Counterattacks at Thirty

Counterattacks at Thirty / Won-Pyung Sohn
trans. from the Korean by Sean Lin Halbert
Toronto: HarperVia, 2025, c2017.
240 p.

I like workplace novels; there is something that intrigues me about the daily life of other people. So when I saw this Korean book, I knew I had to read it. 

Kim Jihye is around 30 but she's still an intern at a small college. She can't quite figure out where she's gone wrong, career-wise, but just goes along with the role and its menial tasks and hopes for the best. Then a new intern shows up, Gyuok Lee. He's about her age but doesn't seem to mind being an intern, in fact he is so calm and helpful everyone loves him. But Jihye has seen him before. 

Gyuok Lee is a rebel, he quietly stirs people up to some kind of rebellion, some kind of striking back against an oppressive system. Jihye, however, is a rule-follower, and is shocked to find she is drawn to Gyuok's ideas. One of the benefits of their internship is that are allowed to take one free class a term at their college. Jihye has never taken advantage of it, but Gyuok says they should take the most expensive one, which turns out to be a beginner ukulele class. In this class they meet two other disaffected men. 

Gyuok uses this small group to stir up small acts of opposition to those who use power to oppress, from the smallest example (their boss who doesn't do much work but burps and farts all over the office) to larger, corrupt organizations. We don't see the actual acts they perform, after the first couple, but  they do escalate to bigger efforts, until they are all briefly arrested at one of them. And when they find the full background of  the others, this little band breaks down. 

This was an interesting novel, and an interesting concept. It seems to combine the darker side of Korean fiction with the lighter, "healing novel" side. There is a bit of both and they balance each other so that this book ends up somewhere in the middle. Jihye is pushed out of her rut - she moves on to a better, real job and is able to use her skills and experiences creatively. The other three sort of fade out, until Gyuok reappears, calm as ever, at the end. There is a small romantic thread going on but I was pleased that it wasn't the focus, and that Jihye finds herself by finding a new job and creating new experiences, not by falling in love. There are thoughtful issues in this story and a hopeful conclusion. I liked all that. I did find that the plot was a little loose at times, and the pace of the novel was a little uneven. But the two primary characters were well drawn and moved the story. This is one of a number of Korean novels I have read recently that focus on being thirty as a turning point in life, it's like middle age crisis hits at 30 in Korea.  

In any case, I thought this was a good read, with thought-provoking points and a strong main character in the very ordinary Kim Jihye.