Apartment Women by Gu Byeong-mo is a thought-provoking exploration of motherhood, societal expectations, and personal autonomy. Set in the Dream Future Pilot Communal Apartments, a government-sponsored initiative on the outskirts of Seoul, the novel follows Yojin, who moves there with her husband and daughter seeking a fresh start. The experimental community is designed to boost the national birth rate, with Yojin and her neighbors committed to having at least two more children over the next ten years.

As Yojin settles in, she quickly grows uneasy about the intense pressure to conform to the communal lifestyle and the government's rigid expectations surrounding family and parenthood. The narrative weaves together the lives of four women in the apartment complex, each with distinct personalities, aspirations, and beliefs. Through their experiences, the novel delves into the complex realities of modern womanhood, the burdens of motherhood, and the challenges of living in a society that imposes strict cultural norms.

Gu Byeong-mo’s writing is sharp and insightful, shedding light on the tensions between personal desires and societal demands. The characters are richly developed, and their struggles resonate deeply, making Apartment Women a compelling read that prompts readers to reflect on the roles assigned to women, the sacrifices they make, and the choices they must navigate within the framework of family and community expectations. A thought-provoking, powerful narrative about autonomy, identity, and the complexities of modern parenthood.

a reminder of how powerful and strong women are!

this book resonated deeply, through its exploration of societal expectations of being a woman and how this unfolds in our everyday lives, affecting all of us in a bond of sisterhood and womanhood.

interesting commentary as well on childcare and community culture in asian families and friendships

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a free review copy.

I was really surprised by how riveted I became by this story that doesn't even have a plot (not much of one, anyway).  It's just: four families living together in an apartment building. That doesn't sound like much, but this really REALLY worked well, I was completely drawn into their lives.  Each of the four families is different, in subtle and not so subtle ways, and I found myself able to identify with each mother (in different ways).  I identified most closely with the misunderstood and introverted Hyonae.  At first, it seemed like maternal and bossy Danhui would be the main character, but hard-working and earnest eventually Yojin took that honor. 

I'd love to read a sequel just to find out what happens in Yojin's life next.

This was a quiet book that I think will stay with me for a long time.  I felt the same way about "The Old Woman with the Knife," so clearly Gu Byeong-mu is an author I should watch!!  

Because I am American, I had hard time keeping all the names straight.  The publishers must realize that would be a problem, because they include a list of characters at the start of the book.  Unfortunately, my ARC had formatting problems, each chapter ran into the next and it would startling to realize I was reading a different POV, some line breaks often disappeared, and lists were hard to read.  Therefore, I typed up my own list of characters, to help me:

father - mother
children

Jeon Euno (SAHD) and Seo Yojin  (pharmacy aid)
Jeon Siyul (age six) 

Sin Jaegang (office worker) and Hong Danhui  (former daycare manager now SAHM)
Sin Jeongmok (age  five) 
Sin Jeonghyeop (age  three) 

Go Yeosan and Gang Gyowon (SAHM)
Go Ubin (age four) 
Go Seah (infant) 

Son Sangnak (office) and Jo Hyonae  (WFH artist)
Son Darim (seventeen months)


TW: domestic violence

I really wanted to like this book. I was drawn in by the concept of raising children together in a village-type atmosphere, but I couldn't keep any of the characters straight in my mind!

this book was short and simple, but it got me fired up about feminism and the family unit! although the ending and some aspects of the relationship building and plot frustrated me.

I found the characterization of the families engaging but didn't feel their relationships were resolved in a satisfying way.

I always appreciate a book that stretches me to learn about cultural differences. Gu Byeong-mo has written a story that explores the tension of societal and cultural expectations. It was not always comfortable reading but very informative. Thanks #NetGalley #HanoverSquarePress

I commend this author for making these women feel so real and relatable that I was almost triggered while reading about them gaslighting themselves, even though I have never, and will never, be in the same sort of situation they live in. Highly recommend reading, if not simply to step out of your comfort zone. I will definitely be looking into this author's previous and hopefully future works!

I enjoyed this book and read it on audio. I liked the insight into the women’s lives and struggles against expectations of how they should be. Gender dynamics were well explored too.

4.5 stars, but i round up.

Wow, I found this little novella powerful. Both intensely lonely and deeply claustrophobic, this book is about an apartment building where young families live. By moving in, the families pay subsidized rent and agree to have 3 children within 10 years.

The thing that most stuck out to me was that, despite the 4 families trying to create community, the women in this book are so lonely. They all have different dreams and goals and their young children are taking so much of their energy. As a mother, I remember that feeling of "being in the trenches" of early motherhood so well and it is so isolating, even when you are around people. This theme of loneliness, despite their communal living arrangement, produces this claustrophobia throughout the book-- no one really wants to be right on top of one another and yet, they are by agreeing to live in this apartment. Rather than the living and childcare situation creating community, it seems to almost force further separation. For example, when one couple has a large fight, ending in violence and causing the wife to go to the ER, it wakes up the entire building. But rather than supporting this obviously traumatized family , all the neighbors return to their lives after the crisis so as not to cause discomfort.

The ending of this book, in which you learn that several of the couples have left the apartment building and newcomers are being enrolled, is similarly haunting. Will those newcomers also experience this same isolation? Do they understand what they have signed up for?

This book was a struggle for me.
The writing style didn't hold my interest. It seemed way too expository instead of being narrative. I wanted to connect to the characters, but the writing didn't encourage that.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for allowing me early access to the ARC ebook edition of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

"Apartment Women" is such a thoughtful read! It's a tad dystopian but so relatable. I imagine it's even more so if you're reading as a parent.

This story follows the lives of four women who have chosen to live in an apartment complex designed to help increase the national birthrate. Each woman agreed to have two more kids to live here.

I love the complexity of each of the characters. They all have different beliefs and values and lifestyles. It's so interesting seeing how they interact with each other living in such close quarters. While they have their differences, there's also a sense of community through their shared experiences as mothers.

It's a quick read that I highly recommend!

Unfortunately, I really wasn't a fan of this. I'm thinking Gu Byeong-mo's other book, The Old Woman with the Knife, will be more up my alley. This one was just a little too slow going and had too large a cast of characters

Gu Byeong-mo's APARTMENT WOMEN is fantastic. It feels important...in the leagues of Cho Nam-Joo's KIM JI-YOUNG: BORN 1982. Why this novel hasn't received more hype is beyond me. Such a great exploration of the mental and emotional labor of motherhood which is only compounded by societal gender norms--and what the adage "it takes a village to raise a child" really looks like in a modern context (spoiler alert: what worked in the past for past generations clearly will not work for us today). The novel also explore the pros/cons of communal living and what the implications are especially when cultures and people become more individualistic. On top of all that, the novel is well written, with a narrative that interweaves the stories of different characters. APARTMENT WOMEN has great literary merit.

A new government-owned apartment complex opens up in a village outside Seoul, boasting subsidized rent and newly-built accommodations for struggling families. The catch? Only heterosexual couples with at least one child are eligible to apply, so long as they promise to raise a minimum of three while living as part of this community. The first four families move in, signed agreement in hand, none of them expecting that their intimate struggles would soon become revealed by the thin walls that divide them.

In Apartment Women, Gu Byeong-mo has written a thought-provoking commentary on gender roles and parenthood in modern Korea. In this communal apartment complex where the sole purpose is to have more children, the residents come face-to-face with the expectations of a society so focused on the dropping birth rate. One mom struggles with managing a freelance career while grappling with motherhood and a clueless husband. Another mom tries to navigate boundaries with her new carpool partner, who makes increasingly out-of-pocket comments despite being married to another tenant. Another woman tries to remain budget-conscious and portray a perfect image online when her home life is anything but perfect. Still another woman tries to corral the disparate families to set up a communal daycare, to feel useful and connected to her new community. These families deal with their conflicts under a microscope, forced to reckon with their beliefs about the role a woman plays in her household and in her community.

I appreciated the perspectives from each of the “Apartment Women”; all four had at least one chapter to tell a bit of her story. I do wish that, toward the end of the story, the balance of perspectives was as evenly distributed as it was in the beginning.

For people new to foreign language-translation novels (or for those like me who are unfamiliar with pronunciation of most Korean words and names), I recommend finding the audiobook to listen to while reading, in order to fully become immersed in the story. It’s worth it. I got vibes similar to Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty while reading this one. Apartment Women leaves the reader room to consider for themselves what it means to be a good woman and a good mother. After finishing this, I’m excited to seek out more of Gu Byeong-mo’s work.

**Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and Gu Byeong-mo for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.**

Synopsis: The Apartment Women focuses on the four families living in the new Dream Future Pilot Communal Apartments, located outside of Seoul, The concept is simple; In order to earn a spot in the competitive, government subsidized housing, couples agree to live in a communal environment in which families help one another with the day to day responsibilities, and they must agree to have 3 children within 10 years. It should work well for the 4 families that currently live in the apartment, but these couples have challenges like most young couples do. And when their personal issues bleed over to one another, tensions rise that not even the most ideal living conditions can compensate for.

A few takeaways from this book:

It shouldn’t be called Apartment Women because it focuses on more than just the women, although one of the women is predominantly featured in the story. Maybe Apartment Woman?

I liked that the book wasn’t over misogynistic as you would assume with the title and the concept, as a couple of the women worked, and with one family, the father stayed home with their child while the woman went to work.

I don’t typically love translated works as some things get lost in translation and the stories feel flat to me. But Apartment W9men had a lot of depth to it and was a rich story for such a small book.

In a funny way ( to me) a couple characters reminded me of the condo commandos that live in my mil’s retirement condo. So many rules!



Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my review.

I honestly can't decide how to rate this book. On the one hand, I really related to the way that mothers were portrayed and deeply empathized with the characters. On the other, I didn't find any character particularly engaging and there definitely wasn't anyone I rooted for.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but I feel like it falls somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars.

Gu Byeong-Mo has such a talent for writing. I adored this book. It showed the simplicities and out of the ordinary of life that create something worth reading and relating to the characters about. The writing was beautiful and I deeply loved the characters and following them. It was a beautiful story that I highly recommend and I plan to buy a physical copy so that I can have it on my bookshelf and have one to call my own because I loved it so much

I am not sure if it was the writing style or just how it was translated but i did not enjoy this book and it was kind of hard to follow.

I was really not interested in the book as i started reading it and just wasn't for me.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

This book gave me a lot to think about and moved quickly and interestingly. It follows four families who move into government housing in South Korea, meant to be "communal living" and with the caveat that within 10 years of moving in you need to have three kids. The families all have different approaches to what "communal" means, and there are small and larger clashes as the families settle in.

This book addresses the ridiculous expectations put on mothers to do everything and be anything, the sexist frameworks imposed on and enabled by families, the insecurity and shame inherent in being a parent in our modern world, and how difficult it is to live closely with other people- all without being preachy or hitting you over the head. Byeong-Mo carefully teases out how seemingly mundane interactions and moments signify so much about our social dynamics and dictate whether we feel we belong in any given community, and how subtext is everything but acknowledging the subtle hints out loud is taboo. We get a window into most of the characters, which helps us understand all the thought processes that go into the weird moments between them, and the plot moves along quite fast. This review might make it seem like the book is staid and didactic, but it's not at all; it's brisk and interesting, but a lot happens under the surface. I really liked this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for a honest review!