I can really feel the lead character's pain. Not only that, I was brought to hate the reply of the company. Can't believe we are still trying to get the victims' voice to be heard.

Poignant, deep and really raw, I really love the writing. It is painful, I know but I still enjoy reading this.

In this novel, we get a glimpse of sexualized and gender-based violence as it plays out in Korean society. Jina is a woman who quits her job after revealing that she was in an abusive relationship with a colleague because the response she receives is so hostile. She returns to her university town, and ends up investigating the circumstances around a former classmate's death. Through this process, she encounters various people from her past, the several other perspectives are woven through to ultimately reveal how a predator is able to perpetuate harm against women and the varied ways in which these lasting effects are felt by those victimized by him. The flow of the story was a bit jerky at times, but came back together to form a fuller picture. It was interesting to read about the motives and the different responses the characters had, and the author did a good job of providing enough history for each so that you could see how they informed the present.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for a digital copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I went in relatively blind to this book, and that's how I would recommend others approach it too. It starts out from a point very familiar to many of us in a post #MeToo world, but the story switches between narrators and frequently upends what we think to be true and who our sympathies lie with. The final twist wasn't really a surprise as it had been signposted throughout, but that didn't make it any less satisfying, instead playing into the idea that those who are publicly revealed to be perpetrators of rape and sexual assault often already had rumours swirling long before that point.

Having lived in Korea for a number of years, I had prior knowledge of the culture and language which helped my understanding of the story's backdrop; however, others who don't have this experience may struggle to parse the meaning of some of the terms used (such as 'hoobae', 'sunbae' etc.) or the heavy emphasis Korean culture places on age as a dictator of hierarchy. A glossary of terms or translator's note may be useful in future editions.

(This review is based on the eARC version of this book. Thanks to Pushkin Press for providing an eARC to review.)

Jina was a frustrating perspective to read from. She spread rumors about other people to cause drama. She felt more sorry for herself than for the damage she caused to the people she spread the rumors about. She then denied everything whenever she was asked about the truth. However, she went through some traumatic experiences, which gave her compassion for other women she previously disliked. Other than the part in the beginning that focused on Jina's recent toxic relationship and being victim blamed by her workplace, the story centered on the past when Jina was a university student. The story then connected past events to the present. It's told mainly from Jina's third-person perspective but also switches to two other female students from the same town as her. While the story focused on the women's perspectives, there was also a guy who told Jina about his own traumatic experiences when he was younger.

Some parts were confusing to read. While Jina has some character growth, I would've liked to see her focus more on how her words hurt others. In the story, she felt guilty and then pitied herself, but didn't think deeply about how she shouldn't have spread rumors about others in the first place.

The story was interesting to read; it covered dark topics and was full of conflicting emotions. The characters were flawed but had some character development. I thought the story did well capturing the main characters' confusing emotions and indignation for what they went through.


(CW: toxic relationships, physical abuse, sexual assault, rape, emotional abuse, gaslighting, thoughts of suicide, mention of suicide attempts, and bullying)

Great, hugely thought-provoking. I'd love to read more from this author as her wonderful prose stunned me in the best way possible. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy

I just couldn't get into this one. The premise--a campus novel--felt right up my alley, but the somewhat confusing unfurling of the narrative left me uninterested in following the main character.

unfortunately I struggled to follow along exactly with the intersecting storylines due to the different styles of narration (switching between first, third and even second person sometimes within the same chapter/character whose narrating). The inconsistent use of speech marks also added to my confusion in piecing together the entire story. Despite this, the story interweaving various characters and times led to various moments where segments of the story clicked into place and the message of gender, sex and sexual assault was explored in various, hard hitting ways. I think I would’ve enjoyed it as a story more had it been more consistent in the narration however I am very thankful to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for allowing me to read this ahead of its publication in English.

Jina is a young Korean woman who having publicly outed an abusive male colleague she was having a relationship with is facing an online backlash, even her former employers are more concerned that she might have damaged their image than with her welfare. Amongst the barrage of victim-blaming there is a short comment alluding to her Anjin University days and stirring up bitter memories of the toxic culture of misogyny and abuse that marred the lives of so many of it's female students . Thinking she knows the culprit Jina decides to return to Anjin to confront the tormentor hiding behind the username. Jina's journey disturbs a hornet's nest as the secrets and lies of the past are exposed.

I really struggled with this book for the first few chapters,it switches between timelines and sometimes it's not clear which character's "voice" is being used or what they're referring to in which timeline,which can be very confusing.
Once past that though I was gripped. The story goes right back to Jina's childhood,one friendship in particular, and shows how upbringing can influence people's entire lives and self-perception. The book explores not only the toxic and misogynist culture that south Korea is still notorious for,but the struggle abused women have to be listened to in the first place ,why so many are reluctant to report such behaviour and the way society invariably labels them as either liars or complicit in some way in their ordeal.

The story is complex and involving,the voices are of the abused,the abusers and those who aid and abet by trying to cover up or join in the victim-blaming. Characterisation is strong ,none of the protagonists is perfect, and it's a powerful and often disturbing read.

While I found the beginning overly complex,and nearly gave up on it, I'm glad I persevered as once the story gets into it's stride this is an exceptional piece of writing.

Another Person is a translated Korean novel that centers around sexual assault, rape culture, and female friendships in South Korea.

Jina, the main character, just went through a terrible sexually, physically, and emotionally exhausting relationship with a man she works with. She reported him, and their case went to trial, where he was found guilty and ended up having to pay her around $2,000 for his crimes. He walked free, got paid leave from their job, and she is reeling from the audacity of it all. Unsure of where to go next, Jina heads back to Anjin, the town she started college in, to figure out who wrote a terrible comment about her online, "vacuum cleaner bitch," regarding the trial. Assuming it was Sujin, Jina's childhood best friend that she once left behind, Jina heads to Sujin's job first and berates her for writing such a thing. When speaking to Sujin, Jina realizes it couldn't have been Sujin who wrote that terrible comment, making Jina uncover truths about her past that she never wanted to address again.

Upon Jina's arrival in Anjin, the story takes an entirely different course than originally plotted, and you are given multiple POVs from a plethora of characters, hearing their thoughts on rape culture and everyday hardships in Korea. This novel is not what you expect, but not in the worst of ways.

The book blurb interested me, but I have to say I was disappointed the more I read on. I enjoyed the material, and I enjoyed the story that was crafted, but I felt like the author was trying to do too much with the book, covering too many difficult topics without TRULY covering them.

I also think this story has a plethora of faults with the writing. I feel as though the translations work, but just barely enough for this to be a cohesive novel. There were many sentences I was staring at, wondering what the author and translator were trying to say. Phrases such as "he was pressurizing me" instead of "pressuring me," or "I got a job at a small travel agent and..." instead of "travel agency." I also feel like as well as translations may go, some words and phrases in the Korean language cannot be translated easily, and it shown through in this book. The names and locations are fine, but why does the book never explain that "sunbae" means superior? That feels important considering how often it is used so frequently!

I wanted it to work for me, but ultimately had too many problems that it was hard to finish it, which is sad, because the writing is fantastic, and clearly the author has important things she wants to say (that I want to listen to!). 3 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Our main girl Jina is dealing with some seriously heavy stuff after getting out of an abusive relationship with a coworker, and now she's got the whole internet coming after her for speaking up.

Hwagil's writing is like a punch to the gut - it's raw, it's real, and it doesn't sugarcoat anything. It's definitely uncomfortable at times, and I remember reflecting that certain language choices felt especially raw and ugly, but in quite an artful way. I think the language really reflects Jina's character and emotional state.

The story jumps around between different characters and times, which can be a bit confusing at first, but it really drives home just how messed up Jina's life has become. It's like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing, but in a way that makes you feel everything Jina's going through. I will confess there were times when I wasn't entirely sure who's POV we were inhabiting, and I did get a bit lost with all the bouncing around, but the story continues to flow.

I was intrigued by the "#MeToo in South Korea" premise that others have mentioned, and that definitely played out on the page. There was much more of a focus on university than the workplace.

Now, the book does try to tackle a lot of big ideas, and sometimes it feels like it's biting off more than it can chew. There are so many characters and themes flying around that it can be hard to keep track of everything. And if you're not super familiar with Korean culture, some of the references might go over your head, or get lost in translation.

I'd recommend this book for fans of female rage, unreliable narrators, unconventional prose and translated women's lit.

Another Person is a novel about sexual assault, rape culture, and gender in South Korea.
I figured I’d give it five stars just because of the topic, but I found the book’s structure and writing very messy and disjointed. It’s an introspective book about Kim Jina who is raped and physically assaulted by her own boyfriend (who is also her sunbae at university and co-worker).

Throughout the novel, we see what work and university colleagues say about her and then she tries to reclaim her narrative, but it somehow comes up very messy and it is different to engage with the book. There are lots of rhetorical questions and meandering thoughts, which is realistic for the diary of a person, but for a fictional book, it just felt very redundant and directionless. This may have been the point, but I personally didn’t enjoy reading it and I didn’t think this book said anything new. I did like the aspect of Jina reclaiming her narrative, but the way it was done through rhetorical questions didn’t really work for me.

The book also links her story with ones of other South Korean women who went through different things: Lee Kanghyun a professor who loves academia (?) but struggles with harassment and Yuri who used to be nicknamed ‘vacuum cleaner’ by everyone because she’d suck anything. Again, this is presented so Jina criticizes what they went through, but again with moralistic rhetorical questions and meandering thoughts that I think blurred the message of those segments? I don’t know, it didn’t work for me and I’m sad.

Lots of things happened in this book and I think it could have been told in less pages. At some point was repetitive and dragging for too long... The jumps in time of the story made me loose track of what was happening. Writing style or/and translation might have an impact on the enjoyment of this book, or maybe is just me! Regardless, is a powerful read touching many topics that might trigger some people so check it out before reading it.

A moving and powerful novel about sexism and very important themes present in todays society. This was rich and sharp and made me uncomfortable, as I imagine was the intention. It was beautiful written and paced and made me think. A rich novel.

A lot of heavy stuff to unpack in this book. I thought the writing was really interesting. Timely story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book explores, abusive relationships, sexual assault, slut shaming and much more in Korea. Although in my opinion this book can feel a bit heavy due to all the heavy topics, it is very much needed right now in society, The different POV’s from very very different characters was very interesting it was a very deep dive into it. Well done Kang, I can’t wait to read your next book!