9 Popular Korean Books You Need to Read

In today’s post, Abbie Walker shares her top recommendations for the best books about Korea. Prepare to be transported to South Korea through literature with these 9 amazing Korean novels!

When people reach for translated literature from Asia, I think Japan can often overshadow South Korea when it comes to fiction.

And while Japanese literature is fantastic (you can read some of Laura’s and my favourite Japanese novels here), South Korea has produced so many incredible authors, writing both in translation and in English. 

I’m by no means an authority on Korean literature, but I’ve read a few Korean novels over the last few years and they’ve all left their mark on me.

Whether you’re into surreal and slightly twisted novels, books covering important periods of history, or plucky farmyard animals chasing their dreams, this list of some of the best books about Korea should have something for everyone!

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Translated Korean Novels

Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah

Translated by Deborah Smith

This short and surreal book will give you the impression of emerging from a particularly trippy fever dream when you turn the last page. The plot itself is simple. A young woman is made redundant from her job at a theatre for the blind.

Facing the uncertainty of her future, she spends the night with her former boss, searching for a mutual friend who has disappeared in Seoul.

But the oppressive heat of the evening brings reality into question, blurring the edges between real and imagined, past and present. 

Bae Suah is actually often dismissed by Koreans for her ‘un-Koreanness’, as Deborah Smith tells us in the translator’s note. But this shouldn’t put you off. If anything, it should make you want to read it more.

No one book can represent a culture or country and expecting a book from a certain country to be filled with cultural markers for a Western reader’s benefit is dangerous territory. 

You should read this book not because it’s one of the best books about Korea per se, but because it’s a brilliantly creative novel which will challenge you as a reader.

It’s best read in one sitting to catch all the nuances!

Buy Untold Night and Day: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun

Translated by Lizzie Buehler

Off-beat and dripping with irony, The Disaster Tourist is a disaster novel with a difference. Our protagonist Yona works for Jungle, a travel agency dedicated to disaster tourism – which is a real thing by the way.

The agency specialises in trips to tsunami sites, towns devastated by hurricanes, and islands built on burning rubbish. The aim of the game is to make the visitors feel better about their own survival.

RELATED: The Disaster Tourist Review

Yun Ko-eun brings a lot of themes to the table with this succinct Korean novel. She addresses climate change, environmentalism, the #MeToo movement, and questions of collective responsibility and morality.

There’s a lot to ponder in this book, and one of the questions that stuck with me the most was what makes one natural disaster more ‘appealing’ than another?

Why does one event garner international outpourings of support and disaster relief, while another is relegated to a three-line summary in a newspaper?

We don’t get any answers, but we are certainly made to think. 

Lizzie Buehler does an excellent job with the translation too. The style is sparse and stark, perfectly suited to the subject matter. 

Buy The Disaster Tourist: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Translated by Deborah Smith

Han Kang is one of the most famous Korean authors writing today, so I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you to pick up The Vegetarian.

But on the off chance you haven’t got yourself a copy of this unsettling little novel yet, allow me to give you another nudge. 

This is one of the best books about Korea since it deals with the aftermath of a woman who goes against societal conventions in a drastic way.

Yeong-hye starts dreaming of horrific, blood-soaked images and, in an effort to escape them, decides to stop eating meat. It sounds simple, but Yeong-hye’s subversive act begins to reach new heights.

I think it’s best to go into The Vegetarian knowing little more than that to immerse yourself fully in the experience.

However, if you’re sensitive to things like eating disorders, rape and self-harm, then tread carefully because this book does carry a lot of heavy content. 

READ MORE: The Vegetarian Book Review

Buy The Vegetarian: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Diary of a Murderer by Kim Young-ha

Translated by Krys Lee

This book is made up of one novella and three short stories, and I recommend picking it up for the titular novella alone.

It’s 97 pages, so well worth it, especially since the other stories are by no means bad. They just pale a touch in comparison to the brilliant Diary of a Murderer.

If you love an antihero, then you will definitely love Byeongsu, an ex-murderer afflicted with Alzheimer’s.

When his adopted daughter introduces Byeongsu to her new boyfriend, he worries that she has become involved with a fellow killer.

The author does an incredible job of humanising Byeongsu. It might feel weird to empathise with a man with such a despicable past, but the portrayal of Alzheimer’s and Byeongsu’s protectiveness over his daughter is hard to resist!

The story blurs the lines between reality and fabricated memory, heightened by the main character’s deteriorating condition. It’s a heart-breaking musing on memory and murder.

Buy Diary of a Murderer: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Kim JiYoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Translated by Jamie Chang

Kim JiYoung is truly one of the best books about South Korea I’ve ever read. It’s straight-talking and unapologetic in its depiction of life for women in Korea.

Kim JiYoung was one of the most popular Korean names for girls born in the 1980s, and as such it’s the story of the ‘Korean every-woman’.

Our Kim JiYoung is a disappointment in her family the second she’s born a girl and not a boy. The sexism begins in her own home and as she reaches school and then career age, it only gets worse.

Torment from boys at school, harassment at work, being forced to choose between a family and furthering her career, Kim JiYoung faces it all.

Although it’s a Korean book, women everywhere will, unfortunately, relate to some part of Kim JiYoung’s experiences. 

READ MORE: Best Books for Women in their 30s

Interestingly, the author substantiates her words with footnotes and references. This might seem off-putting at first, but for me it ended up adding to the story.

It reminded me that this isn’t just fiction, but the reality faced every day by women in South Korea.

I also thought the translation was flawless. The tone is cold and clinical (which will make sense in the end). Nothing gets sugar-coated and the straightforward style keeps you flipping the pages as fast as you can. 

Buy Kim JiYoung, Born 1982: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang

Translated by Chi-Young Kim

I didn’t realise until writing this that a lot of the popular Korean books are rather dark! If you want something a bit more light-hearted, then allow me to introduce you to Sprout the hen. 

Sprout is an egg-laying hen who has reached the end of her prime. All her life she’s laid eggs for her farmers, but she’s harboured a secret dream all that time. Sprout dreams of hatching her own egg.

Thwarting discriminatory barn animals and murderous weasels, Sprout comes up with a plan to flee to the wild and hatch an egg.

She’s plucky and brave, refusing to take no for an answer even when the odds are stacked against her. 

This Korean novel reads like a sweet and sad fable for adults. It reminds us to have courage in the face of adversity, to push back against other people’s misconceptions of us, and to accept and celebrate our differences. 

Buy The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Non-Translated Korean Novels

Some of the best books about Korea and Korean people have been written in English, so I didn’t want to leave those out! These titles are all must-reads if you’re interested in the history of Korea or the experience of Korean-Americans. 

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

Before this book, I knew woefully little about the LA Riots of 1992. I imagine a lot of UK readers will be in the same boat, and this book provides a solid introduction to the events despite being a work of fiction. 

Your House Will Pay is based on the real murder of Latasha Harlins, who was shot in the back of the head by a Korean woman in her liquor store.

The Korean store owner was convicted of voluntary manslaughter but received no prison time.

This, along with the beating of Rodney King, sparked tensions between the Black and Korean communities of LA that had been simmering for a while, resulting in the riot. 

Cha’s book is a sensitive and thoughtful fictionalised account of the killing and its subsequent impact on both families involved.

We hear from both families in alternating perspectives and Cha flips back and forth between the 1990s and 2019. She explores how the families might have coped in the aftermath.

Topics including responsibility, family dynamics, racism, social media, justice and forgiveness are all tackled here.

It honestly could have been 200 pages longer, but Cha does well to address everything in 300 pages in an impactful way. 

Buy Your House Will Pay: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko is another book which needs no introduction, but a list of the best books about Korea would not be complete without it!

Pachinko is a family saga beginning in the early 1900s in Korea. We start with Sunja, who is actually my favourite character in the whole book.

Pregnant with an unplanned and illegitimate child and shunned by her lover, she is saved from total shame by a minister who marries her and takes her off to Japan.

The story then follows the family through the decades.

I hadn’t read anything before about living as a Korean in Japan during the Occupation and it was an eye-opening and heart-wrenching experience.

Koreans living in Japan at this time were treated worse than animals, the conditions they were forced to endure were sickening.

There’s a line in this book: ‘A woman’s lot is to suffer.’ And that about sums it up! But the women in this book, despite their circumstances, are incredibly resilient.

When I read this book, I thought I didn’t click fully with the slightly cold style. Usually the historical fiction I read is a lot more emotive.

However, the more I think about it, the more I think the style is fitting. Lee has no need to overcomplicate things or resort to flowery language to get you to feel for these characters. What they go through is enough. 

Buy Pachinko: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee

This is the latest Korean novel I’ve read and I’m surprised that I don’t see more people talking about it! Although it was published in 1995, it reads like a modern-day novel and its themes remain pertinent to today’s society.

In Native Speaker, we’re introduced to Henry Park, a Korean-American man who just wants to assimilate. But the more he tries to become a true ‘native speaker’ in America, the more the country seems to reject him. Meanwhile, his Korean heritage feels further away than ever.

Lee explores a lot within this novel and in a way it feels longer than its 370 pages. Like Your House Will Pay, this book examines interracial tensions between different groups in New York.

I found the storyline with John Kwang, a rising politician, utterly fascinating and I’m not usually one for politics, fictional or otherwise. But there are also themes of family, interracial relationships and identity.

There’s a part where Kwang is talking to Henry about the way the media presents discord between racial groups, using the strife as a way to convince people that difference hinders a country rather than enriching and strengthening it.

He talks about how ‘the public may begin viewing anything outside mainstream experience and culture to be threatening or dangerous’.

If that doesn’t mirror rhetoric from today then I don’t know what does, making this novel more relevant than ever. 

Buy Native Speaker: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

5 Translated Korean Novels Still on My TBR

With such a wealth of Korean literature out there, my reading is never done! Here are five of my most anticipated Korean books I’ve still to read:

• I’ll Go On by Hwang Jungeun, translated by Emily Yae Won
• Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan, translated by Janet Hong
• The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun, translated by Sora Kim-Russell
• Blood Sisters by Kim Yideum, translated by Ji Yoon Lee
• Mina by Kim Sagwa, translated by Bruce Fulton & Ju-Chan Fulton

Thanks so much to Abbie for sharing her recommendations for novels about Korea!

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