Oxford Soju Club
Complex identities and social pressures faced by Korean immigrants are examined in thrilling ways in Jinwoo Park’s existential thriller Oxford Soju Club.
Doha is a North Korean spy whose mysterious death yields a cryptic puzzle piece for his young apprentice, Yohan. During their time in Oxford, Doha and Yohan forged a close bond based on duty, trust, and their underlying desire to celebrate life way from the “Great Leader.” The pair meet at the Soju Club, Oxford’s only Korean restaurant; it’s run by a South Korean transplant, Jihoon. Meanwhile, Yunah, a Korean American CIA agent posing as a bartender, investigates Doha and Yohan’s presence in Oxford.
Yohan is instructed to meet Dr. Ryu at the Soju Club following Doha’s passing. As the backstories of Doha, Dr. Ryu, Yohan, Yunah, and Jihoon interweave, clues are illuminated, then hidden again. Each character’s true identity and motivations are explored in a purposeful manner until their social facades unravel. Attention to the duality of people’s intentions is also central to each of their relationships to one another and to the contexts of the undercover personas they’ve been ordered to take on.
As much an exploration of the Korean diaspora in the West as it is a spy novel, the novel emphasizes self-therapy, self-realization, and the pursuit of the eventual removal of one’s masks. The novel holds the humanity of each character at its core, moving toward a place where their shared blood is recognized and embraced despite the political undercurrents at play.
A nuanced thriller, Oxford Soju Club is about the acceptance of people’s deeper identities beyond social pretenses.
Reviewed by
Ryan Prado
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