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A review by viviennemorgain
Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh
2.0
I was very disappointed.
I picked up this book, because I love the genre, I was happy to find a story set in South Korea, and it was written by a Korean author. I was looking for something authentic.
Shortly after starting to read the book, I realised that this was an American book for an American audience. That's when I actually looked up the author and saw that she's a 1st generation Korean-American. #mybad
I watch a ton of Korean tv, I'm familiar with the culture and I speak the language, and I can tell you, there's nothing Korean about this book.
It's not like a K-drama. - A reviewer wrote it was like a movie. - Where the hell was it like a movie?!
It's like a weak fan fiction with 2 good sentences, and a few better scenes.
The characters had Korean names, but they were not Koreans, they were Americans. It was a constant case of - a Korean person would never do this.
The information overload was not necessary for the story, it was necessary for an American audience who's never watched a K-drama, and knows nothing about Korean culture. But still, it was boring. Even if you know nothing about Korean culture you will find these descriptions plain boring.
The Romanised use of Korean words was awkward. When you use foreign words - usually when one of the characters is not a native speaker of English - there's a flow to how to infuse those words into the speech of that given character.
The world, this future Seoul was neither future, nor imaginative.
It was a huge disappointment.
I picked up this book, because I love the genre, I was happy to find a story set in South Korea, and it was written by a Korean author. I was looking for something authentic.
Shortly after starting to read the book, I realised that this was an American book for an American audience. That's when I actually looked up the author and saw that she's a 1st generation Korean-American. #mybad
I watch a ton of Korean tv, I'm familiar with the culture and I speak the language, and I can tell you, there's nothing Korean about this book.
It's not like a K-drama. - A reviewer wrote it was like a movie. - Where the hell was it like a movie?!
It's like a weak fan fiction with 2 good sentences, and a few better scenes.
The characters had Korean names, but they were not Koreans, they were Americans. It was a constant case of - a Korean person would never do this.
The information overload was not necessary for the story, it was necessary for an American audience who's never watched a K-drama, and knows nothing about Korean culture. But still, it was boring. Even if you know nothing about Korean culture you will find these descriptions plain boring.
The Romanised use of Korean words was awkward. When you use foreign words - usually when one of the characters is not a native speaker of English - there's a flow to how to infuse those words into the speech of that given character.
The world, this future Seoul was neither future, nor imaginative.
It was a huge disappointment.