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Discover the Realities of Contemporary Korea""Hi, nice to meet you. This is my third blind date this week, so... let's get the usual stuff out of the way and decide where to go from there. Great, I'll start. First, what's your age? Your academic background? How much do you make? And your parents? How many siblings do you have? Any debt in the family? How much do you have in your savings account right now? Where do you live in the city? What kind of car do you drive? Purchased or leased?""Any office worker will tell you nearly every date opens with a conversation just like this. Ticking each of these boxes is simply what it takes to thrive in one of the most fast-paced cities on the planet, with the expectations of family and friends bearing down on you at every moment. People are always made aware of exactly what they bring to the table in terms of their relationships, their companies, their families, and even their social media profiles.Meet a group of privileged white-collar workers navigating their way through the cutthroat corporate landscape of Seoul. As they juggle day trading, crypto investments, and real estate hustles, they're constantly comparing themselves to others, both in person and online.The allure of glossy boy bands and psychological thrillers are just two sides of the same culture, as this novel delves into the heart of Korean society - competitive, materialistic, and unyielding.A Mirror for the Blind was widely acclaimed in Korean literary circles for its raw portrayal of contemporary Korean society. Now, translated into English, this book grants curious readers a rare opportunity to explore the complexities of life in Korea.As each character navigates their own personal rat race, they can't seem to shake the constant impulse to compare themselves with and be compared to others. This phenomenon embedded deep within Korean culture extends even to online spaces, like on an anonymous company chat board everyone checks religiously but no one admits to using.Constantly looking down at the screens of their phones, they slowly begin to see their own reflections staring back at them and must face what it is that they see.Experience the struggles, aspirations, and dreams of Seoulites as they peer into the glowing screens of their phones, searching for answers in a society where nothing is as it seems.

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"A moving and meditative account of the crushing demands of Korean careerism. - KIRKUS REVIEWS, Verdict ""GET IT"" In Jeong's novel, a group of recent Korean college graduates navigate the unyielding competitiveness that permeates both professional and personal life. Youngbaek Kim has much to be proud of-after he graduates from the prestigious Sky University, he lands a job at Corporation P, the second biggest company in Korea. However, he is plagued by discontent; he studied philosophy in college and feels stymied by the tediously banal routines of office life. Also, he constantly frets about money-it seems impossible that he will ever save enough to buy a home that others will be impressed by, and he fecklessly tries his hand at investment. His friends, Dongjoo Lee and Inyoung Choi, both seem much happier and much better positioned to win the endless rat race that dominates their lives. Dongjoo Lee is a programmer at the top corporation in Korea and handsomely compensated, while Inyoung Choi has a job in the civil service, a position coveted for its stability. However, they are both just as anxious about the future as Youngbaek, and as envious of him as he is of them. The author artfully depicts the Korean obsession with success and a society that strictly separates winners and losers through a process of ""verification."" ""Verification became a source of envy with everyone trying to take the successes of those around them and spin them as their own. It is high school all over again, with students using Photoshop to falsify their college entrance exam scores to receive verification from the community."" Youngbaek sees a chance at happiness when he becomes engaged to Jungyoon, a woman with whom he falls deeply in love-but her mother talks her out of it, convincing her that she and Youngbaek ""just aren't in the same league,"" and that she can find someone with better financial prospects. Jeong's tale is impressively thoughtful-he reflects, with great clarity, on the ways in which Korea's socioeconomic liberalization discarded one prohibitive hierarchy for another. As Youngbaek observes, ""There are always more stairs to climb. Stairs upon stairs upon stairs...I guess Korea's ancient class system of endless hierarchies, has really only changed in name. It will continue to loom over me and on to future generations. Still, climbing endless stairs is different from the impossibility of climbing up a family tree."" Friendships are almost necessarily converted into rivalries, and romantic connections are reduced to opportunities for social climbing, each date conducted in a metaphorical ""interrogation room."" The author's writing has a lapidary elegance to it-he subtly creates an atmosphere of melancholy and sad inevitability, as if there is no escape from the cultural pressures of Korean life. The plot moves at an unhurried pace, which can seem excessively languorous, and there is more than a touch of adolescent melodrama in Youngbaek's tortured angst-a self-indulgent theatricality that borders on ponderousness. Still, Jeong's depiction of Korean life, especially as experienced by its younger generation, is marvelously meticulous and rendered with great emotional power. A moving and meditative account of the crushing demands of Korean careerism."

""A moving and meditative account of the crushing demands of Korean careerism."" - KIRKUS REVIEWS, Verdict ""GET IT"" ""Office workers navigate their work and personal lives through the lens of Internet culture, chasing personal fulfillment and growth while struggling with the impossible standards set by the websites they spend so much time on."" - IndieReader Approved

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