Your Neighbours Table is a novel that could also be read as a social commentary on the low birth rate condition in South Korea, and the complex relationships of a community and family. The story follows Yojin and her family as they move into a communal living space established by the government to tackle the low birth rates in South Korea, where they are able to live on the condition she has two more children. However, the focus strays away from Yojin as Gu often switches between the multiple families that live within this communal building in order to develop the narrative further.
Gu has created very raw and real characters within this communal space, which is a highlight of the novel. All of the families are faced with their own challenges, including expectations of motherhood and loss of independence ‘despite all your maternal love and inner strength, you’d still find yourself marooned from time to time, and you had no choice but to continue on until your last breath’, and ‘despite the fact that having children had derailed their lives and shunted their individuality and desire to the periphery’, strikingly capturing the strain of motherhood, and the need to maintain a façade for everyone else.
The women’s perspectives are prioritised, with a feminist undertone, Your Neighbours Table references the harassment young Korean women face during their working years ‘she’d worked so many part-time and temp jobs from a young age and had been touched inappropriately at all of them’, but also their view of men when at home: ‘don’t think of a man as a human being. Think of him as an animal that understands what to do only when you order him to do it, every single time … even I think that a man is like a child or a dog.’
As with a lot of Korean and Japanese literary fiction, there are no major plot points or dynamic storylines, it is an exploration into human behaviour and development. It is reasonably paced and as more time is spent with each character, the reader becomes more engaged and curious about how these characters will change. Furthermore, Gu manages to keep the reader guessing as to how the diverse relationships are going to intercept. One trigger warning would be that there is a case of domestic violence that escalates to physical harm, though, this is not a significant or lengthy storyline.
There is an imbalance of character development, with several of the couples being developed with more attention than others, which as a novel that leans more towards character than story, is a short-fall for Gu, especially when the ‘family’ that is lacking in the word count has an interesting dynamic which I personally would have liked to read more about.
If you like a character-driven feminist novel that is influenced by current social problems, then Your Neighbours Table is a good one to pursue.
BOOK DETAILS
Released: 3 December 2024
Publisher: Wildfire
Pages: 224
Rating: (3.75 stars)
Genres: Literary Fiction
I am so grateful to have received the opportunity to read this advanced copy from Wildfire (via NetGalley).
