Women in Translation Month 2023 had a lot of gems but unfortunately Saha by Cho Nam-Joo didn’t quite do it for me. Like most people, I was a fan of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, and Saha takes quite the departure from that novel. I’m all for authors exploring different themes, genres, styles, but sometimes it just doesn’t really work. I think the lack of buzz I’ve seen around Saha (published in English in 2022) confirms that I’m sadly not alone in this feeling 😭

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It’s a sort of mystery novel set in a dystopian near-future where a huge business has bought out an entire city and turned it into its own country. ‘Town’ is split into three groups: Ls, L2s and Sahas. Ls have the best jobs, L2s perform more menial labour, and Sahas cannot ‘officially’ get work anywhere. All of the latter group live on the Saha estates, the looming, utilitarian apartment complexes they take their name from.

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I actually really liked the beginning of the book, where we see snapshots of the various people living in the Saha estates. This section does a nice job of displaying how corruption and greed lead to such a vicious class divide, and I enjoyed the glimpse into everyday life in this dystopian society. There was also an interesting but under-explored storyline where a young Saha woman is experimented on/used for medical research? But when the murder mystery part was introduced as well, everything starts to feel a little thrown together.

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The writing (or translation) never wowed me either - it felt sparse but not purposefully so, not to any particular end. I appreciated the commentary on class, wealth gaps, corporate greed, opposition against systems of oppression, and morals under pressure, but it felt halfhearted. It was only short, so maybe more time was needed to flesh these ideas out more?

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Not mad I read it, but not a particularly memorable one either. I am looking forward to her new one, Miss Kim Knows & Other Stories too!