thank you astra house for this early arc ebook!

i was super excited and nervous to read this book. mostly nervous because the premise is so tempting to me, nervous because what if it doesn’t deliver.

but it delivered. a book with alternating POVs, about two people who live in a creative art space of the world and who have a life touched by suicide.

not much of this book is dialogue, more descriptions of areas, thoughts, past/present situations, but the author had the ability to create this intense relationship between the two main characters. i enjoyed the read very much, and felt the only thing truly missing was more conversation.

I enjoyed this. It was a fun and interesting read - it really made me have deep moments of thought. It also made me really appreciate the life that I’m living. I enjoy being in the head of such a complex character.

Some says it reminds them of Han Kang, but it leans towards Mieko Kawakami's All the Lovers in the Night, Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Marguerite Duras' The Lover & Territory of Light by Yūko Tsushima- in Moshfegh case; losing hope of living & Tsushima for lumionous, hypnotic language style.

As the summary goes, you can guess the tone and mood- it's dark and sardonic, and some are devastating.
"She had once said to him, “Isn’t half of life embarrassment? And the rest of it fear and greed?”She hadn’t explained herself, but he’d understood that the rest meant death. He had to tell her that the truly embarrassing thing wasn’t always thinking about death and being pulled toward it, but having never loved anyone."

I love how blowfish as a general statue in this book- from how it represent pressures (one wrong cut and you're out. literally), the God complex (on how u can choose to live or die just by eating the same thing), and subsequently, delicacy in Japan and Korea, but one that can be fatal if prepared incorrectly. This duality is something beautiful and refined yet harboring death- mirrors the inner lives of the main characters.

Definitely would recommend this! 4.5/5.

Blowfish is a haunting, cerebral meditation on art, death, and the fragile threads that tether us to life. Told in four interwoven parts, this postmodern novel is less a conventional narrative and more a quiet reckoning—a slow, aching dissection of two lives orbiting despair, flickering with the faintest pulses of connection.

The alternating stories of a female sculptor and a male architect are elegantly constructed, each echoing with personal tragedy: a grandmother’s violent suicide by poisonous blowfish, a brother’s fatal leap. These events linger like ghosts in the protagonists’ minds, shaping their present and clouding their futures. Their occasional intersections—in Seoul and later Tokyo—are charged not with romance but with the muted tension of people standing at the edge of something final, perhaps irreversible.

The prose is sparse and emotionally restrained yet deeply evocative. The cities—Seoul and Tokyo—aren’t just backdrops but living entities layered with memory, silence, and a strange kind of beauty. Through these urban landscapes, the novel explores alienation in modern life and how creativity can be both an escape and a reason to stay alive.

Despite its somber subject matter, Blowfish is not without hope. Art becomes a lifeline, a fragile but luminous thread that binds the two protagonists to the world and each other, however fleetingly. Jia resists tidy conclusions or dramatic catharsis, offering a subtle, thoughtful look at what it means to create in the face of despair.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"when she had said her final goodbyes, Abe-san said one thing and one thing only, his face inscrutable: "Sayonara!"

Maybe he knew all along, the only reason she met him was to get closer to death.
the reason why she dedicatedly learnt about blowfish was not to be cautious about removing its poison, but to extract the precise thing, to build the final piece of art of her career- her own death.

BLOWFISH tells the story of two people, a successful sculptor who decide to commit suicide by artfully preparing a lethal dish of blowfish and consuming it, and a male architect- whose brother's suicide haunts him throughout his life. as life brings them together- two times- things inevitably gets entangled. Chaotic.

This book reeks of death. every page of this book carries the musty scent of death, blended with the warm blood of the blowfishes Abe-san cured for her. depressing, dark and hauntingly relieving. She orchestrates her death for her. As a final tribute to the life she led, to the eyes that watched her. To the world and fate that made her come to that decision.

I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book as a whole, but a million details, a million instances, a million times the characters made me reconsider the philosophy of my own life- this book is a strong literary piece. it's strong enough to claw your heart and hang onto it, when the arteries tear and bleed. i would say that i enjoyed this book as a million individual pieces, each having its own independent existence, relevance, and arrival in my life in the future.

"when she happened to look through his diary, she discovered that each entry began with "If I live".

BLOWFISH is the testimony of the darkest alley of the human existence, crawling through the gutters of disparity, lost hopes rotting at the far end of the dungeon. Kyung-Ran Jo crafted this novel as a masterpiece, where the blowfish swimming passively in the tank representing the woman's contemplation of failures in life, love, and art.
"Isn't half of life embarrassment? And the rest of it fear and greed?"

This book pulled me back to the time when i read 'The Vegetarian' by Han Kang and now i'm excited to read the other works of Kyung-Ran Jo.

But before that, i need to learn how to cook a Blowfish.

Thank you Astra Publishing House and NG for sending the Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Blowfish was a beautiful and intense study of two characters whose lives are vastly different and yet they share the same desire…to no longer exist in this world. I loved the psychological examination of both characters, as well as the non linear (ish) story telling. Learning about past experiences of not just the main characters but their families and friends was both heartbreaking while somehow being hopeful at times. It goes without saying that the subject matter is heavy and could be triggering for some readers (myself included) so keep that in mind if you’re picking up this book. Overall, this was a fantastic translation of a story that I think many people may find relatable. 4.5/5 stars!

I've never quite read a book like this before, but I found it very compelling. A bit slow and meandering, but in a way where one can't help but enjoy the journey. I like books where the prose itself lulls you into the world of the story, and this was no exception. Deeply unconventional, but no less enjoyable. Kudos to the translator!

Thank you Netgalley & Astra Publishing House for my Free E-A.R.C.
Blowfish by Kyung Ran Jo had an intriguing premise, but it didn’t quite work for me. It started strong—the writing had a nice rhythm in the first few pages—but my interest faded fast. The novel seemed more focused on describing the physical setting than developing the characters’ thoughts, motives, or histories, which felt like a missed opportunity given the heavy themes.

Some details felt unnecessary, like filling space that didn’t add much to the story. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right headspace for this one, but it never fully pulled me in. That said, reading experiences are personal, so this might resonate more with someone else