This was an interesting read! I love how immigrant experiences and identities were explored in all their very many nuances. I will say that it took me quite a while to read this, but that was probably because the formatting of the ebook was quite oddly done

2/5 The description of this book intrigued me. The lives of a North Korean spy, a Korean American CIA agent, and a Korean immigrant are entwined, and in the center of it all, is the Korean restaurant called "Oxford Soju Club".
I liked that we follow three different perspectives. Especially the perspective and life of Yohan, the North Korean spy, made me curious.

However, overall, this book was so confusing. I’ve finished reading it, but I can’t explain what exactly happened to all the characters. This is mostly because of the shifting timelines. Often I didn’t quite understand whether I was currently reading about something happening in the present or the past. And when I was quite sure it happened in the past, it was hard to grasp the meaning of the event and its effect on the present.
In addition to that, the key scenes in the plot didn’t impact me. I did not feel enthralled while reading them.

I liked the idea of this book, but the execution just wasn’t for me and left me feeling way too confused.

Thank you NetGalley, Dundurn Press, and Jinwoo Park for this ARC!

Admittedly, this book was a bit confusing at first. The narrative jumps between multiple characters and shifts between past and present, which made it tricky to follow—also maybe due to my unformatted advance copy. It was sometimes hard to keep track of who’s who, though I suspect the disorientation was intentional, adding to the element of surprise.

That said, I found it incredibly engaging. The plot centers on three main characters: a North Korean spy, a Korean-American spy, and a South Korean restauranteur, all of whom converge in Oxford. It was a quick read, and once I got into the rhythm, I really enjoyed it. The writing is direct and no-nonsense, which worked well for me. Frequent changes in point of view and setting made the story feel fast-paced. It was surprising in the best way and required close attention, but the payoff is worth it. Some character outcomes caught me off guard and added emotional weight.

The book also explores themes of ethnic and national identity, raising questions about how we see ourselves and how we’re perceived by others. It reminded me of a more lighthearted and playful version of The Sympathizer. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Identity politics and espionage come together in this gripping tale of spies embroiled in an international operation of defection following the collapse of a government, each blithely aware of the consequences of their duties.

In Oxford, England, three Koreans — a North Korean, a South Korean, and a Korean American — cross paths to confront what it truly means to be Korean in a turbulent political landscape following a change in regime.

Mired in this cat-and-mouse spy thriller is a complex exploration of the Korean diaspora. Park ventures deeply into the diaspora community and their place in adopted societies, eliciting in-depth conversations between the characters and exploring their emotional turmoil amid the collapse of an operation. His writing is deft, guiding each character through an emotional arc that aligns with their personal and political motives.

Doha Kim and Dr Ryu, once vanguards of the fallen North Korean regime, now face the grim reality of their existence. After Doha is found dead under mysterious circumstances, he leaves behind his protégé, Yohan Kim, with the cryptic words: “Soju Club, Dr Ryu.” As Yohan begins to decode the meaning of his mentor’s final message, he makes his way to the Soju Club — where, unbeknownst to him, American CIA agent Yunah Choi is waiting. Grappling with the fallout from Doha’s death, Choi finds herself at the club, caught between her Korean heritage and American upbringing, leading to clashes with her superiors as they question her allegiance.

Unaware of the covert operation unfolding at the club, Jihoom Lim reflects on his past life in Seoul, wondering if he would ever want to return.

As Yohan overcomes numerous obstacles to find Dr Ryu, long-unanswered questions finally come to light. Park deftly shifts between past and present, weaving multiple points of view to gradually reveal the tangled histories that led to the present crisis. Through these shifting perspectives, a clear picture emerges — of fractured loyalties and complicated notions of truth and identity.

In one interview, Park mentioned that he didn’t just want to write a spy thriller or a literary novel on identity — so he combined both, bringing together a North and a South Korean spy, perhaps to underline a message of brotherhood. It is a mighty task, and one can sense the effort in his book. It is a gripping read, not only because of the espionage, but because of the quiet, powerful conclusion each of the spies eventually reaches. And perhaps, that is the book’s most resonant message.

I really enjoyed this book! The multiple POVs were a bit hard to follow at times, but I enjoyed the pacing of this book for the most part. This genre is not one I typically reach for so I was not sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It did take me quite awhile to get through which I think is in part due to the confusion I experiences with how the multiple POVs were structured. The exploration of Korean experiences through these intersecting points of view was the most interesting component of the novel for me. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

A curious spy thriller read with underlying themes of prejudices.
The structure is interesting. A bit difficult to follow at times but I liked this challenge.
3.5 stars rounded up.
A nice mix of exploration of Korean identities through the characters Jihoon, Yunah and Yohan. I suppose sometimes the point was to get mixed up in who was who, and the structure with time jumps adds to the thrill.
I enjoyed the characterisation more than the stakes, but the thriller aspect certainly added to the story.

K-pop/K-Drama fans might be familiar with the name Park Jinwoo. “I think I've heard that name before, either as a fictional character or an actor's name,” I muttered to myself. “So who is this Jinwoo Park?” Turns out he's a TikTok content creator, and this is his debut novel. Oxford Soju Club is set in Oxford, featuring characters from South Korea, North Korea, and the United States. Yohan, a spy from the North, discovers his senior has been killed while studying at Oxford and socializing at the Soju Club—a Korean restaurant.
Each chapter is told from three perspectives, each bringing events or advice from the past and present. The novel consists of 11 chapters, exploring the theme of freedom in life. There is one character who suddenly dies, and the story continues by introducing a character mentioned earlier. What is the reason for maintaining the three-point-of-view structure within a single chapter? The structure is indeed well-crafted—not too long or too short, doesn't make the reader wait too much, and provides background on the characters. Although I wondered about the role of the deceased character in the story, it still works.
With a theme of Northern and American espionage set in the South, it was finished in two days, leaving a pleasant impression of life in a normal world without spies. There are many memorable quotes from the dialogue, and the characters' past memories are full of wisdom—the past is indeed full of life lessons.

Thank you for the ARC.

An interesting and entertaining Korean spy stort set in Oxford. This was a quick read and I really enjoyed the twists in the plot. I did find the characters and story confusing at times. The perspective shifted quite frequently between characters and there were sudden flashbacks. I'm not sure I fully appreciated the book because I spent a lot of time trying to work out which character was which but overall I enjoyed the read.

People who love books that explore global tensions would enjoy ready this. The book is engaging Oxford Soju Club is an engaging and the portrayal of the dynamics between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States is a great addition. I also like the use of CIA agents and spies!

I really wanted to enjoy this book, and I could see the ambition behind its themes but I found the frequent time jumps a bit hard to keep track of and not that fully integrated in the story. The shifts in point of view didn’t always feel seamless, and at times the narrative felt shaky because of it.

There was also quite a bit of repetition, especially when revisiting the same events through different characters. While I can see how this might be intended to offer deeper insight, it sometimes slowed down the momentum for me.

Considering the Oxford setting, I was a bit surprised by how much emphasis was placed on American cultural references. I understand it was meant to reflect Yunah Choi’s experience, but it occasionally felt like it pulled focus from the main setting. As for the mystery, it didn’t quite grip me the way I hoped—it felt a bit subdued and might have been more effective if the story had leaned more into literary fiction rather than the thriller genre.

Overall, I think the book had some really thoughtful ideas, but the execution just didn’t fully click for me.

Oxford Soju Club is a fast paced thriller with an unexpected open ended ending and follows the lives of spies (a US born Korean American whose parents run a bagel shop, a North Korean orphan whose spy master boss knew more about his origins than he did, & a South Korean civilian running a Soju bar in Oxford and his worker a South Korean spy, who it turns out is more involved that it first appears) exploring themes of culture, food, identity and nationality, and the relationships between not being as simple as it may seem at first glance, with each faction having their own motivations and desires for interacting with the other spies, with some reasons being more innocent and hopeful than others.

An interesting novel which is almost a character study on Korean diaspora as much as it is a spy thriller. Thank you netgalley and Dundurn Press for the e-ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for this Advence Reader’s Copy.

I was intrigued by the synopsis and the promise of reading about korean identity, and for this, i was not disappointed.
This books talks about the difficulties of knowing who you truly are when you are an immigrant, how you can be perceived by others for not being enough.

The main issue i had with this book was that the plot and multiple POV’s which made the story difficult to be understood. I think the time jump confused me quite a bit and it took me time to really understand what was really going on.

I still feel like it’s a good read for someone that likes spy and thriller stories and that likes Korea’s history!

For fans of Ava Glass spy thrillers and Grace D. Li's Portrait of a Thief, Jinwoo Park's debut novel weaves captivating characters with thrilling espionage. If you love spy drama but find offerings too white and too American or British, this book offers a fresh take through Korean and Korean diaspora points of view.

I received an ARC of Oxford Soju Club from Netgalley!

I haven't read a spy/thriller novel in what feels like forever and so Oxford Soju Club functioned as way for me to re-enter into that genre. I really liked the premise of the novel. I also liked how ideas about language, diaspora, identity, culture and food emerge as the novel unfolds. I also enjoyed how the author played around with titles and names in each chapter. The characters were intriguing and complex and I found myself getting attached to them.

It was also pretty fast-paced overall, like if real life had not got in the way, I think I could have easily sat down and devoured this novel in two days.

There was this theme of hope running through the novel that warmed my heart. Like this line made me tear up a bit: “...the world is not a place to fear and cower from. It is a place to discover who you are.” It may be simple but it's so effective and so true in it's simplicity. Definitely one of those lines that are going to remain with me.

May I say I really like the cover btw.
A spy thriller turned into cultural experience exploration? sign me up. I loved multiple povs, i loved there were many dialogues (after i read Paul Lynch's Prophet Song it was a blessing). i would love it to be adapted into a movie.
really appreciate all the hard work the author put into this novel. Great debut, 박진우 작가님! I hope to see more.

Thank you NetGalley and Dundurn Press for this arc of Oxford Soju Club.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the advanced reader copy..

I was excited about the premise of this book--the mystery around the surprising death of a North Korean spymaster--but the structure of the writing made the story confusing to follow. I'm sure there will be people who enjoy this kind of structure, but it's not the kind of book for me.

I got an ARC of Oxford Soju Club from Netgalley so let's get into it!

I stumbled on one of the author's videos talking about his book and thought it sounded very intriguing so I requested an ARC.

This delivered on what it promised in the points about identity. I think this was very clear in one of the first notable moments where one of the character's, I believe it's Jihoon, talks about Doha referring to him as Im Jihoon instead of using Lim. There is always that moment of someone seeing or understanding your culture or allowing you to feel a connection to home without going there.

I loved that each of these characters had such a different relationship with where they came from and their ethnicity and how it defined them. This aspect created its own kind of tension between the characters. Ones longing for home, ones that will never see home again, and others that don't want to go back (and how some of these overlapped in some ways).

In terms of the structure of the story, with each perspective there are many flashbacks throughout the story. There were a few moments where it felt like some of the information came a little out of order. Like we get the information about Jihoon reading (I can picture the book, I work in a library, but the name is escaping me right now) and how he's read it so many times, but then in the flashback it goes back to talk about how his mom gave him the book and all this stuff. It felt like that information should have all been in the first part when we are introduced to him having the book and then the flashback we already know all that and can just slide right into that moment. I kind of wished that the end had played out more linearly and not done so many flashbacks to keep the tension up. I think I kept putting this book down and picking it back up because it would wane in tension, but I still needed to know what happened so I kept coming back.

With the spy stuff: were all the spies just spying on each other? Were any of them doing anything other than watching the other spies? Why were they there then? I got caught up in some of the flashbacks where they were in other countries so I was getting confused what their mission was in Oxford or was that just their base, more or less?

Also something occurred about 60% of the way through this book that...I had investments in that...and no one really seemed to care really. And then the thing was just there while people were having conversations and carrying on and my brain was just like the THING IN THE KITCHEN!!! I was literally going to rage for this moment but the ending made up for this moment. I didn't feel so bad, because it wasn't just this one. (I'm trying to say this without spoilers). I do really want bagels now though.

Anyway, the names Yunah and Yohan were sometimes too close looking for my brain. I kept reading them wrong. And then when they were in the same section. oh boy.

Overall, this was a good read, though slow paced. I was thinking that our one book club would have fun with this one. There's so much I want to talk about with someone else who's read it.

(Also, that cover! I really love it!)

This book was just okay for me. The concept of the book was good, but overall I feel like there were too many competing themes going on. The characters were really hard for me to keep track of, especially since there were so many different points of view/narrators. I also don’t know much about Korean history and I feel like that would have been helpful going in. It is a relatively short read for someone wanting a quick book, but it wasn’t for me.

Jinwoo Park's debut novel, "Oxford Soju Club," was an incredibly gripping read right from the outset. I was immediately pulled into this intricate web of espionage set, fascinatingly, against the unique backdrop of Oxford's only Korean restaurant amidst international tensions following Kim Jong-Il's death. Park masterfully weaves together a high-stakes spy thriller – complete with shifting alliances, hidden motives, and deadly consequences involving North Korean, South Korean, and American agents – with what felt like a really poignant exploration of the Korean diaspora experience.

I found the way the novel delves into themes of identity, belonging, and the 'masks' immigrants often feel forced to create to navigate different worlds particularly insightful and moving. It added a layer of depth beyond the typical genre fare. The pacing felt relentless in the best way, keeping the tension consistently high as different characters and factions converged with their own dangerous agendas. I also thought the writing was sharp and intelligent, handling the complex plot points and multiple viewpoints quite deftly. Even amidst the espionage, the characters felt like fully realized people caught in incredibly difficult circumstances, making their choices and struggles feel authentic.

Overall, "Oxford Soju Club" struck me as a remarkably accomplished debut. It delivers all the twists, tension, and intrigue one hopes for in a smart spy novel but elevates it considerably with its thoughtful character work and resonant exploration of cultural identity and survival. It felt both exciting and profound – a really standout contemporary thriller that lingered with me.

First and foremost, I'm incredibly grateful to have received this book firsthand. I truly enjoyed the concept. It's a completely new experience for me, as I’ve never read a book in the spy genre before. The story is both thrilling and exhilarating.

Set at Oxford University, it follows a main character from North Korea who struggles to survive among Americans and South Koreans, highlighting how survival isn't always a given. The writing style is engaging and easy to follow. However, the setting and point of view can be quite confusing—at times, I wasn’t even sure whose perspective I was reading from.

Is it fast-paced? Absolutely. Intriguing? To an extent.
This book makes you reflect on life and how something as simple as freedom, which we often take for granted, can be the hardest thing to attain for others.