I always enjoy reading horror by non-english speaking authors, i think this is my first korean.
An unsettling fever dream from the very start, it's horror in a sense of unease as it explores generational trauma and grief.
As with a lot of Asian literature, it has it's unique "flavour" that is probably not for everyone, but it's well worth exploring.

This was a very interesting read and I have taken awhile to review it simply because it took some time to organize my thoughts. I don't want to say too much more because I think the story is more impactful knowing less, but I would recommend this if you're open to 'horror' that's written as an examination of grief and trauma moreso than in an effort to scare you or overwhelm you with blood & guts.

The Invisible Hotel reads like a fever dream. The reader is constantly weaving in and out of reality and.. fantasy(?) I don't know if gothic horror is the right category for this novel as it set up expectations that left me very confused while I was reading it. It is a fantastic book that delves into the trauma left behind by the war between the North and South Korea in a metaphorical, fantastical setting. However, because I went in expecting something different, it took a long time for me to really grasp what was going on and appreciate the book in itself. 3.5 stars--I was originally going to give this three stars, but upon realizing the actual driving point of the story, I decided to bump it up half a star. I think the marketing needs to be reassessed, but else this was great read.

Thank you NetGalley and Zando for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"This wasn’t my pain, but I felt it anyway."

The Invisible Hotel is a dark literary fiction set in korea about intergenerational trauma. It has some historical fiction elements in the form of flashbacks of the korean war and previous generations, but is primarily set in present day.

I think this book was very mismarketed which did it a disservice. I went into this expecting literary horror, and while this book is dark, I would not consider it horror at all. At about 60% I nearly DNF'd just because I had no clue where it was going. I'm glad I didn't because I do think the author crafted a really special piece of work, but I also understand the people who did DNF.

This is about Yeweon, a young woman living in a small village (Dalbit) in Korea with her mother. In this village the people follow a tradition where they keep the bones of their deceased loved ones in their bathtub and continuously wash them over and over every single day.

Yeweon wants to get out of Dalbit and away from the bones which consume her and her mothers lives, but she is plagued by dreams of a hotel.

She also has a brother who is in the army at the North Korean border, and a sister who is struggling with the loss of her baby.

It was definitely interesting seeing the story progress and Yeweon learning how to cope with the pain she was born with through the trauma of her ancestors. I was shocked to find that I almost cried at the end.

However, I can't say that this was a page turner or that I felt a lot of personal enjoyment or satisfaction out of reading this. The first 60% was quite repetitive, and without an indication of where the story was going, I felt lost.

*Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Invisible Hotel follows Yewon, a woman who feels trapped in her hometown, whose mother constantly washes the bones of their ancestors in their bathtub. Yewon is haunted by dreams of a decrepit hotel she cannot escape.

The concept of Korean women having to give birth in the bones of their ancestors to represent the carrying of the collective trauma and tragedy of the Korean War, that has never really ended is devastating, smart, and so so effective as a metaphor.

This book was so interesting. I really liked the writing overall, and I would love to read more by this author. I do think the middle section of the book was a little too fuzzy and hard to follow exactly what was going on, but the ending was very strong.
Overall I think this book accomplished what is was trying to do, and I think I would get even more out of it on a re-read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for the arc in exchange for a review.

I found this a really confusing read and I’m not sure it made much sense to me. There’s some interesting imagery and it’s effective in showing the ongoing effects of trauma from war. I ended up reading it slowly because I just couldn’t get into it. An unsatisfying read for me.

If you're looking for a fast-paced rollercoaster-type horror novel, this is not the book for you. Instead, the strength lies in the slow, dreamlike nature of the story that builds a wonderful tension and leaves readers often as confused what's real and what isn't right alongside the main character. A story that grabs you and doesn't let go without you even noticing, Yeji Y. Ham is an author I'll have my eye on!

I just could not connect with this. I read through 1/3 and then skimmed heavily until the end, out of frustration and boredom.

I felt the pacing was slow, the story was disjointed, and the plot a little too ambigious. There was no tension or creep factor at all and the slice-of-life conversations and day-to-day activities felt unnecessary and unwelcome for a book billed as horror.

I wasn't a fan of the writing style or the story, but don't let that stop you from trying it out. I would recommend this to anyone with a vested interest in North Korea.

I was so excited when I got approved to read this book because I've heard so much about it and I was not disappointed in the slightest. This book was haunting and heartbreaking, addressing an important part of Korean history, politically and personally. The Korean War is an area I do not know much of anything about but am now forever aware of thanks to this novel.

A slow burn that transcends genre (though it is labeled as horror) The Invisible Hotel gives us glimpses into the surreal dreamscapes of an infinite hotel through the windows of Yewon's suffocating reality. Yewon's life is a tapestry woven with family distress: a mother fixated on ancestral bones, a brother stationed near a tense border, and a sister wrestling with her own demons. The cryptic hotel bleeds into her waking hours, forcing her to confront the unspoken traumas that have haunted generations. Yewon's dreamlike haze can be frustrating to navigate, but I think it amplifies the story's unsettling undercurrent. Don't expect traditional horror, but a queasy, uneasy exploration of grief, and the legacy of war on a family and community. and the fragility of self and identity in the face of these traumas.

A fascinating premise and idea for a book, I was sucked into the possibility. I was left confused and a bit perplexed at what was real and what was a nightmare - much like Yewon.

A haunting novel that floats along at a dreamlike pace. Love the gothic atmosphere and the image of the hotel with infinite rooms. A little slow to start but picks up and becomes a riveting study of post-war trauma.

I think this book has the potential of becoming a gothic classic . The setting , along with the writing was incredible and very beautifully done.
Thank you for the eArc.

I’m waffling between a 3 and 4 star rating for this one. I’m even considering 5 because I’m going to be thinking about this book for ages. This book is haunting. Themes of war recovery, grief and trauma on a community level are almost suffocatingly deep. It’s gothic horror but not, only gothic horror is the best way to describe it. As soon as I finished I thought about the people I would recommend it to because other people have got to read it. Such a reading experience!

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

After helping out an older woman by driving her to a prison to visit her North Korean brother, Yewon begins dreaming of a hotel with endless doors and keys to them. She's more dismayed than terrified by the dream, but when she wakes finds herself trapped in her daily life. She feels stuck in her town, and both wants to leave for Seoul but keeps finding reasons not to go. Her brother is stationed up north near the border, her sister is suffering from a terrible tragedy, and her mother spends hours cleaning ancestors' bones in the tub.

This is not a horror novel. Rather, the author is less concerned with plot than with the sense of loss, estrangement, grief, dislocation and loneliness of the characters. The story is about surviving trauma, but also about the passing down through generations of this pain, so there is a profound collective sense of disconnection, loss and pain, but that is not spoken of.

Author Yeji Y. Han beautifully conveys this through a sense of claustrophobia Yewon has of her life, as well as the almost fog that permeates her brain. The author's prose is beautiful, and builds images that lingered after I finished the novel: the elderly man building a house of doors, the numerous windows, all the locked doors in the hotel...

There are moments of surrealism, including the very end, that at times left me a little confused, but if you're looking for a highly atmospheric, disturbing and tragic story, this is for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Zando for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Incredibly eerie and well written, Ham examines trauma from the Korean War along with its lingering and residual effects of generational trauma (literally). The book is hard to explain but the imagery is extremely evocative and the writing thought provoking.

I am nearly finished with this book and I contemplated on whether to finish it or not. I have to say that this book is not for me. I am having some trouble following along with the dream part of it and actual reality. The writing is OK but sometimes it feels choppy. I have not connected with one character in the book. I appreciate the traditions of Korean families, but do they really wash bones in the bathtub? Once finished I will give a more detailed review of this title, but I had expectations of wanting more from this book based on the information

Thank you #TheInvisibleHotel #NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this title

This book was an interesting challenge for me. I went in expecting literary horror and came out the other side reeling from the deep exploration of grief and trauma. Much more a story about the generational ripples of trauma as result of the war over a dark gothic horror story. I enjoyed the book overall but at times found the writing to be monotonous and slow moving.

This was such an interesting story! At the heart of it seems to be a reflection of grief and mental health and isolation and motherhood, all in the shadows of the Korean War. The imagery is fantastic, creepy and haunting and so striking that you can't help but devour each individual word and how the sentences string together. There's a constant fight as to what is reality and what is delusion, and the author plays with the battle so well, toying with the reader but also drawing lines in a clear, beneficial way. Can't wait to see what comes next out of this author!

What an interesting and atmospheric story! The bones in the bathtub really got me, and I loved the confusing nightmarish quality to the main character's reality/dreams. I do wish there was more of a climax, I felt like things could have woven a little closer together or taken a deeper darker plunge. Overall though, this was a wonderful debut with some heartbreaking stories in it, and my god! I cannot ever look at a bathtub the same lol. Can't wait to read more from this author.

This book will be included in a reading vlog on my booktube channel, I'll update the link when I post it.