Never showed up on my NetGalley shelf app so I didn’t get to listen to it :( but I’m gonna buy the book because I’ve only heard great things about this one!

Decent enough story but challenging to follow with the translation. It was too slow for my liking although I felt that the themes explored were important. There were feelings of being trapped, frustrated, and ready to explode at times, but the steam was never released.

Thanks to NetGalley. 3.5 stars. I enjoyed this overall- the premise was interesting, as was how the story moved. Honestly, I wish it was a bit longer? I feel like it was just kind of suddenly over.

Nancy Wu is a fantastic narrator who brought this story to life. This is a quiet novel that follows four couples, with at least one chapter from each woman’s perspective, who move into a communal living space with the caveat that they must have at least three children within ten years to remain there. Not only did it highlight social pressure on motherhood and the criticisms mothers face, it also heavily focused on gender roles and inequality between spouses and communal living neighbors. I can’t say that there was anything i disliked, but I wanted more from this one. I enjoyed getting different perspectives, but because this was so short it didn’t go into each couple’s plot line with as much depth as I wanted.

This novel is an intimate peek inside the lives of a group of young families who have joined a communal living situation. As the complexities of their commitments to the group increase, you want to look away but you just can't. There are stereotypes to explore as well as plenty of emotional manipulation and strained relationships. The overall vibe this gave me was "unsafe," but in a weird way I liked it.

I listened to the audio book and loved the narrator.

Thank you to netgalley and Harlequin Audio for the advanced listening copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

#ApartmentWomen

This book is nothing to completely lose your mind over BUT it does a FANTASTIC job of showing how society undermines women and their roles in relationships.

I could not get far in this book. I want to read the physical copy because there are simply too many Korean names to keep up with and not enough context to be able to stick with the audio version. I hope you release the physical copy. I like premise of the story but I need to see all those names and be able to make sense of it visually.

𝑨𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑻 𝑾𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑵 𝒃𝒚 𝑮𝒖 𝑩𝒚𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒈-𝒎𝒐 & 𝑵𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝑾𝒖, out December 3rd, was a fascinating look into the similar expectations Korean women face. Told mainly from Yojin's view, the family pressures, marriage, work, and even neighborly relationships all build to a crescendo that feels relatable, even in this speculative communal setting. It is a quiet story that deftly questions our inability to rise to unrealistic expectations and how we handle that disappointment. I was glad for the narration to fully immerse me into this tale. A recommendation for those wanting a contemplative novel from a fresh perspective.

I thought this premise was super interesting but unfortunately the story fell flat for me. I was struggling to stay engaged.

I really enjoyed Nancy Wu’s narration of the story. She’s one of my favorite audiobook narrators and I think she hits the mark every time. Also, I appreciate that this was a quick read/listen. I think my experience with this story could have been more positive if I had picked it up at a different time.

Thank you to Harlequin audio for the alc.

This was a very well done translation of a Korean story following a group of women who live communally and how they deal with the societal pressures and their husbands. I thought it was a very insightful view of womanhood and demonstrated that the pressures put on women to be perfect are universal.

This was phenomenal! I opened the sample on Amazon so I could map out the different families. The drama reminded me of "One of Us is Dead" by Jeneva Rose and "Bad Summer People" by Emma Rosenblum. But I found the four women here much more likeable.

Yojin and her husband Euno have just moved into a new communal apartment building. The application process was very selective, focused on single income couples planning to have large families. With only their six year-old daughter, Yojin knows there will be pressure to have more children soon. They are welcomed by the mother hen of the tenants, Danhui and her husband, Jaegang and the pleasant but post-partum Gyowon and her husband Yeosan. The only couple that seems out of place is Hyonae, who works from home as an illustrator even though her husband works full-time.

Yojin has empathy for her since she is also works full-time while juggling the domestic roles her husband refuses to pick up. When the building decides to create a communal daycare for their kids, drama ensues as different partners question whether the responsibility is truly being shared. Yojin's daughter keeps coming home bruised although her father supervises the daycare. Hyonae struggles to keep up with her work while being expected to supervise daycare too. Gyowon's husband is hiding things from her and Danhui is frustrated by the distracted nature of the other wives.

Nancy Wu does excellent work telling this 8 POV story and differentiating between the women. I binged this audiobook in one sitting and was very pleased with the translation work. "Apartment Women" balance cozy and suspense with perspectives that everyone can appreciate. I liked Yojin the best and the way she stood up for her daughter highlights the burden society places on girls and women without question. I highly recommend this.

Not sure if I have a lot of opinions on this book. It was an interesting concept, but I'm not sure if I really loved it. I feel like I wanted to feeling more emotions from families living together in a rural area in a government sponsored apartment complex. Everything at the end felt a little abrupt. The narrator did a great job with this novel!

Originally written in Korean, this book is about an apartment complex and the stay at home mother who is struggling to balance her illustrating career with a wrist injury and chronic pain while also living up to the deal her family made in order to live in the complex, that they must have at least three children.

Feeling overwhelmed as a mother of one, she can't imagine having two more even though the idea of the complex is to share the work among the moms who live there. Interesting, relatable, with good disability rep and a poignant social commentary on motherhood and the labor of parenting.

This translated well to English and was excellent on audio narrated by Nancy Wu. I would definitely read more by this new to me author in the future. It's also a quick read which I appreciated. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!