Savannah Watson

As I mentioned in my last book review (Book Review: Days at the Moisaki Bookshop), I have a deep love and appreciation for Asia, and South Korea especially holds a special place in my heart. When I was in South Korea, I think one of the peak moments for me was going into a library (inside a shopping mall, I might add) that had floor-to-ceiling stacks… it was beautiful. So, when I spotted a book while browsing a local bookshop that not only takes place in this country I fell in love with but also is about a bookshop… you can probably imagine my excitement.

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop was written by Hwang Bo-Reum and first published in Korea in 2022. It was published in the UK in 2023 and in the US in 2024. As a side note: it’s been ages since I’ve read a newly published, modern book, so reading about things like ‘blogs’ and ‘Instagram’ was a little jarring in an amusing way.

The story takes place in Seoul, South Korea, where Yeongju left behind her old life to start a bookshop. She has help from her barista, Minjun, a young man trying to find peace after years of hard work that – to him – feels like amounted to nothing. We are introduced to the bookshop’s regulars, like an apathetic teenager and his mother, and business connections/friends, like the unhappily married roaster the bookshop gets their coffee beans from. All of them, like all of us, have troubles in their past – and present – things they work through over the course of the story.

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop is one of those books that made me feel understood on almost every level. So much of the book was personally relatable to me, from what many characters did and felt to the philosophies they expressed. The book was validating and comforting in a way I did not expect, but it also immediately motivated me to want to strive for personal growth.

I am also the type of reader who annotates in the margins and highlights lines that speak to me. While reading this book, I highlighted something on almost every page, and it would be impossible to call out a true favorite, but “…we should learn to think well of ourselves”, “I just want to enjoy living”, and “A life surrounded by good people is a successful life” were a few that I highlighted and circled.

There was absolutely nothing about this book I did not like, and I can say with confidence that it is a book I will revisit again and again… it has become a contender for my new favourite book. I don’t know that everyone will love it as much as I did (which is completely true of any book recommendation), but I implore you to give it a chance. You may be as moved and comforted by it as I was.

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