If you're looking for a cozy and charming read that celebrates the power of books and the beauty of human connection, Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop is a good fit.

I absolutely loved this book. It was the perfect gentle and cosy read I needed at the time. It is a read I know I’ll come back to and recommend to every book lover out there. For anyone who has ever dreamed of running their own book shop/cafe, this book proves to you that your dreams are possible and how bookshops are the hub of every community.

Gosh, I read this book at a time when I needed a real tonic, and it certainly provided me with a hug in a book. Loved it, thanks for the reading copy.

This book was quite a peaceful read - didn’t rush anywhere and let the stories develop. At first I found it frustrating but once I accepted it for that, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is a warm hug of a book. It's a slow down and enjoy a sip of coffee feeling. Peruse a bookshop and get to know the characters that come and go. You'll not find a dramatic narrative and fast moving plot line. But you will find characters who you feel you know, or want to hang out with. It's gentle, insightful, philosophical and the words flow beautifully. A nice place to escape.

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop - Hwang Bo-reum, translated by Shanna Tan

I found the flow of this book very enjoyable and thought it was a peaceful read. I found the story was almost told to me through a series of episodes and not a full flowing combination, but this made it great book to pick up and put down, not to be read all in one sitting. I did find the overall story did not really have a plot as such which some people may not appeal to. Thanks so much Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for this e-arc in return for my honest thoughts and opinions.

This is a beautifully translated story of finding oneself and the importance of happiness over material and financial wealth. A cast of loveable and complex characters, each with their own stories and problems, populate this warm and cosy tale of friendship and following dreams. I savoured this novel, from the mouth-watering coffee and insightful book discussions, I fell in love with the Hyunam-dong bookshop and wish I could visit for real. A stellar read!

Absolutely fantastic read, I fell in love with this bookand its characters, this just made me feel good about life and just everything. This is a must read and I recommend to everyone

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The book revolves around a bookshop set in Korea, who's owner Yeong-ju sets it up after her perfect, ideal life (good job and husband) falls apart. The book focuses on the first few years of the shop's opening, from Yeong-ju hiring a barista to all the characters who become part of the bookshop's life. From unhappy housewives and lost teenagers, burnt out workers and successful writers, everyone in the bookshop's orbit has a story to tell and past disappointments to heal from.

In theory, this book sounds right up my alley. A gentle story, a cast of characters who've lives overlap and get slowly entangled with each other, a building of community. All with a tiny pinch of social commentary on things like working, capitalism and feminism. Ultimately it fell a bit flat for me. I'm not sure why, I think there were possibly too many characters. Or maybe it's because we delve into the background of too many of these characters, I think maybe focussing on fewer people would have moved this along better. As I felt the pacing was off, it seemed to drag at times. It's a pity as I think this has a lot of potential to be charming but it wasn't my cup of tea. I can see why it might have resonated better with others though, it's not bad but wasn't a favourite of mine.

Evocative and deeply heart-warming, this cosy novel was a great refuge (much like the shop in the novel itself). It felt like a Matt Haig book.

I did find this story quite slow and I wasn’t as invested in the characters as I thought I would be. I did love the bookshop vibes and all the coffee! Any book about bookshops is a winner for me. I just wish the pace wasn’t as slow as I kept putting it down and wasn’t rushing to pick it back up.

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop revolves around Yeongju who is burnt out and decides to flee her old life leaving behind her stable career and her husband to follow her childhood dream of owning a bookshop. This book explores the power of books and reading as well as following characters who feel lost as they navigate adult life.

I loved the cozy and comforting vibes of this book. There were some absolutely beautiful quotes and this was the type of writing that I really took my time with as I wanted to be able to reflect on it. As a book lover the quotes about reading and the power of books hit hard and I found myself highlighting so many passages of this book. The characters all felt very relatable and I loved that they all had flaws and insecurities. I thought the translation was done immaculately to the point that I forgot this was translated fiction.

My only complaint is that I feel the pacing got too slow around the middle of the book and I did feel myself starting to loose interest slightly.

Overall I really loved this book and found it an extremely comforting read. If you are a book lover, you will enjoy this book!

Books and good coffee.
Two of my favourite things, books and good coffee, lots of both in this cosy read.
This book takes place in a neighbourhood in south Korea, some of the names are hard to remember so I made a list.
Yeongui is the owner of the bookshop, she starts it with little stock and includes a coffee bar in it, she thinks the bookshop will probably survive for about two years. She employs Minjun to take over the coffee making, paying him well, he gets more involved in the process of making coffee and under the instructions of Jimi the coffee supplier becomes an established Barista. Various people come to the shop, Junsuh sits and knits or crochets, giving the finished articles away and spreading an air of peace around her. Mincheol is a students who does not read but sits and chats with people,
Yeongui has plans for author talks and book groups both of which are successful, one of the authors is a well known man Seung woo, he and yeongui are attracted to one another but do not act on the attraction because of failed relationships in the past.
I would say that this novel explores the work/life balance, pressure on people to succeed at any cost and to take a chance on life.
Thank you Hwang and NetGalley.

Uh-oh! My first Netgalley ARC that I couldn’t finish! (but thank you for the chance to give it a try, though!).
I really liked the idea of this but it didn’t work for me. One-dimensional characters and preaching about how we should all read (surely the people who pick up this book are the wrong audience as we’re already converted!). Good intentions about kindness, mental health and finding comfort in a community but not enough to keep me going past 100 pages. What a shame, it could have been charming.

Yeongju is finally following her dream after giving up a successful career and ending her marriage. She has opened a bookshop to create a sanctuary for her first love: books and those who share her passion. As she finds her feet in her new life she also builds a community alongside her business. The foundations are shaky with both a first, but soon the Hyunam-dong Bookshop is taking off and finding a new audience and spreading the power of stories to those who need and love them, and even those who don’t. I love the way Hwang Bo-reum allows her sweet community to include those whose first comfort may not always come from books. It’s sweet and sentimental and a real ode to reading but it isn’t saccharine and a joy to read.

Yeongju has lived her life according to convention but after stress caused her to rethink she got divorced and opened a bookshop in a residential area of Seoul. At first Yeongju's demeanour puts off customers but her love for books shines through and the bookshop starts to thrive. A close group of friends emerges - the barista who has never had a permanent job, the gruff reviewer, the mother and son both at odds, the coffee roaster - and as the shop flourishes Yeongju finds that her heart may be open to more.
This is am wonderfully calming and gentle book. It is essentially a treatise on how to think about life differently rather than the endless treadmill of working hard for someone else. There is a love of literature and language that shines throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

An inspiring and gentle tale of people finding refuge in a bookshop. The owner, who fled a marriage and wanted to follow her childhood dream of opening her own bookshop. The barista, who struggles with the reality that after completing his education as a prestigious university, life hasn’t just fallen into place. A mother, who is worried about her son’s lack of enthusiasm for anything in life, and the sons journey to finding some meaning through talking to the people at the bookshop.
It’s a story of trying to be your best self, trying to find meaning in your life when things haven’t gone your way. It’s a stunning read and although nothing much happens, you get to know the characters deeply and I think that’s the beauty of this novel, I feel changed just from reading it.

'Have we become the person we wanted to be?'

An unashamedly uplifting and positive book about the power of books, and the resilience of the human spirit. Yeongju has opened a bookshop, her dream, in the Hyunam-dong area of Seoul, but only after a failed marriage and burnout in her stressful job. As she slowly builds her business, and manages her only other member of staff , her barista Minjun, Yeongju's shop becomes a safe haven for a motley collection of customers and regulars, all of whom are looking for something in their lives.

This is a perfect hug-in-a-book for anyone who cares about books and a positive outlook on life. The pace is slow, so if you are looking for action and drama then this ain't for you. It's a beautifully observed character-driven meditation on how we live and how we become that person that we want to be. It's the kind of bookshop that I want to visit. Wonderful. 5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

Yeongju is getting through a difficult phase in her life. Her relationships have tested her and now she wants to escape to the relative safety of a bookshop. She has always wanted to open her own bookshop, but is finding her feet.

Gradually the bookshop attracts other people who may also feel lonely/disconnected, including the barista that she employs early on - loved the descriptions of the art of coffee brewing and making.

As time goes on she gains in confidence and hosting more events helps with this process. Full of quirky characters and philosophy on life.

For me the discussions and philosophising on what happiness is were too "tell" not "show". If this is something that differentiates "literary" fiction from fiction in general, I would say that this is fiction as it came across as didactic/"preachy" to me.

I did enjoy the bookshop/ trade insights, but I don't think that I will return to reread this book. Also, will people ask for it in 2027 (another criteria that makes me give a book 5 stars) I doubt it.

A cosy, comforting book.

In a Nutshell: An ode to books and the power they have on us. A bit too optimistic and preachy at times, but if you can handle slow-paced, character-oriented fiction focussed on an indie bookstore and the characters within, this Korean translation is a good option.

Story Synopsis:
Yeong-ju has abandoned her old life, which involved doing all things as dictated by her family and the society, and followed her dreams by setting up a bookshop in an old-fashioned neighbourhood in Seoul. She knows nothing about running an indie bookstore, but learns along the way.
The story depicts Yeong-ju’s journey towards inner peace and business success, while also focussing on the other people around her – her employees, business partners, associate authors, and customers – and their personal journeys of self-discovery.
The story is written in the third person perspective of various characters, but comes primarily through Yeong-ju’s eyes.


Bookish Yays:
📚 A book about books and bookstores! Surely that has to be the biggest attraction of this work! This novel is like an ode to all things connected to books, indie bookshops, writers, and readers. I love how it focussed on the healing and enlightening power of books.
📚 Yeong-ju – for everything she does for the bookshop. She begins almost as a cloistered person unaware of her mistakes, but she is ready to learn and incorporate practical advice for the betterment of her venture. The book is almost like a coming-of-age story for her, though she is in her late thirties. I especially loved how she was not portrayed as a reclusive geeky introvert just because she owned a bookshop, nor was she shown as being perfect in her bookish knowledge.
📚 Loved the insight this story threw on the running of a contemporary bookstore. It doesn’t stop at what most books about bookstores do – just talking about stocking and selling. Rather, it depicts the challenges of being an indie bookstore in the modern era dominated by screens.
📚 Coffee also has an important role to play in this story. Not complaining, because I do love the brew, albeit mainly in its Indian variant. Through Minjun – the barista at the bookshop, we get to read several interesting trivia about coffee.
📚 The vivid setting. Be it the bookstore or the coffee roasting factory, the writing is so realistic that I could almost smell the books and the coffee. It immersed me in the two places such that I felt one with the story.

📚 The characters in the story, each of whom comes with their own baggage. But this never overwhelms the plot. All the characters have past secrets or present dilemmas, but they are taking baby steps towards a hopeful future. Most of them are well-layered, making their character arc quite interesting. What also helps is that most characters have opted for the road not taken in terms of their professional life. This makes their journey an atypical one, especially considering the Korean cultural setting.
📚 The problems faced by the characters are hardly ever abstract. They battle common challenges such as marital discord, parental expectations, career issues, work-life balance, and personal ambitions. This makes them very relatable. The central themes seem to be ‘find your tribe’ and ‘accept yourself’, neither of which is earth-shattering but is still so-very-important to keep in mind.
📚 Some stunning quotes (mostly but not always about books) that made me stop reading and reflect on the beauty and realism of the words.
📚 The author’s note at the end – really sweet and touching. I could actually sense her excitement over this debut work.

Bookish Yays-For-Me-Possible-Nay-For-Others:
📖 As a literary fiction, this book is not twisty or action-packed. The pace is slow, and the writing is character-oriented. There is no overarching plot as such. The story is almost episodic at times, with the episodes still being interconnected and progressive. All of these points are common features of literary fiction as well as Korean dramatic fiction. As I was prepared for these, I didn’t have a problem while reading.

Bookish Nays:
📕 The plot drags much in between, sometimes because of a tendency towards over-elaboration. Many scenes involving formal or informal conversations (such as the book club conversation or the explanation about how a button on a shirt is a simile for the goals of life) are needlessly extended.
📕 The story gets a bit too sweet at times. There is not a single conflict on page; all the battles are fought within. Moreover, the plot makes the solution to the issues too simplistic and perfect. What indie bookstore is thriving this way in today’s cutthroat business environment? The novel seems to depict a world without Amazon.
📕 At times, the author’s personal voice seeps into the writing, which then becomes quite preachy. This didactic approach doesn’t help the novel, all the more as the life lessons are mostly typical and not out of the box.

All in all, despite some reservations, I did enjoy this literary fiction work to a great extent. The translation seems to be on point, through only a native speaker would be able to judge this properly.
Recommended only to literary fiction lovers who would love a book about bookshops and all things within. It is a mood read, and a book not to be rushed through but to be savoured. This debut novel was a bestseller in Korea, and I can see why.

4 stars.

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley for the DRC of “Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.