Saha
A Novel
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The much-anticipated follow-up to the multi-million-copy international bestseller Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, Saha is a piercing battle cry for the dispossessed.
In a country called Town, Su is found dead in an abandoned car. The suspected killer is presumed to come from the Saha Estates.
Town is the safest and richest nation on earth, controlled by a secretive organization of seven ministers. It is a society clearly divided into the haves and have-nots, and those who have the very least live in the decrepit Saha Estates. Among them is Jin-Kyung, a young woman whose brother, Do-kyung, was in a relationship with Su and quickly becomes the police’s prime suspect. When Do-kyungdisappears, Jin-kyung is determined to get to the bottom of things. On her quest to find the truth, though, she will uncover a reality far darker and crimes far greater than she could ever have imagined.
At once a dystopian mystery and a devastating critique of how we live now, Saha lifts the lid on corruption, exploitation, and government oppression, while, with deep humanity and compassion, showing us the lives of those who suffer at the hand of brutal forces far beyond their control.
Eight years in the making, Saha is a powerful tale of dystopia and a battle cry for the dispossessed.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
National Book Award finalist Cho (Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982) explores the implications of a corporation with unlimited power in this nuanced dystopian tale. An unnamed company buys a fishing village, and as the narrative progresses into the near future, the village becomes a city-state known simply as Town. The inhabitants are divided into three classes: Citizens; L2s, who possess visas and are on a path to citizenship; and outcasts dubbed "Saha" for the run-down apartment complex they live at, Saha Estates. The Saha work menial jobs and live in substandard conditions, and they're scapegoated in the media for all of Town's problems. Su, a doctor, treats the Saha and then moves in with Do-Kyung, a Saha who becomes a portrait painter at her encouragement. Woomi, a Saha child born during a pandemic, is experimented on by doctors. Yonhwa, an L2, leaves an abusive marriage of convenience with a citizen to live with the Saha. All the while, mysterious custodians, whose salaries are paid by the Saha, watch over them. In one chilling scene, the cops come to the Saha complex looking for someone to blame for arson. Though the big picture remains elusive, Cho's close-ups consistently captivate, and the author has an easy hand capturing her characters' spirit. Fans of Squid Game will be drawn to the author's grim vision.
