Your Republic Is Calling You [Paperback]

Young-ha Kim (Author), Chi-Young Kim (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2010

A foreign film importer, Gi-yeong is a family man with a wife and daughter. An aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi, he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years.
 
Suddenly he receives a mysterious email, a directive seemingly from the home office. He has one day to return to headquarters. He hasn’t heard from anyone in over ten years. Why is he being called back now? Is this message really from Pyongyang? Is he returning to receive new orders or to be executed for a lack of diligence? Has someone in the South discovered his secret identity? Is this a trap?

Spanning the course of one day, Your Republic Is Calling You is an emotionally taut, psychologically astute, haunting novel that reveals the depth of one particularly gripping family secret and the way in which we sometimes never really know the people we love. Confronting moral questions on small and large scales, it mines the political and cultural transformations that have transformed South Korea since the 1980s. A lament for the fate of a certain kind of man and a certain kind of manhood, it is ultimately a searing study of the long and insidious effects of dividing a nation in two.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spanning a single day, this tense spy novel from Kim (I Have the Right to Destroy Myself), marred only by some stilted prose, is also a deeply compelling study of the self and varying themes of trust. Kim Ki-yong, a North Korean spy who's lived undercover for 21 years, has fully adapted to life in Seoul, South Korea, where he runs a successful foreign-film importing business, owns a home, and has a wife and teenage daughter, neither of whom is aware of his past or actual identity. As Ki-yong ponders returning to the austere and sterile militaristic regime of the North after receiving a coded message from his handler ("Liquidate everything and return immediately"), his wife, Ma-ri, struggles with infidelity and his daughter, Hyon-mi, maneuvers the tumultuous and tricky landscape of adolescence. Kim offers a riveting tale of espionage along with keen observations of human behavior.
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From Booklist

An e-mail changes Kim Ki-yong’s life. Seemingly a piece of spam in the Seoul resident’s in-box, it’s actually a coded communiqué from Pyongyang, ordering him to return to North Korea—immediately. Ki-yong isn’t a sleeper spy, exactly; it’s just that he hasn’t received any orders in 10 years. Now, at age 42, he has spent exactly half his life in South Korea. He lives comfortably, working as an importer of foreign films, with lockstep life in the north only a distant memory. Will he meet the minisub and go back? Or will he defy the command and stay? This isn’t really a spy story but a fascinating, personal portrait of life in a divided country and its toll on the citizens’ psyches. It’s not just Ki-yong’s story, either: his alienated wife, Ma-ri, is on her own intense journey of self-discovery, and, in complete ignorance of her parents’ worries, daughter Hyon-mi struggles with boys, school, and growing up. Kim’s thoughtful, effortless prose is a pleasure. His characters are completely relatable and their story is revelatory. A writer to watch—and, of course, read. --Keir Graff

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Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (September 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151015457
• ISBN-13: 978-0151015450
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #766,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in 1968, Kim Young-ha kicked off his writing career with his first novel "I have the right to destroy myself", which won him the much-coveted Munhak-dongne prize in 1996. Since then, he has gained a reputation as the most talented and prolific Korean writer of his generation, publishing five novels and four collections of short stories.

Kim's novels and stories focus on articulating a new mode of sensitivity to life's thrills and horrors as experienced by Koreans in the ever-changing context of a modern, globalized culture. In his search for a literary style, as is often the case with internationally renowned post-modern novelists, Kim attempts to embark on exhilarating and provoking crossing of the boundaries of high and low genres of narratives. His historical novel "Black Flower" tells the story of the first generation of the Korean diaspora forced into slave labor in a Mexican plantation and later involved in a Pancho Villa-led military uprising in a style. Sources of inspiration for this novel came from classical "Bildungsroman", stories of sea trips as illustrated by the popular film Titanic, ethnography of religion, as well as Korean histories of exile and immigration. Another instance of Kim's fabulously mixed style is found in "The Empire of Light", his fourth novel, in which he raises the question of human identity in a democratic and consumerist Korean society by presenting a North Korean spy and his family in Seoul in the manner of a crime fiction combined with a truncated family saga and naturalist depiction of everyday life. The novel was published in the United States under a different title, "Your Republic Is Calling You" in 2010.

Each of Kim's novels has received acclaims from both critics and readers alike, and most have earned him major awards. In 2004--his "grand slam" year--he won three of the most prestigious literary prizes in Korea. With some 20 of his novels and stories being translated into more than 10 languages, he has begun to be recognized by critics overseas as well as in his country as representative of a literary breakthrough that occurred in the wake of democratization and post-industrialization in South Korea.

Kim began to earn his international recognition with a French translation of his first novel, "I have the right to destroy myself", which was published by Philippe Picquier in February 1998; the novel is set to be published in nine other languages, including English and German. A French version of "The Empire of Light" came out early in 2009 and gained favorable attention from such leading newspapers as Le Monde and Liberation.

As a young Korean master of storytelling, Kim is especially popular with Korean film directors, who have found in his works to be a repository of plots and characters that make for superb film-making. Two films have already been based on his fiction, and the cinematic adaptation of The Empire of Light is currently in progress. His latest novel, The Quiz Show, was also made into a musical in 2009.

Kim previously worked as a professor in the Drama School at Korean National University of Arts and on a regular basis hosted a book-themed radio program. In autumn 2008, he resigned all his jobs to devote himself exclusively to writing.

Currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University in the City of New York, he lives in New York City, USA.

http://kimyoungha.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Actually 4.5 October 3, 2010

By Charles C. Montgomery

Format:Paperback

I'd really give this a 4.5, since I think Kim has better work yet to come, but I'm loathe to give it a 4.

In the Kafka-esque `Your Republic is Calling You" Kim Young-ha creates his most integrated and human work.Intricately plotted and multiply narrated, "Your Republic is Calling You" begins a bit angularly, as if Kim is trying to work too many things into too little space. There is lots of expository internal-monologue revealing histories, judgments, and nostalgic presentations of past events. Things settle down however, and as it focuses on characters for longer periods of time, the book catches its stride.

The plot is deceptively simple - it follows one day in the life of a North Korean spy who is apparently being called back home. This call unravels his life in ways that are predictable and unpredictable.

The "spying" metaphor is at the heart the book as all its characters are, one way or another, undercover. It is one of Kim's skills that he reveals in a matter-of-fact fashion the difference between the public images of his characters and the lives they lead in their heads, in seedy motel rooms, prosaic offices, schools, and even in shootouts on the beach. Kim never shows his cards early, and as he makes each reveal, the tension and angst increase. By the end of "Republic," the undercover agent in each character has been exposed and each character squirms in the unexpected light.

Kim's writing is razor-sharp. Any reader who has been faced with the threat of loss will recognize Kim's description of the "premature nostalgia" that such a threat engenders. His writing about this general condition is specific and clever.... A good example of Kim's specific descriptive ability is when he describes the illicit but often silly (and still dead-serious) thrill that comes with youthful rebellion:

For Southern youth in their early twenties, having been indoctrinated in anti-Communist education in schools, speaking this way felt vulgar, much like hearing a prim woman refer to a penis as a cock. At first, it was difficult for them to refer to the two heads of state as Dear Leader or The General, but once they did, they shivered with the excitement that came with breaking the law.

That's a passage that brilliantly outlines the borders and overlaps between "Big R" rebellion and the "Little R" rebellion of all young rebels. "Republic" is full of this kind of brilliant writing.

Which leads to a word related to translation: Kim Chi-young, who translated "Republic," has done a job that even surpasses her previous excellent translation of "A Toy City." Kim Chi-young is one of the few translators whose name alone, on a dustcover, would persuade me to purchase an unknown book.

This is an outstanding book and as the important threads tie together at the conclusion it moves at relentless speed. "Your Republic is Calling You" is taut, engaging, ironic, scathing, brutal and resigned in turns. The last 40 pages are exceptionally tightly written and the screws tighten, page by page, as life and a history of subterranean decisions conspire to strangle the lives of all the "agents" of the story.

In a brief coda Kim leaves us with a vision of a "new day" that can be read as ironic, hopeful or merely repetitive - In a world where everyone is a tout and `hopeful' is lagging at the rail. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing Lost in Translation Here March 16, 2011

By Robert J. York

Format:Paperback

This book succeeds because Kim's prose has vitality, even when translated, and his characters are easy to identify with, even if they are North Korean spies or are carrying on sordid affairs with those half their age. After the a-bit-too-ethereal and bizarre I Have the Right to Destroy Myself, Kim finds the mesmerizing voice that worked so effectively in Photo Shop Murder and stretches it out over 300 pages. Hopefully this book will land him the international audience he deserves.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Your Republic Is Calling You... August 31, 2010

By D. S. HARDEN VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

What struck me the most about this book was the conflicts between Ki-yong (the North Korean Spy), Ma-ri (his South Korean wife) and Hyon-mi (their daughter) and the world that they operated in.

Ki-yong:
He loves his family, but there's not a lot of communication going between husband-wife (and his wife definitely has her own issues) and father-daughter (who, as a teenager, is just starting to really deal with, among other things - boys! But, at least Dad tries...) He is a man, seemingly worn down by life and work.

Until he gets the call to 'return home' from the North. Things begin to 'heat up' at that point. I suggest that you read for yourself.

Ma-ri:
I like to believe that she loves her family, but that doesn't come through in this book, as she is always too tired, or pre-occupied with her own problems (and she has a...problem - though some might argue). What she appears to want and/or need is...love. She doesn't seem to be getting it at home, so...(you know the rest). Again, I suggest that you read for yourself.

Hyon-mi:
She struck me as a typical teenager, she's very intelligent, but she's also stumbling, with a particular guy no less. It's funny how she deduces his character, and is determined to...help him (mother him, in my opinion), maybe to compensate for what she doesn't get at home. She's definitely the most normal of the three.

Honestly, the end chapters confused me to the point where I had to read them again. My confusion, he was discovered, but truly, who discovered him? The South? Or, had the North been watching him for the longest time and let him operate? I'll have to figure it out I guess...(don't want to give anything away!...)

Overall, I liked the book, and would recommend as a 'change of pace' (as it's part spy novel, love story, teen story - not recommended for young teens however, as it does get pretty racy in parts!)

My rating: Four stars! Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Novel About the Anonymity of Modern Life May 2, 2013

By M. C. Buell

Format:Paperback

Ki-yong is a North Korean spy who's been living as a sleeper in Seoul for the past 21 years. After 10 years of no contact he's suddenly given the order to liquidate everything and return to the North in the next 24 hours. But this is not a spy novel. If you're looking for a thriller packed with action and international intrigue look elsewhere. In fact, the spy angle is more a metaphor than anything else; we are all spies, all double agents, in one way or another. This is a novel about life and change, and the way it all seems to just sneak up on us. Ki-yong has grown comfortable in his assumed life in the South; his handlers have forgotten about him, he has a wife and daughter who don't know his secret, he enjoys his work, and has settled into a mundane existence. What was once an assumed persona is now the real man; what was once the real man in now a fading memory. But now the order to return has come down he has a decision to make, and ideals to reexamine. Does he still believe in the Socialist Paradise, does the revolutionary desire still burn in him, does he stay or does he go "home"? Meanwhile his wife, Ma-ri, struggles with her own moral decisions. Bored with her humdrum life, distanced from her secretive husband, she has taken a young lover who pushes her to do things she's not sure she's willing to do. And their daughter, Hyun-mi, has her own story to tell. On the surface her struggles seem like typical shallow teenage stuff, but they serve to highlight the theme of choice, and how our choices, big and small, affect us in ways we could never guess. The blurb on the front compares Kim Young-ha to Haruki Murakami, which is something I generally dislike seeing. Not because I dislike Murakami, but because it seems that every East Asian writer is automatically compared to him.... However, in this instance I think the comparison is apt. Don't expect any fantastical elements, Kim is firmly ground in reality, but his tone and prose style are reminiscent of Murakami, and he deals with similar themes of isolation, anonymity, and division. Your Republic Is Calling You is a great novel, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for modern Korean lit. Read more ›