process of erasing traces of his life, we s...more
This author doesn't seem to be very well-known among most Koreans, but he does sell rather a lot of books to the foreign-born expatriate crowd, who, like me, want to further submerse themselves in the culture by sampling the country's literary output. Unfortunately, other than the fact that this book was first written in Korean, and not many Westerners can claim to have read any books by Korean writers, it just doesn't have a lot going for it. Mr. Kim obviously has high literary ambitions, but t...more
Ki-yong is a North Korean spy who's been living as a sleeper in Seoul for the past 21 years. After 10 years of no contact he's suddenly given the order to liquidate everything and return to the North in the next 24 hours. But this is not a spy novel. If you're looking for a thriller packed with action and international intrigue look elsewhere. In fact, the spy angle is more a metaphor than anything else; we are all spies, all double agents, in one way or another. This is a novel about life and c...more
Interesting premise. A North Korean mole living in South Korea since his early twenties is suddenly and inexplicably called back to his original homeland. He has one day to sort out the various threads of his life and to decide whether to comply or run. His troubled wife and emerging adolescent daughter deal with their own conflicts during the same twenty-four hours, unaware of the impending doom hanging over all of them. The story was engaging enough to hold my interest, but I found the prose a...more
Here you will find both a good page-turner - with an unknown outcome right up to the end - and a nice contemporary account of modern South Korean society. The central dilemma within Your Republic is Calling You is whether Ki-young, a long-time North Korean spy living in Seoul for many years, will return to the North after unexpectedly receiving an encrypted message to come back. While he struggles with his ultimate decision, you get to know his wife, Ma-ri, daughter, Hyon-mi, and various other m...more
Your Republic Is Calling You is more than just a piece of Korean literature. It is, on some levels, a Korean Ulysses.
Like in Ulysses, events unfold over the course of one day. In this case, the day is divided into chapters with timestamped titles. A husband and wife (along with their teenage daughter) diverge at the beginning of the story, not to reconvene until the end of the day after coping with their greater geocultural reality. Ma-ri, embroiled in an affair with a younger man, is not unlik...more
Like in Ulysses, events unfold over the course of one day. In this case, the day is divided into chapters with timestamped titles. A husband and wife (along with their teenage daughter) diverge at the beginning of the story, not to reconvene until the end of the day after coping with their greater geocultural reality. Ma-ri, embroiled in an affair with a younger man, is not unlik...more
This thriller, which takes place over a 24-hour period, follows Kim Ki-yong, a North Korean mole who has been embedded in Seoul for 20 years and his unsuspecting family over the course of the day in which he learns that he is being recalled to North Korea. This could have been a standard spy-who-came-in-from-the-cold potboiler, but Kim Young-ha gives us more than that: sensitive portrayals of the people in Ki-yong's life, with detailed sketches of their backgrounds and motivations and his. There...more
Different and interesting! Young-ha Kim tells the story of a Seoul, Korea family-husband, wife and teen daughter-over a 24 hour period. Each chapter is an hour of the day. Unbeknownst to his family, the father/husband is a spy from North Korea. At the time of the story he has spent half of his life in the north and half in the south. On this day, after 10 years of silence, he receives an order from his handlers to return to Pyongyang. As he tries to figure out why and debates whether to go or no...more
I got this free from "First Reads" - thanks Goodreads!!
This book all takes place in one day - following the lives of a family. The story is interesting and well written. It's a little bit of a mystery (Ki-yong is trying to figure out why he's being called back to North Korea), and the plot has some unexpected twists and coincidences. Overall I enjoyed it.
Surprisingly, I didn't get much of a feel for Korea from reading it. I really like books where the setting is a character - and I felt like thi...more
This book all takes place in one day - following the lives of a family. The story is interesting and well written. It's a little bit of a mystery (Ki-yong is trying to figure out why he's being called back to North Korea), and the plot has some unexpected twists and coincidences. Overall I enjoyed it.
Surprisingly, I didn't get much of a feel for Korea from reading it. I really like books where the setting is a character - and I felt like thi...more
Your Republic is Calling You is a fascinating book that almost unintentionally miscategorizes itself. It is commonly referred to as a "spy thriller", but I'm happy to say that it is not really much of one. There are indeed spy elements and a few scenes are genuinely exhilarating, but make no mistake; this isn't a North Korean version of Jason Bourne or James Bond. As entertaining as those franchises are, they've been done and they're predictable. Your Republic Is Calling You is so much more.
Firs...more
Firs...more
I was mostly reading for the translation, which was good, but still read like a translation.. I have no clue why the English publisher changed the title from the original, "Empire of Lights," a reference to the Magritte painting "l'Empire des lumières."
The novel was well paced and engaging, but as might be expected, much more illuminating about contemporary South Korean society and how a South Korean might imagine North Korea than giving any "real" insight into the DPRK. As in his other work, Ki...more
The novel was well paced and engaging, but as might be expected, much more illuminating about contemporary South Korean society and how a South Korean might imagine North Korea than giving any "real" insight into the DPRK. As in his other work, Ki...more
This was an altogether interesting book and I really enjoyed the main spy narrative. He seemed comfortable writing from Ki-Yong's perspective, and did well in those bits. To me, the best part of the book, and what makes it memorable in my mind, are the snippets about daily life differences between North and South Korea, things that we westerners don't always think about or realize. I of course knew that the South Koreans have a great deal more freedom, but Kim shows us this in great detail, focu...more
You know, the premise of the book is fascinating - North Korean spy, living in South Korea for years, is given the order to drop everything and come home. The book covers the next 24 hours. Once again I wonder, in the face of rave reviews on amazon.com, if it's me, or if it's the book....but this one didn't deliver. Nobody is likable, so I lost interest in Ki-yong's dilemma. I lost interest in his wife's dilemma. I lost interest in his teen daughter. Characters seem to be presented as case studi...more
I expected a lot from this book because of what it said on the back cover, but I did feel a bit let down after I finished the book. First of all, I didn't like the writing style too much. Too abrupt. Too jarring. Also, there were times, especially at the beginning of a new chapter, when I was confused as to whose point-of-view this chapter was written in. I also wanted some keen insight into the North Korean regime, but what I got from the book was nothing more than what I can get from the web.
I...more
I...more
Ki-Young is a contemporary Korean, a family man, a movie distributor, and a forgotten North Korean spy -- or so he thinks until he gets an email telling him that it's time to go back to North Korea. The novel, which takes place on the day he gets the email and agonizes about whether to return to the North profiles Ki-Young, his family, current S. Korean society, the South Korea of the 80s and the North Korea of Ki-Young's childhood.
This is a darkly humorous novel portraying a dysfunctional famil...more
This is a darkly humorous novel portraying a dysfunctional famil...more
This was translated into English from Korean. I enjoyed this book, and it's been a couple of years since I read it. There is a very interesting scene in North Korea where the main character is taken to a place that is designed to look and feel exactly like the social setting of South Korea, so that the spies can fit in. When the main character gets the notice that he imagines to be his doom, all kinds of decisions are made that affect him and his family and in the end one has to wonder if it was...more
I wanted to read this for what feels like forever, because I thought, well, some sort of mystery-espionage story about S Korea has to be interesting. And this doesn't disappoint, in spite of not being much of a thriller.
In fact, the plot is the awakening of a sleeper agent from the North who has been in Seoul for twenty years and built a life, as he tries to decide what to do. We also see his wife and fifteen year old daughter and a couple other characters go about their days, and in the process...more
In fact, the plot is the awakening of a sleeper agent from the North who has been in Seoul for twenty years and built a life, as he tries to decide what to do. We also see his wife and fifteen year old daughter and a couple other characters go about their days, and in the process...more
Many books flow by in the course of my day. This one caught my eye; I opened it to the middle and read a few pages, then a few pages more, then decided to read it. I had doubts when I read the beginning, but I quickly saw what a gem this was: the thriller aspect is good and the window into Korean society and culture, both south and north, is worthwhile, but this is not what the novel is about: it's about people trying to figure out how to live. The characters are so good and treated with such lo...more
A very different and insightful look into the fractured Koreas. More literary than spy or mystery. The entire book takes place within 24 hours. Ki-yong is 42 years old with 21 years spent in each of the Koreas. He's a NK agent( almost forgotten by the north) living and working in Seoul. He has a business and is married with one bright and charming daughter. His wife works as a VW salesperson. His entire life is turned inside out one day when he gets a message via email to return to NK. His anxie...more
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This book fails to live up to the potential of its premise. A North Korean spy in Seoul, who has not been contacted by his handlers in over a decade and who is living as an ordinary South Korean, is suddenly given 24 hours to return to North Korea. In that time, he struggles with his past, his relationships with his wife and daughter, his own identity and purpose. But it all falls flat and he and the other characters are uninteresting and unsympathetic.
This is the story of a man who is a spy for North Korea but forgotten after being placed in South Korea. During the next 20 years he is living in South Korea in limbo. Suddenly, his handlers seem to have reappeared and want him to return to the North. The entire book takes place in one day. It is not only his story but also that of his wife and daughter and shows how decisions made in one day can affect your entire life. The only problem I encountered was keeping the names straight as they were...more
A very refreshing read. The translation was good- but it made me wish I could read it in the original Korean. It is the story of a North Korean spy who has lived in South Korea for many years and then is "called back." It is not so much a book about spies as it is a story of one man's life- it raises the issue of how revealing any of truly are to those in our intimate life without being preachy or heavy-handed.
I won this book from the goodreads site. The story is not one of nonstop action but provides a window into North and South Korea. If you want a feel good, escapist book, this is not for you. This book makes you feel the charactors, every day real people, no idealization of them or the two countries. It will not be a book you forget as soon as you finish reading. I recommend it, as an eye opener and as a good read.
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Kim Young-ha was born in Hwacheon. He moved from place to place as a child, since his father was in the military. As a child, he suffered from gas poisoning from coal gas and lost memory before ten[1]. He was educated at Yonsei University in Seoul, majoring business administration, but he didn't show much interest in it. Instead he focused on writing stories. Kim, after graduating from Yonsei Univ...more
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![오빠가 돌아왔다 [Oppa ka tora watta]](http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360428463m/17343509.jpg "오빠가 돌아왔다 [Oppa ka tora watta]")
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“Life is a continuous cycle of once-terrifying things becoming normal.”
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Oct 26, 2010 12:34pm
Dec 01, 2010 08:33am