If you could live rent-free in a communal apartment building, would you? In Gu Byeong-Mo’s Apartment Women South Korea’s government does just that, creating a lottery system for families interested in living together rent-free just outside of Seoul. However, there are a few catches. You have to be a family with at least one child, with plans for more children while at the apartments (three kids per family in total). At least one member of the family must stay home to help with the communal aspects of the apartment. If you decide to leave you will be fined an astronomical amount. Oh, and privacy? That no longer applies here.
On the surface Byeong-Mo’s novel is a fictitious social experiment–testing out the ancient practice of communal living with modern amenities. Once deep within its pages, you will quickly realized this book is a statement– one that transcends borders– about the never ending societal expectations placed on mothers, even in the 21st century.
Byeong-Mo compares the lives of the four matriarchs living in the apartments (Seo Yojin, Hong Danhui, Gang Gyowon, and Jo Hyonae) to highlight their different struggles with motherhood. Yojin is the clearest main character and the only mother to work outside of the apartment complex, while her husband Euno stays home with the other wives. Danhui is the quietest of the women, not really appearing or making a fuss until the very end of the book. (Her husband, however, is another story.) Gyowon is what some may consider the perfect housewife, constantly cooking, cleaning, and finding the best bargains on resale pages on the Internet. She has the least shame out of the four women, while also being the judgiest of the bunch. Hyonae, a freelance children’s book illustrator is learning to balance the life of being a new mother and a career woman, while being thrust into this very unique living situation.
Out of the four women, I found Yojin and Hyonae the most relatable. Yojin is the clearest representation of what it’s like being a working woman in a patriarchal society, faced with always needing to please the men in her life both at the apartment and out in the real world. She and her husband are also a beautiful juxtaposition. Yojin works her hardest and is constantly trying to do right by her family while her husband does the bare minimum at every turn. Hyonae, on the other hand, is my biggest fear personified. She’s desperately clinging to her passions and who she was pre-motherhood while trying to be the best mother she can and is failing at both. She is unsure she can handle having more children and dreads the possibility of falling pregnant again. She is trying to do it all, but can’t.
The four woman in this novel are vastly different, but in the end all equally unhappy. Each is faced with a unique shame, guilt, or doubt that they try to contain like a secret. But, living with the many eyes of their neighbors on them creates a metaphorical pressure cooker of judgment that causes each woman to implode in her own way and, by the last page of the novel, only one woman is left standing.
I can honestly say, I was hesitant about this book at the start, but it quickly became a beautiful exploration of the unrealistic expectations women have carried for generations.
Ladies, if you are ever trying to explain the mental and emotional turmoil we face as mothers, employees, wives, or simply functioning members in society, this is the book to share. In a time in history where it can often feel like we are heading backwards, it is so important to share literature like this with one another. It shows us that we are not alone in feeling unseen or unheard. And, hopefully, this novel will help every women that reads it see how impactful our judgements can be on the other women in our lives.
If you take anything away from this blog post, please let it be this: we’re all competing against standards none of us can keep.
Erica’s Experience
Title: Apartment Women
Author: Gu Byeong-Mo; Translation by Chi-Young Kim
Genre: Fiction
Page Count: 220
Publication Date: December 3, 2024
Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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