An intriguing and compelling read however it wasn't the book for me - feels like the translation was missing a lot of nuance. I am particularly interested in the upcoming k-drama adaptation for this though, I have a feeling it might be a better format for the story.

I’m not sure this was really the book for me. Whether it was the translation, my lack of knowledge about Korean culture or the actual story itself, I’m not entirely sure. It started off as an interesting premise with the field wives / husbands but then it got lost for me and I felt I wasn’t really getting the point. I’m sure fans of Korean literature will probably love it though.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Random House UK for a copy in exchange for a review.

Intriguing, provocative, and thought causing.
A well written and gripping novel that kept me reading.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I feel like the translation fell through for me. After reading the blurb, I was quite excited to read it, as the concept is unique and sounds quite fascinating. But the translation did not feel consistent, which gave a more ambiguous vibe to the protagonist. I couldn't understand the protagonist very well and what her true intentions were, and she just seemed very bland, and I'm not sure if this was intentional by the author or was just lost in translation. Some might still enjoy this, but for me, it was just an okay read.

Thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the ARC of this intriguing novel.
Inji is a woman on the cusp of 30, who took a postgraduate job at a matchmaking agency of a kind. She now works as a Field Wife, providing marital services on fixed contracts. It's demanding work, but she keeps up some contact with friends and family, most of whom don't know exactly what her job entails.
As we move forward in time through the end of one contract and beginning of another, we find out more about the choices she made that got her here. It's fragmented in the telling, perhaps because of the nature of memory, perhaps because of Inji's dissociation from her own sense of self, that helps her through. I loved the exploration of the concept of the logical capitalist extension to the proliferation of dating apps - marriage returns to being solely a commercial transaction. To go deeper into that would have been another kind of book entirely though. I felt it glanced off the surfaces of some of the ethical concerns, but again that was in keeping with the first person narrative.
There are some fascinating episodes (you'll be unsurprised to learn that the agency doesn't treat its workers or its clients as well as advertised), and although it's confusing at times, which could also be my unfamiliarity with the Korean culture and the naming styles, I was interested throughout.
The ending will be underwhelming for some, with no neat resolution, no ever-after in sight, but I thought that was in keeping with the sense of Inji and her life that we did get.
The process of translation (collaborative) sounds fascinating and I was glad there was an essay about it at the back of the novel.
I can see why it's been optioned for streaming and I'll be looking out for it.

Although what seemed to be an interesting concept, unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book on this occasion. It started off very confusing, and the writing became highly repetitive. The book's pace was not consistent throughout, and I felt it had the potential for more. It isn't personally to my tastes but may be to someone else.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately this one didn't work for me- an interesting premise but it was quite a confusing book. I am not sure if the translation is to blame but it felt too fragmented and disconnected. At points I struggled to follow the train of thought of the narrator and understand where the story was going.
The story itself is quite simple- our main character is a "wife-for-hire" of sorts, working for an agency that provides partners to those who can afford them, for a set period of time. We follow her in one of these marriages and while she uncovers some dark secrets about the agency she works for. However....this was so...disappointingly pointless? What she discovers isn't actually explored at all? And the ending....well, that felt like such a let down. It was literally the climax of the book and I was very confused as to why it didn't continue on. Overall not a great read for me unfortunately, I kept hoping for the story to go somewhere but it didn't.

This is one of those books that I read, that I really don’t have strong feelings on either way.
It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t memorable either.
If someone were to ask me what it was about, what genre/theme, I’ve got to be honest and say I wouldn’t know how to classify it.
I don’t really know what the story was about, the writing was ok, but I don’t feel there was enough here to keep me interested or invested in any of it.
I appreciate the chance to read it, but I’m sorry it just wasn’t for me.

I'm sure how to rate this to be honest. It's not thriller, not really contemporary. But rather an exploration on a theme - that of society and it's obsession with marriage and families, and those who fight against the grain. It's a thought provoking read at times, but I found the writing to be oddly stilted and clunky too. It just all felt a bit surface level - nothing about the agency Inji Noh works for its explained in any great detail, and the relationships felt a little superficial.

Interesting ideas, but this might have been a little bit literally lost in translation.

The Trunk offers readers a unique insight into human relationships as the story is centred around a matchmaking agency that specialises in highly secretive arranged marriages. What initially drew me to this novel was the synopsis, which hinted at some mystery/thriller aspects in the book but upon reading the novel, I found that these aspects didn't feel fully developed, and I was left wanting more depth in those parts of the story. That said, I did enjoy the wit and cultural commentary and agree that if you enjoyed Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, this might be a novel to add to your list!

The Trunk is a story that I can’t help but feel rather ambivalent about. I don’t know if it was the subject or the context, but it didn’t really interest me as much as I’d hoped.
Our main character was recruited by Wedding and Life, and her job is to become a wife to those wanting to pay for her services. She has been married numerous times and we follow her through the situations this finds her in.
I’m not sure whether this is meant to be a comment on Korean attitudes to marriage or an attempt to explore societal attitudes to relationships more generally. It’s marketed as a feminist thriller, but I think I might have missed that part of the plot.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this.

A peculiar book and one which left me quite disappointed. The blurb sounded intriguing, I love thrillers and have enjoyed some superb Korean-translated fiction recently, but this was not a thriller. I try not to be negative in reviews, but I found the story quite disjointed and jarring; the translation work was collaborative so whether it was down to that I'm not sure. It was however an insight into modern Korea and contained some heavy yet important topics.
My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own unbiased opinion.

This book is genuinely a confusing one, and if I'm honest, I think it might be a case of mislabelling its genres. It's marketed as a 'Korean Feminist Thriller', but does it actually conform to any of those labels? It's more of a literary domestic novel in its execution, utilised mostly to discuss the nature of marriage in Korea, and genre labels aside, doesn't quite have the bite I'd like to see from a novel discussing misogyny in modern Korea. Also in its marketing is its mention of a comp to KIM JIYOUNG, BORN 1981, which in contrast, makes for a very effective and almost visceral discussion of the topic. Misogyny is rife in South Korea, but unlike KIM JIYOUNG, THE TRUNK doesn't dive into this: it makes a bit of a splash, but there isn't the level of depth that would have really boosted it narratively.

For a first-person narrative, it's quite difficult to get the hang of protagonist Noh. We do get access to her interior dialogue, but in many cases, she's very unresponsive to things happening around her, and discusses events and situations through a detached, almost cold perspective. Unlike CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN, another title in THE TRUNK's list of comps, it's unclear whether this is a deliberate narrative choice, a translation hiccup, or something else entirely. The text was translated by a range of translators in conjunction with a university in Australia, and while this is an interesting idea for a translation, it might be a contributing reason behind the text's difficulty to get a handle on. If I'm honest, I wonder why such titles as KIM JIYOUNG, CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN and YELLOWFACE were picked as this title's comps, since from a surface level, it's difficult to work out what they all have in common with the novel - unless, of course, thought went as far as picking texts with Asian women in them which have happened to sell well among Western audiences.

Subplots which would otherwise be compelling are never given time to breathe, and are firmly relegated to the role of subplot. Alongside a potential human trafficking operation organised by NM, the mysterious company Noh works for, there are also discussions of Noh's complex relationships with her mother - which are told to us entirely through Noh's cold, detached narration, which comes across as more factual than personal - and even the suicide of one of Noh's friends as a teenager doesn't get the page-time or focus it deserves, which gives the novel the strange impression of having wildly weird priorities. The closest it comes to the 'feminist thriller' angle as mentioned in its blurb is the subplot in which an obsessive man, hinted to have incel-ish tendencies, begins to stalk Noh, but with the detached narration at hand, we never get the sense that Noh is in any real danger, but instead an onlooker who is perfectly passive, no matter how often she swears in her inner dialogue. While it would be possible to comment on the literary symbology at work in the novel - for instance, the coffee machine in Noh's apartment becomes a symbol of a home life which has its inconveniences but is still grounding and comforting, while her job-husband's recording studio acts as an almost Bluebeard-esque hidden space in their marital home, noting how even in a paid marriage, it is not perfect and the two keep secrets from one another - but as a free-standing novel, THE TRUNK is one which can't quite work out which genre it's situated in, nor what it wants to be narratively.

Thank you to Doubleday for an eArc in exchange for an honest review. THE TRUNK was released in the UK on the 7th of October, so remember to support your brick-and-mortar bookshops, especially indies!

Many thanks to Transworld for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Originally written in 2015, this new translation is being followed by a Netflix adaptation this year.
It was only upon completing the novel that I found out that this was translated by a group of people - Paik Yonjae, Aditi Dubey and Adam Zulawnik. This was translated seamlessly, ad it never felt like multiple voices or translations. That was really impressive.

Our main character Noh Inji works as a 'Field Wife' and is hired to be married by a previous spouse. The blurb talks about how her past starts to unravel, but I didn't feel the sense of urgency I was expecting from the blurb. Wit regards to the company itself, there was reveals, but sometimes, I felt that they fell flat.

I would say that this is a feminist book. There are themes of going against the grain of traditional roles and being in charge of your own life, but I don't feel like it was quite the thriller I was expecting. I just wanted more.

Looking forward to the adaptation and seeing how this translates to screen.

The contract marriage is a recurring trope underpinning numerous K-drama romances from classics like Because This is My First Life to more recent offerings like Love in Contract. But Kim Ryeo-ryeong’s play on the contract relationship marks a major departure from the standard formula - which invariably results in a blissful love match. Instead, Kim gives us Noh Inji, a woman with a unusual job. Inji’s employed by New Marriage the secret division of a large match-making agency. Inji’s a Field Wife contracted out as a short-term partner for client husbands. She’s paid to fulfil her client husbands’ requests from general domestic to sexual services. Inji’s rapidly approaching 30, increasingly disillusioned about her life and the lives of those around her: her close friend Shi-jeong’s passions always seem to fizzle out; her neighbour Granny’s being strung along by a younger man who just wants her money; and Inji’s recent blind date shows all the signs of becoming her stalker. Inji’s latest husband is a repeat contract, frustratingly self-absorbed and sexually inept. His assessment of his earlier, traditional marriage reinforces her sense that relationships are bound to end in dissatisfaction, if not all-out disaster.

Inji’s character was initially inspired by Kim’s interest in examining sex work from a neutral perspective, neither condemnatory nor celebratory. But Kim’s narrative contains a broader, semi-satirical examination of contemporary Korean society from declining birth rates to gendered violence. Originally published in 2015, Kim’s clearly building on concepts of the Sampo generation, perceived as abandoning traditional goals from childbirth to marriage, partly for social and partly for economic reasons. In Inji’s circles even those who still hanker after these things are unable to meet their needs. Sometimes because they simply can’t afford to. Sometimes because they’re unable to make or sustain meaningful bonds – like many of Inji’s clients for whom wives are a commodity and marriage purely transactional. But for women there’s the added threat of exploitation or male brutality.

Kim’s story contains a variety of highly-promising elements, I particularly liked her portrayal of world-weary, cynical Inji. But I found Kim’s underlying cultural analysis slightly muddled perhaps because she’s trying to cover too much here. Alongside her marriage critique, there are numerous reflections on romance versus obsession; and love as destructive force demonstrated through the death by suicide of Inji’s former classmate. This, in turn, opens up a discussion of queer culture in Korea, from homophobia to biphobia to repressed desires. It’s clear Kim means to be inclusive but her positive intentions don’t always yield positive results: her representation of queer existence leans towards uncomfortable stereotypes and ‘bury your gays’ storylines. In addition, Kim adds in commentary on the suffocating nature of nuclear families from relentless parental expectations to pressures on women like Granny to sacrifice themselves for their feckless adult children.

Kim ties many of these themes together through Inji’s trunk, carted between work and home, it’s a signifier of Inji’s rootlessness but equally symbolises emotional baggage and feelings of confinement. Yet it also holds out the possibility of escape, of packing up and leaving everything else behind her. But in Kim’s scenario individuals aren’t in control, Inji’s budding plans for a different future might easily be thwarted by unexpected “misfortune” – like the stalker who’s disrupted her everyday routines. Ultimately, I’m not sure all Kim’s pieces fit together to form a coherent whole, and aspects didn’t work for me at all. But I still found this intriguing, inventive and compelling enough to make it a worthwhile read. Translated by The Kolab.

Rating: 3/3.5

A contract wife, a novel questioning the institution of marriage. Interesting premise and social commentary, but hard to keep up with the narration.

Noh Inji is the main character in “The Trunk” - she is an employee at Wedding & Life.- a matchmaking service that provides people with fake wives and husbands. We find out about her life through her voice. She’s always had doubts about her job but events on her current assignment lead her to question it further.

It’s difficult to describe the plot of this book further as the most interesting parts are the set up, the dialogue and the little instances that Noh Inji details. It’s a really fascinating tale that is part satire and part thriller and I will soon be seeking out the Netflix show that it has inspired.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

"Korean feminist thriller for fans of KIM JIYOUNG BORN 1982, CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN and YELLOWFACE."

This book is not that. 'Thriller' is the wrong term for this book. This is not some revved-up story about a woman surviving a horrific event. This is a social commentary on marriage and the relationships between women and the wrong kind of men - conmen, stalkers, abusers etc. Inji's relationship with relationships is painful and interesting to read. She's not raging war on it; she's exhausted from it all. Her desire, or lack of it, to be married is contrasted as she compares the people in her life and her own contract marriages. Most of the men she deals with are foul but accurate representations of the men women avoid. After all, they wouldn't be signing up for contract marriages if they didn't have a fault that kept women falling for them organically.

There is a lot in this book about society's obsession with marriage and how it can put women in bad situations. And also about how it leaves women vulnerable to people who abuse the system. That's why it's feminist. But thriller? No, it's not a thriller.

This is definitely not a thriller but it is a good read none the less. I think it is more what I would term dystopian/literary fiction. It is a simple premise in that people can basically hire people to be married to for a short period of time without having the commitment of marriage. This book explores a society where this is possible and the roles of men and women in relationships. This book has quite an edgy atmosphere.

The premise of The Trunk was very intriguing but it was also misleading. This isn’t a thriller, more a deep dive in to modern South Korea and their attitudes to relationships and marriage. It is a very hands off read, you aren’t allowed to feel much as the main character has such an unemotional attitude to life and her job as a field wife. The plot didn’t really go anywhere though I found it interesting to instant more about a culture I know next to nothing about. I suspect what Netflix will present will be very different to the novel, either funnier or more dramatic.