Saha follows the lives of the tenants at Saha Estates, a place for those in Town without full citizenship. It’s mainly organized through sections on different tenants, whose lives weave with each other’s. However, there is, arguably, a main character: Jin-kyung. Reading the book it was difficult to understand that was the case until the last twenty or so pages. Though the world and characters in Saha are interesting, the plot itself is buried and hard to follow, and its ending is abrupt. There are many details which are never explained, and without that extra context the book ends up feeling rushed and confused. On the other side of things, some characters probably didn’t need a section or as much backstory. Overall I enjoyed Saha enough to read it in a couple days, but the rushed conclusion ultimately sank it for me.

A short but complex book that interweaves many different characters' stories to create an overall picture of what society might like look in the not-so-far-off future. This is the world of menial workers and the sometimes-brutal realities of their lives within a strictly structured environment. There's not much humanity spared for these humans at the bottom of the societal ladder, but they still strive to live their individual lives and we feel their emotions and struggles through everyday details that take on particular poignance because it's all that they have.

The blurb describes it as a "chilling dystopian fable for fans of Netflix’s Squid Game" but I feel that's actually a bit misleading. For me personally, that led me to expect a linear storyline punctuated by unexpected events that significantly altered the reader's understanding of what is really going on, all through the lens of some sort of mandated activities that forced characters to self-examine and face hard and unpleasant truths about themselves that they might not want to see. That's not this book. Which is fine, because this book is its own creation - I just feel it's doing it a disservice to compare it directly to Squid Game like that. As I mentioned, the storyline is anything but linear - it's more like a series of short stories that each focus on a different resident in one single block of apartments. The stories do overlap, but the overlapping and interweaving actually left me confused in some places since there were so many characters. At the end, I was left with a lot of questions. Some were big existential questions about society and government and humanity, and those questions were fun to ponder. Others were story-specific questions about what happened, or why...those questions were more frustrating than fun. But I still found it to be an interesting read.

I would recommend to people who enjoy texts with a lot of meaning and story told within minimal, well-edited text, that benefits from being read slowly and carefully. People expecting a quick, linear adventure with a Netflix-style ending may not be satisfied.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

For a small book, Saha is surprisingly rich, both in terms of characters, world-building, and themes. The main plot is a threadbare excuse to tell somewhat self-contained stories of the people living in Saha, but the book kept me engaged throughout. I wanted to know more about Town, about the corporation that runs it, and about the people who live at the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder.

Each character had a beautifully complex back story. Cho Nam-Joo knows her characters well, and it shows. I especially liked Jin-kyung, and the custodian referred to only as "the old man;" however, I can't think of anyone I didn't enjoy reading about. The old man was the most compelling character. No one knows why he chose to live at Saha. He could have a better life, but he stays and cares for these residents, albeit with his characteristic grump.

Considering how much is going on in the book, I would have liked for it to be longer, and more time spent on the main plot. The book opens with Jin-kyung's brother, Do-kyung and his girlfriend Su, who has just died. Do-kyung goes on the run, and this thread is woven through the other characters' stories until the climax and ending. However, it seemed little attention was given to this plotline, as most of the book was devoted instead to individual stories of other characters.

I was not expecting this when I started reading the book, and felt confused by the appearance of characters who are later rarely or never mentioned again. The stories are not told in chronological order, which includes a couple flashbacks to thirty years before the main events. This was also confusing since I often could not tell which timeline I was in. Characters mentioned as deceased in previous stories would appear again in subsequent chapters.

The ending left much to be desired, as I found it abrupt and strange. I kept trying to go to the next page, disbelieving that that was actually the end. It seemed like it ought to continue, and made me feel more than a little cheated.

The book packs a lot of social commentaries, including issues like gentrification, displacement of natives, dictatorship disguised as a corporation, abortion, oppression, and even a nod to the disparate effects of Covid-19 on different social classes. At moments, it did tend to feel preachy.

It may be more accurate to consider this an anthology very loosely tied together by Jin-kyung's story as she tries to find what has happened to her brother, and her attempts to unmask the mysterious Council. In reality, it is a collection of stories of an oppressed group of people, unveiling their humanity in a way most people wouldn't normally consider when we think of individuals in similar circumstances in our own society.

In that sense, the book delivers powerfully.