Counterattacks at Thirty: A Novel

by Sohn Won-Pyung, Jo Yuan (Narrator)

From the bestselling author of Almond, The Devil Wears Prada meets The Office in this witty, humane, and ultimately transformative story of a group of young workers who rebel against the status quo.

Jihye is an ordinary woman who has never been extraordinary. In her administrative job at the Academy, she silently tolerates office politics and the absurdities of Korean bureaucracy. Forever only one misplaced email away from career catastrophe, she effectively becomes a master of the silent eye-roll and the tactical coffee run. But all her efforts to endure her superiors and the semi-hostile work environment they create are upended when a new intern, Gyuok Lee, arrives.

Like a pacifist version of V in V for Vendetta, Gyuok recruits a trio of office allies to carry out plans for minor revenge. Together, these four “rebels” commit tiny protests against those in more powerful positions through spraying graffiti, throwing eggs, and writing anonymous exposés. But as their attacks increase, the initial joy they felt at the release becomes something more and Jihye and the others will discover the beauty of friendship and the extraordinary power of unity against adversity.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Asian Literature, Audiobook, Literary Fiction, Asia, Translated Fiction

Audible Audio

First published October 23, 2017

About the author

Associated Names:
* Sohn Won-Pyung (English)
* 손원평 (Korean)
* ソン・ウォンピョン (Japanese)
* ซนว็อนพย็อง (Thai)
* Сон Вон Пхён (Russia)

Sohn Won-pyung is a film director, screenwriter, and novelist living in South Korea. She earned a BA in social studies and philosophy at Sogang University and film directing at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. She has won several prizes, including the Film Review Award of the 6th Cine21, and the Science Fantasy Writers’ Award for her movie script I Believe in the Moment. She also wrote and directed a number of short films, including Oooh You Make Me Sick and A Two-way Monologue. She made her literary debut in 2017 with this, her first full-length novel, Almond, which won the Changbi Prize for Young Adult Fiction, followed by which won the Jeju 4.3 Peace Literary Award.

Reviews

[Alex.andthebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Czasem literatura wyciąga z naszych głów przemyślenia, które tylko czekały na odpowiedni moment.
To nie jest idealna pozycja, ale miała kilka momentów, w których czułam się naprawdę zrozumiana.

[Reem · Rating 2 out of 5]

#The52BookClub
6. Genre 1: Set in Spring

[inciminci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything about Jihye, down to her name, is ordinary and unexciting; an office worker at the administration of a university, she barely tolerates most of her professional life and being pushed around - that is until the new intern, Gyuok Lee, arrives. He quickly forms an allied group within the office to carry out minor acts of rebellion and protest against the people who have done them wrong, like throwing eggs or spraying graffiti. At some point the bond between them becomes something like friendship, maybe more.

I'm always enthusiastic to read books about people society sees as “past her prime” and books about finding others who fit in as badly as you do. So to me, this was a fun and refreshing read. I also appreciate that like most novels I have read from Korea, this one too has a for me unusual structure and style. The stories I usually read are pretty formulaic and similar in narration (no wonder since almost all authors attend the same writer's programs and workshops), and this is a kind of novel that really stands out for me and I genuinely enjoyed reading/listening to.

Thank you, Queralt, for telling me to read this for the World Tour Reading Challenge, it was my last prompt and I've completed it now 🙌

[Queralt✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Counterattacks at Thirty is a book about an ordinary group of people who are so tired of being pushed around by the system and higher-ups that they decide to bite back.

The book focuses on Kim Jihye, an ordinary thirty-something who is still an intern and trying to figure things out (and struggling). Her motto is simple: don’t work hard, do just enough. And then one day, a new intern starts working with her, Gyuok. Gyuok recruits a few thirty-somethings to start a pacifist (and petty) revolution against the people who have annoyed/wronged them.

This book was a nice surprise. Gyuok is a radical and Jihye is just someone trying to make ends meet and find a career, they’re sort of opposites and it’s fun to see their philosophies clash at times. I loved the lowkey and mundane vibe the book had, but I wished we had known more about Muin and Nam Eun, and the ‘petty protests’ the group engaged with. Other than the ‘grand finale,’ the few activities we get to see are just small and petty. Which is the point, but I don’t think they were quirky or funny enough for me to say I’ll remember them next week. I do think the group’s activities had the potential to be funny, because Sohn does pull up fun stuff in her narration (i.e., Kim Chu-bom being better than being named Koh Chu-bom lol) (Koh Chu sounds like penis in Korean).

Reading this book as a thirty-year-old who still doesn’t know what she’s doing was kinda therapeutic. But I was expecting a more life-changing/lingering book from Sohn after she pulled off the masterpiece that is Almond. The ending was super satisfying.

3.5 stars rounded up because G-Dragon is mentioned and deemed the most successful Korean born in 1988EVER.

*ARC received for free, this hasn't impacted my review/rating.

[spillingthematcha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jak dla mnie spory zawód. Liczyłam na dużo ciekawszą historię, a była nużąca, bez wyrazu. Choć wiem, że sam zamysł skupiał się w okół historii zwykłych ludzi, to mimo wszystko liczyłam na lepsze wykonanie, pod względem literackim.

[Lavelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny, moving, and profound. we are all tiny and insignificant, and that is both a blessing and a curse.

[Ewout Haagsman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

“Shows thst in a world full of things that cannot be changed, the one thing you could change might be yourself”: Eens.

Maar kunnen ‘grote zaken’ écht niet veranderd worden?

[Stacy (Gotham City Librarian) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Won-Pyung's other book, the dark and disturbing “Almond.” This one is very different and quite a bit lighter. While “Almond” was an unsettling and serious novel, this one doesn’t take itself too seriously most of the time, and there are moments that were a little bit too silly for me. (Example: vivid descriptions of a manager's farts.) There was also a romantic subplot that to me felt forced and not entirely believable. (But I'm also bitter these days, so take that criticism with a grain of salt.) The book had shades of darkness later on, and one scene that was very strange and somewhat unnerving.

I should probably hesitate to say that I related to the narrator of this story, because that could potentially reflect poorly on me in some ways. But there were definitely aspects of her personality that resonated. (She hated having to do self-introductions in school and work settings! One of my absolute nightmares.) And when we meet her, she is feeling lost, beaten down by work and life and the corporate system. The basic gist of this plot is learning to stand up for yourself and fight for what you want and what you deserve. It's a decent message, but the story didn't pack a strong enough punch. Our protagonist ends up making friends through her workplace who unite in their desire to "play pranks" on important people in public as a form of rebellion and revenge, but they don't have a huge impact. And I know that it was the point for the sake of growth and development, but the main character’s spinelessness eventually got on my nerves.

What this book did pull off well was illustration of the fact that sometimes you really don’t know the people you work and interact with, and you might be judging someone too harshly. People can change completely as a result of going through the system and end up unrecognizable from the individuals they once were. We all have to adapt in ways we might not like.

This was a pleasant enough read, so I'm giving it three stars. But I highly recommend "Almond," which was a 5-star read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

Biggest TW: Mention of Adults sleeping with minors, Misogyny, Bullying

[Bella Azam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book at the time when you are stressed with your job is kinda a break that I need, an escape from reality while also knowing for the fact that I'm still a cog in a wheel of society, a worker ant just moving day by day following the speed of the job demand me to fulfill and the constant worrying of what future will hold for me. Counterattacks at Thirty premise was simple, its an act of rebellion not in a grand scheme of things like riots or protests, its the harmless pranks, jokes or tricks, its the counterattacks to the injustice faced by the powerless in their life, the insignificance of the lesser voice but put together as a team may made a small ripple effect even if its short lasted.

Jihye, a 30 year old woman working as an intern at Diamant Academy, a tutoring educational academy with a hope that she will get a permanent position in the headquarters where she can cultivate her dream to be a part of art a culture she hoped for. She is struggling to reach for what she want, the undeniably hardship to find stable employment at her age while also dealing with loneliness , the misogyny from her boss, past experience that tarnished her self-esteem, the shame and struggle to seek jobs, these are the reality of the young generation has to face nowadays. When a new intern, Gyuok came to their workplace and started a small group of rebellion with two other person, they intend to bring small justice to the world by spraying grafitti, throwing eggs to a politician, create small chaos just enough to evoke a reaction. As insignificant these pranks goes, there borne a deep sense of changes in Jihye's life, a step that pushed her to find her footing in life.

As someone that had been in the place of a struggling job seeker, I found myself in a sense of kinship with these characters especially Jihye. There were many societal issues rooted in Korean culture itself such as the working culture of seniority, the misogyny that deeply embedded in the work and also family culture, the powerful taking advantage of the weak and powerless by stepping onto their weakness, the insufferable manipulation by friends and many more that was brought upon in this book which I felt such a great exposure to be discussed. I love how relatable some of these are where Jihye had crafted an invisible ally called Mr Jeong Jin just to get away from everything, it was both sad and also comforting in a sense. The romance subplot doesn't get in the way and I like how it does not focus on this but more on Jihye's personal growth even if its not much.

Being ordinary is also special in its own tender way. Counterattacks at Thirty was a simplistic story of ordinary people with perseverance & with a heart of a rebel to pave a path for ourselves.

Thank you to Times Reads for the review copy in exchange for an honest review

[nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Major thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts:

“𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦..”

Quite a surprise. There are few books that really tackle all the ennuis of contemporary society in such a blunt way. From the vantage point of 30, we look at what failure is in South Korea. With the race against birth rates, the rising cost of housing and the impossibility of finding a decent job, and to hell with a career, how can a person just be?

We are reaching impossibility, but it’s Won-Pyung’s frankness that creates a numb hum through the text. Anxiousness. Frustration. Annoyance. Micro aggressions add up to one final act, too quick to even stay in a life that goes on without us.

A timely publication, especially after the necessary impeachment of Yoon Suk Yeol. These days, how far can a protest go beyond a shot in the dark in a timeline of hurt and horrors? And does it matter as an individual? Ultimately, how do we matter to ourselves?

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Destaco estas frases:

"Creo que, aunque no pueda cambiar el mundo entero, puedo poner fin a una pequeña injusticia."
"aunque solo sea una mota de polvo en el universo, puedo transformarme en un reluciente arcoíris si aterrizo en el lugar adecuado."

No es mi favorito de la autora, pero tiene una bonita reflexión al final

[W.R. Gingell · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favourite kind of revolution: small acts of considered disobedience and counter-culturalism!

“excellent” is an excellent word but too bland for this wonderful little book that explores what it means to be stuck and frustrated inside a self, or a society, or paradigm, that it doesn’t seem possible to change.

i wondered at first if the completely Korean setting and mindset would make the author stick to peculiarly culturally Korean answers to the questions it asks, but that was just where the book began—and my goodness, did it grow! the author goes far beyond cultural thought and into questioning the ways as well as the whys of the need for change. she also goes into the question of how to change the world without the mindset that it’s just one answer: the main group of characters all find different ways, in the end, to effect their selves, their spheres, their culture, and then (maybe), the world.

this is a gorgeous book and i’ll be thinking about it for a while to come. i have no doubt that it’ll be a movie before long.

(note: i don't usually leave star ratings but i'm making an exception bc the star rating on here is ridiculous and by no means represents how flamin' good the book is due to the excellence of the writer, or how good of an introduction to korean life and society it is due to the excellence of the translator)

[Mewa · Rating 3 out of 5]

„— Jest jednak coś, co może cię pocieszy — dodał, ściszając głos. — Wszyscy jesteśmy ,,nieistotni", wiesz? Jesteśmy naprawdę mało znaczącym, ,,nieistotnymi istotami". Możemy udawać, że jesteśmy wyjątkowi, ale pod mikroskopem wszyscy żyjemy tak samo, robimy wszystko, żeby przeżyć. Wojujemy tylko po to, by jakoś potwierdzić swoje istnienie i zostać zauważonymi.“

[Nikoletta (nikisjournal) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo mi się podobała. Mimo różnic kulturowych, wciąż oddziaływała mocno na mnie, osobę w podobnej sytuacji co główna bohaterka. Wybrzmiało wiele myśli, które mogłam znaleźć w swoim umyśle.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Counterattacks at Thirty is Sean Lin Halbert's translation of 서른의 반격 by 손원평 (Sohn Won-Pyung), the author best known for 아몬드, translated as Almond by Joosun Lee (my review).

The original won the 5th Jeju 4.3 Peace Literature Award (4·3평화문학상), under the title 1988년생 ('Born in 1988') before the title was changed for publication.

The jury's citation (with ChatGPT translation):

"위트가 넘치는 싱그럽고 유쾌한 소설이다. 사건과 주제를 형상화시키고 도출해내는 작가의 힘, 소설미학이 돋보인다. 그들의 저항은 비장하거나 영웅적이거나 하지 않고, 게임처럼 경쾌하게 행해진다. 소설의 주인공은 그러한 저항의 몸짓들을 직접 목격하고 경험하면서 자신의 왜소한 순종적 자아를 벗어내고 주체적 자아를 되찾게 된다"

"This is a novel imbued with wit, freshness, and charm. The author's ability to crystallize events and themes, and to render them with a distinctive novelistic aesthetic, is particularly noteworthy. The characters' acts of resistance are not solemn or overtly heroic, but are instead carried out with a light, almost playful tone. Through witnessing and experiencing these gestures of defiance, the protagonist gradually sheds a diminished, submissive self and ultimately reclaims a sense of autonomous identity."

And the novel opens on the narrator's birth year of 1988 (indeed she was born during the Seoul Olympics)

The year I was born, there was a man with a large nose living in South Korea. White-haired and a retired general, he lived a life that was as far from ordinary as you could get. But then just before turning sixty, the words "ordinary people" suddenly became one of his favorite phrases. He liked this phrase so much that he started to introduce himself as an "ordinary person," always remembering to follow this self-proclamation with "Trust me," as if he knew people wouldn't. He even started going around claiming that the "era of ordinary people" was coming. Thus, it was to everyone's surprise that he used this script-flipping slogan to rise to the highest office in Korea. But the unordinary trajectory of his life didn't stop there. Most famously, a picture of him and the previous president standing shoulder to shoulder, handcuffed and dressed in blue prison uniforms, made the front page of every newspaper in Korea.

This a reference to 노태우 (Roh Tae-woo) who took power in 1988, after winning an election in late 1987, and who in 1996 was convicted for corruption, as well as their roles in the 1979 coup and the Gwangju massacre, alongside his predecessor 전두환 (Chun Doo-hwan):



The narrator goes on to tell us:

Since then, the world has taken a few steps in the right direction-but only a few. Injustice is still the law of the land, and the promised era of ordinary people never came. What we got instead was the exact opposite: a world in which ordinary people are forced to follow the crowd while simultaneously being expected to use every method to stand out from it, desperately screaming at the tops of their lungs, begging to be noticed. As for me, I am just one of the many unfortunate souls whose farewell to youth came during this era.

Our narrator Kim Jihye (as she observes, pretty much the most common, and hence everywoman, female name of her generation) turned 30, at least in the traditional Korean age system, in 2017, but still works as in a temporary intern position at a academy. She struggles with the unfairness and petty bureaucracy of her office system, typical of Korea. But when a co-worker arrives, Gyuok, he encourages her and some colleagues to take low-level revenge on the system by a succession of small 'counterattacks', although pranks is a better description, and the one he typically uses.

Interestingly, and encouragingly, Gyuok does acknowledge the sacrifices made, particularly by their grandparents' generation, in rebuilding South Korea after the Korean war; but at the same time challenges the absurdities and unfairness experienced by many in the current generation.

The novel is particularly effective in its portrayal of Korean culture, including many specifics, and Sean Lin Halbert makes I think the correct choice to gloss these where necessary, rather than leave the reader to miss the point and/or to try and find an English equivalent. So for example, Jihye invents an imaginary boyfriend as an excuse to get out of forced-socialisation with her colleagues, and gives him the name Jeong-jin (정진), a name she coined from the combination of 정말 and 진짜, as a private joke to emphasise that 'really, truly' he does exist (of course he doesn't):

Sometimes, I just needed an escape. So one day, I lied and said I was having lunch with a friend. After a few times of using this excuse, people started inquiring about this friend's gender, and once they knew he was a male, they wanted to know his name and age. And thus, Mr. Jeong-jin was born. Giving my imaginary friend a name that was a compound of jeongmal and jinjja, two words that both meant "real," was an inside joke that only I knew the punch line to. After a few times of being caught off guard by questions about Jeong-jin, Team Leader Yu concluded that he must like me and that we were in that initial stage of coquetry. It was too much trouble to fight her conjecturing, but I knew that at the rate things were going, I would end up marrying Jeong-jin if something didn't change. In other words, I had to break up with him before our relationship got too serious. I let out a smirk in disbelief thinking about how what had started as a simple white lie was now pushing me into a double life against my will. All I wanted was to eat lunch in peace, and now here I was, flirting, dating, and engaged-to-be-engaged to a man who didn't even exist.

The difference between pranks and effective counterattacks is crucial to how the novel proceeds, as this is not a tale of a system overthrown (many of the targets simply shrug off the attacks, or even turn them to their favour), but rather a system which ultimately prevails, and the four colleagues each go their separate ways, each making their own accommodation in a way that suits them. And for me, whilst realistic, this did diminish the power of the novel which turns into more of a character study of loneliness and isolation, and the potential reedeming effect of comradeship, than socially meaningful.

The original title 1988년생 (Born in 1988) and the choice of the everywoman narrator's name 김지혜(Kim Ji-hye) inevitably - and one assumes this must have been a conscious choice - recalls the massive bestseller 82년생 김지영 by 조남주 (Cho Nam-jo), Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 in Jamie Chang's translation (my review), and this is, unfortunately not in that league in terms of its importance or impact. Nevertheless, worthwhile.

[jakesz13 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strasznie przykre tak zawodzić się książką, na którą się tak długo czekało i wobec której miało się tak wybujałe nadzieje. Nie do końca wiem po co i o czym traktował Kontratak. Czuję, jakby autorka oparła całą książkę na przemyśleniach, które można wyczerpać w jednym zwięzłym opowiadaniu, aniżeli pełnoprawnej powieści, dlatego też nie do końca spodobał mi się ten chaos, który tu zawitał. Pomimo bardzo słabych kwestii fabularnych, widzę te wnioski, widzę te smutne przemyślenia odnośnie odnajdywania własnej drogi, zderzania się ze światem, który nieczęsto miewa skrupuły, ale to chyba dla mnie okazało się zbyt prozaiczne i oczywiste, aby kupić tę wersję opowieści.

To co zadziałało w Almondzie, poprzedniej, bestsellerowej książce Won-Pyung, to bardzo oszczędny język, który bezpośrednio rezonował z przypadłością głównego bohatera. Wówczas, nie odczuwał on emocji, dlatego też taki był styl tej książki, kompletnie odarty z upiększeń, pełen krótkich, nierozbudowanych zdań. Niemniej jednak, nie podoba mi się powielenie tego motywu w tej książce. Całość była napisana praktycznie identycznie, często to było dla mnie po prostu mierne literacko. Taka oszczędność w stylu może mieć dobre skutki i wywierać dobre wrażenie, ale w tym przypadku aż prosiło się o większe pogłębienie niektórych wątków, rozbudowanie ich za pomocą jakichś opisów wewnętrznych, a tego tu nie było. Niestety, nie wywołała ta książka we mnie praktycznie żadnych emocji, po lekturze nie umiem o niej zbyt wiele powiedzieć, była dla mnie żadna. Może to dlatego, że nie jestem targetem tej powieści? Koniec końców, autorka nie funduje nam jedynie przykrych rozważań o poczuciu zagubienia u schyłku swojej młodości, ale też snuje opowieść o człowieku zestawionym z machiną korporacyjnego świata (zawsze z resztą skazanego na porażkę), o samotności, co jest chyba najbardziej przejmującą częścią tej książki, o ciekawej, lecz niestety nierozbudowanej wersji swoistego buntu przeciwko niesprawiedliwym i nierównym traktowaniu. Sporo tu tego, a jednak całość była dla mnie kompletnie pozbawiona emocji, jakoś się totalnie odbiłem od tych treści, chociaż sporo można było z nich wycisnąć. Autorka trafnie i mimetycznie obrazuje samotność i to, w jaki sposób trzeba jej przeciwdziałać, ale chyba końcowe wnioski o powrocie do trochę takiego konformizmu trochę tutaj psują przekaz.

Nie była to moja książka, kompletnie się nie polubiliśmy. Jestem w stanie zrozumieć, czym można się tutaj zachwycać, jest tu bowiem zawartych naprawdę dużo istotnych wątków, które po dodaniu jakże interesującego i wstrząsającego kontekstu społeczno-politycznego, snuje naprawdę przygnębiający obraz pokolenia, które spragnione jest bliskości, towarzystwa i takich pierwotnych potrzeb. W zamian wybierają zanurkowanie do machiny świata biurowego, które na pewnym etapie każdego dorwie ze swoją dawką niesprawiedliwości. To było spoko, ale czy cała książka, tak chaotyczna, tak niespójna, tak nijaka i koniec końców tak mierna fabularnie była dobrą formą na wysnucie tej historii?

[Stacey-Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I was excited to see something new from Sohn Won-Pyung after enjoying her simple but beautiful writing style in Almond.

While this seems like an ordinary and somewhat mundane story there were some truly earnest moments sprinkled throughout as we watch Jihye go from doing just enough to get by to finding her voice, standing up for herself and choosing her path rather than just following along blindly.

Honestly, nothing really happens in this book, but that's kind of the beauty of it as it reflects the reality of day to day life and how we can choose what little moments, or people, influence us.

ARC provided by publisher for an honest review

[Nimisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

It makes you think about society at large, outside of our individual lives and the role we have to play in its fair and just functioning. I liked that there is no prescription of the right way to do this, but rather an exploration of some different ones, without judgement.

[Nerea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buen punto de partida y buena premisa, pero el desarrollo bastante flojo. Quizá tenía unas expectativas más altas, pero me ha parecido que tenía potencial para ser mucho mejor.

[Siqahiqa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second book by the author is a remarkable departure from her first, Almond, both in themes and characters. It initially took me some time to immerse myself in the story, and I took 23 days to finish it, even though it’s only 233 pages long. However, by the end, I found it to be quite rewarding.

The story follows Kim Jihye, a woman in her thirties who finds herself stuck in an intern position, navigating an often unfair world. Unlike typical protagonists, Jihye isn’t out to change the system or even sure of her desires most days, which makes her incredibly relatable. Her daily struggles and the sense of drifting through work without a clear direction resonate deeply. When Gyuok, a new employee, joins the academy, Jihye’s life shifts as he inspires thoughts of counterattacks and revolution. Alongside Gyuok and two others, Mr. Nam and Muin, they forge a strong bond and set their plan into motion.

The book tackles social injustice with an uplifting approach. I appreciated how the narrative intricately weaves through various characters, revealing their backgrounds and the experiences that shaped them. Their moments of mistreatment and vulnerability are not only powerful but thought-provoking.

I was particularly drawn to the way they executed their revolution, fully aware that their actions might not lead to significant change. Nevertheless, the act of initiating something, no matter how small, carries immense meaning. This book imparts a vital life lesson: in a world filled with things beyond our control, we can always begin by changing ourselves.

The story feels real, honest, and familiar, capturing the frustration many adults experience. Jihye inventing an imaginary lunch partner to sidestep awkward conversations and the comment that people should only work in balance to what they’ve been compensated is incredibly validating, especially in today’s corporate world where burnout is all too common.

While the book’s pacing may be slow and the characters aren’t always likable, I remained deeply invested in Kim Jihye, Gyuok, Mr. Nam, and Muin as they strive to find their voices and create meaningful change. I do wish we could witness more of their protest moments, but the ending is satisfying and realistic—social injustice doesn’t vanish overnight. What truly matters is the initiation of change. For those courageous enough to take that first step, I’m cheering for you, wherever you are.

In summary, this book is a thoughtful and engaging story about ordinary people pushing back against everyday injustice. Despite its slow pace and flawed characters, it leaves a powerful message: while we can’t control everything, we can choose to start small. And sometimes, that’s where the real change begins.

"Sometimes you must quit, even when you already have nothing. Sometimes, you must erase everything and take the time to withdraw into yourself."

Thank you, Miss Putri and Times Reads for the review copy!

[hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appealing cover and I loved how that ‘a rebellion is coming’ tagline felt so inviting. I followed Jihye in her days of working as an admin role at the Academy where she needs to endure the challenging office politics and Korean bureaucracy. She effectively becomes a master of the silent eye-roll and the tactical coffee run but when the new intern, Lee Gyuok came, she was suddenly recruited as a member along with the other two colleagues to carry out minor acts of rebellion against their superiors to mimic a protest. As the incidents escalated, Jihye was exposed to new discoveries— of unity and friendship, on one’s resilience and self-worth as well redefining her life choices and new growth.

“What was the extent of my role at this company? Glorified printer ink? Or perhaps I was just a spare bolt, replaceable and always getting screwed.”

“I was suffering from the desire to incite my own change in the world. The only problem was that the question of how exactly I wanted to do that kept evading me, as though its answer was always just on the tip of my tongue.”

I loved its melancholic tone and how the author explored that concern, one’s insecurities and struggles working in an injustice environment with toxic and favouritism culture. The characters were my fav and although their rebel acts just too average and prank alike I liked the aftermath insights of it esp as how Jihye composed her feelings and afterthoughts from all of the incidents. Intriguing conflicts to both Mr. Nam and Muin’s
narratives with interesting characterization for Gyuok (he seemed so mysterious still to me even until the end) and a peek to a love story in between. Getting a glimpse to Jihye’s past trauma that revolved in a gripping anxieties scene afterwards— loved that blend of emotional stress and its poignant backstory, also to see how Jihye decided to deal with her frights to face the other Jihye.

Truly an attention-grabbing premise overall; a well observed and reflective in a way how it represents a relatable view on the modern workplace scenario and how change is possible despite those pressures, expectations and the troubling exploitative office life. I liked the last chapter a lot!

**loving the fact that it was titled as Ordinary Person at first and changed to Born 1988 when it won a literary award and finalised to Counterattacks At Thirty when it officially published

(review copy courtesy of Times Reads)

[Elvina Zafril · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Almond because it was dark, intense, and unsettling. But Counter Attacks at Thirty was a completely different vibe. It’s lighter, more humorous, and sometimes even a little too silly.

Kang Seonkyeong is stuck in a soul-crushing job, lost in life, and tired of the corporate grind. I related to her struggles, but her passiveness got frustrating after a while. The book’s message about standing up for yourself and fighting for what you deserve is solid, though the execution didn’t hit as hard as I’d hoped. The rebellious workplace pranks were fun, yet they didn’t leave much impact.

There’s also a romance subplot that didn’t quite land for me. Maybe it felt forced? Or maybe I’m just not into it LOL. That said, the book does well in showing how people change in ways we don’t always expect, especially after being chewed up by the system.

Overall, it was an okay read. Fun at times but not as powerful as I wanted.

[Gosia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niezwykle poruszyła mnie ta książka.
Wiele problemów, z którymi mierzy się główna bohaterka, ostatnio mnie dotknęło, a spotkanie z nimi w literaturze były jakimś swego rodzaju ukojeniem.
Nie jestem pewna, czy jest to coś niezwykłego, ale na pewno zostanie ze mną na dłużej <3

[Elena Coorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro es un muy buen retrato de cómo los acontecimientos del último medio siglo en la península de Corea (la guerra contra Japón, la guerra civil, la crisis del FMI, el auge de los conglomerados…) han definido el temperamento y las aspiraciones de los jóvenes milenials surcoreanos y han moldeado la sociedad actual.

Es una crítica tan bien escrita que prácticamente se trata de un ensayo narrado en forma de novela.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quirky little book that captures the unique blend of hope and hopelessness that accompanies us as we age when our lives haven’t turned out the way we expected them to, and particularly when we try to sort out how much of the disappointment we feel is of our own making and how much is a system designed to keep us feeling like failures.

The protagonist and three men she meets in a class she takes through her job at an academy are each fed up with society and are too scared of change to do much of anything about it except grab onto their despair like a security blanket. They decide to do what little they can: quiet acts of protest against the system, or counterattacks, that are silly and largely ineffective in the grand scheme of things but are capable of effecting change on the individual level, giving them enough confidence to change their own mindsets.

The solution to this type of capitalism would be to divorce themselves from the belief that their work is integral to who they are. Easier said than done, but each of the four attempts this with varying degrees of success. Some blossom, some wither. As frustrating as that is from a fictional story, it’s so realistic: for the majority of us, the most we will ever do is wake up. Fewer of us will get out of bed, and even fewer of us are brave enough to actually push back. Perhaps this fact makes even the tiny counterattacks in this novel more bold than we’d give them credit for at first glance.

There are a few subplots — a shaky romance and the confrontation of a former school bully, the latter of which feels like a common theme in Korean media and felt a little stale. It serves more as a conduit for proving the protagonist’s character growth than anything else. It’s easy to grow frustrated with the protagonist, Jihye, as she misses opportunities for growth and understanding, but again, this is simply realistic. Even still, I was rooting for both her and her comrades.

There’s some endearing character growth that I found so relatable as an early 30-something, but I am now wondering how much character growth is possible within a system that punishes individuality and rewards assimilation. Is it growth, or is it acceptance? And does it matter? The themes and messages overall are obvious throughout, though they start stronger than they finish, and I can’t stop thinking about how maybe that’s one big (bleak) metaphor for aging itself.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc!

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe i had my hopes up for this since Won-Pyung Sohn did great with her book Almond but this fell flat for me. The story is about the radical Gyuok and ordinary Jihye. Although I appreciate Jihye’s storytelling and backstory, despite her being supposed to be ordinary, I feel like I haven’t connected with her. Being the narrator of the story, im not sure why i didnt felt any sympathy towards her. Gyuok gave some mystery at first but i find his character underdeveloped. The only character that I feel connected with and wanted to learn more about is Mr. Nam. He sparked my interest more than the protagonist and male lead. The story feels like a kdrama that i would abandon at some point and wouldnt mind not knowing the ending. The story is supposed to be inspirational but it left me feeling nothing after reading it.

[Sarah Ghossein · Rating 2 out of 5]

pointless and boring

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5 Finished copy gifted by the publisher

This book came to me at the perfect time when I’m struggling finding meaning working in corporate America 😅 the author does a phenomenal job portraying lost 30 year olds navigating work places, having to put up with a lot of work bs, feeling “behind” on love, etc.

I really appreciate the author exploring different ways of fighting back when someone might feel like they have no power. I also love that this is a hopeful and healing book that still explores important social issues and encompasses a lot of modern Korean societal dynamics and political landscape into the backstory.

[ThatBookish_deviant · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25/5

The first novel I read by Won-pyung Sohn was Almond which I enjoyed and appreciated for its uniqueness. Perhaps Almond engendered within me preconceived notions for what this book would be and I was left disappointed. The story’s unremarkable and feels somewhat familiar. Nothing in particular stood out as exceptional to me.

[Deepa Bhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️