What do readers think of Your Republic Is Calling You by Young-ha Kim? Write your own review.

As I began this book, I found it difficult to penetrate. We are introduced to characters and learn about them without understanding who they are or why they are important. The third-person-omniscient point-of-view also makes it difficult to discern upon whom we should be focusing. But as the book progressed, I discovered that it was about something that matters deeply to anyone my age (43) - the choices we make in life and how we reflect upon those choices in middle age. The spy story, the story of a man who has lived in South Korea since college as a spy for North Korea, is interesting but somewhat difficult to follow - the true value lies in the reflections of this man, his wife, and his former lover upon their lives.

Timely. While reading one day in the life of an embedded North Korean spy in South Korea, the reader not only learns about the society and its people but also how emotional it would be when the spy is called back. Fantastic information on how a spy might be trained and set up in the new country. It has been so long since Ki-yong has heard from Liaison Office 130 he questions if this is a valid message. Most of the day he frantically searches who might have sent it. We meet his family and friends, learning about them, as the time flies. Should he tell everyone? Should he go back up North? Some of the minor characters might have been excluded because for me it took a while to keep them all in order.

I really enjoyed the novel and wondered how closely his training relates to the spies we have just heard about in the media.

I liked this book. The plot-line, surprising ending and the in-depth portrayal of the main characters made it a worthwhile read. The author focused on the anxieties each member of a family was experiencing: the husband, his complacent lifestyle for the past ten years was abruptly shattered by an urgent email from his former country; the wife, who was undergoing an intense mid-life crisis filled with regrets of her past choices; and the daughter, who is struggling with teenage angst. As often happens, painful truth hastens the dissolution of an empty marriage.

As I was reading the book, I realized how little I knew about North and South Korea and how different the societies were, especially since they are neighbors.

I found my enthusiasm waned during the middle of the book. Of course, I was re-energized at the end. Some Korean words were not translated which was annoying.

This was an interesting, but frustrating read. Warning: although this is a spy story, it’s not a thriller. But what’s frustrating is the main character. He’s faced with a choice – either he betrays his homeland or he betrays his family. His whole life is at stake -- and he can’t seem to make up his mind! He dithers and dithers until it’s too late and other people eventually make the decision for him. He never does figure out what he wants.

Remember the movie Crash…all the characters dealing with their separate issues while rushing towards one final ‘crash’? Your Republic is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim has that same kind of feeling. Ki-yong, a Korean importer of films, has just received an email message that changes everything in his already pretty crazy life. He has been commanded to return to North Korea, the place he left years earlier under order to spy on the South. His wife, daughter, mistress and their acquaintances are pulled into the drama. This book has excitement, humor, absurdity and some pretty disgusting scenes. At times the excruciating details and rough translation make the reading tedious. The memorable characters and situations are worth the effort.

This is a well written and interesting thriller. A sleeper agent receives the call he never thought was coming after 21 years and it effects his entire family. I enjoyed the book and was a little surprised by how much I didn't know about South Korea. I look forward to more by this author.

The plot centers around a North Korean spy called home from South Korea, and his wife and daughter, but the story is really about what we think we know about people close to us and how this knowledge, or lack thereof, effects the choices we make in life. If you knew the man you were marrying was a spy would you still marry him?

What do you really know about those closest to you? What they think? What they do when you’re not with them? Intriguing questions. We’d probably be surprised by some of the answers.

Amazingly enough this book has a parallel non-fiction story in the news. As we read about the current situation of the Russian spies returning home from here in the US we can also imagine what the author has constructed in this fictional account. The humanity of the characters is always evident and the differences between North and South Korea are made very clear, and currently we can see how the US handled a tricky situation and how it might have otherwise.