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Same Bed Different Dreams
A wild, sweeping novel that imagines an alternate secret history of Korea and the traces it leaves on the present—loaded with assassins and mad poets, RPGs and slasher films, K-pop bands and the perils of social media.
In 1919, far-flung Korean patriots establish the Korean Provisional Government to protest the Japanese occupation of their country. This government-in-exile proves mostly symbolic, though, and after Japan’s defeat in World War II, the KPG dissolves and civil war erupts, resulting in the North-South split that remains today.
But what if the KPG still existed now, today—working toward a unified Korea, secretly harnessing the might of a giant tech company to further its aims? That’s the outrageous premise of Same Bed Different Dreams, which weaves together three distinct narrative voices and an archive of mysterious images and twists reality like a kaleidoscope, spinning Korean history, American pop culture, and our tech-fraught lives into an extraordinary and unforgettable novel.
Early on we meet Soon Sheen, who works at the sprawling international technology company GLOAT, and comes into possession of an unfinished book authored by the KPG. The manuscript is a mysterious, revisionist history, tying famous names and obscure bit players to the KPG’s grand project. This strange manuscript links together figures from architect-poet Yi Sang to Jack London to Marilyn Monroe. M*A*S*H is in here, too, and the Moonies, and a history of violence extending from the assassination of President McKinley to the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007.
Just as foreign countries have imposed their desires on Korea, so too has Park tucked different dreamers into this sprawling bed of a novel. Among them: Parker Jotter, Korean War vet and appliance-store owner, who saw something--a UFO?--while flying over North Korea; Nora You, nail salon magnate; and Monk Zingapan, game designer turned writing guru. Their links are revealed over time, even as the dreamers remain in the dark as to their own interconnectedness. A thrilling feat of imagination and a step forward from an award-winning author, Same Bed Different Dreams begins as a comic novel and gradually pulls readers into another dimension—one in which utopia is possible.
In 1919, far-flung Korean patriots establish the Korean Provisional Government to protest the Japanese occupation of their country. This government-in-exile proves mostly symbolic, though, and after Japan’s defeat in World War II, the KPG dissolves and civil war erupts, resulting in the North-South split that remains today.
But what if the KPG still existed now, today—working toward a unified Korea, secretly harnessing the might of a giant tech company to further its aims? That’s the outrageous premise of Same Bed Different Dreams, which weaves together three distinct narrative voices and an archive of mysterious images and twists reality like a kaleidoscope, spinning Korean history, American pop culture, and our tech-fraught lives into an extraordinary and unforgettable novel.
Early on we meet Soon Sheen, who works at the sprawling international technology company GLOAT, and comes into possession of an unfinished book authored by the KPG. The manuscript is a mysterious, revisionist history, tying famous names and obscure bit players to the KPG’s grand project. This strange manuscript links together figures from architect-poet Yi Sang to Jack London to Marilyn Monroe. M*A*S*H is in here, too, and the Moonies, and a history of violence extending from the assassination of President McKinley to the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007.
Just as foreign countries have imposed their desires on Korea, so too has Park tucked different dreamers into this sprawling bed of a novel. Among them: Parker Jotter, Korean War vet and appliance-store owner, who saw something--a UFO?--while flying over North Korea; Nora You, nail salon magnate; and Monk Zingapan, game designer turned writing guru. Their links are revealed over time, even as the dreamers remain in the dark as to their own interconnectedness. A thrilling feat of imagination and a step forward from an award-winning author, Same Bed Different Dreams begins as a comic novel and gradually pulls readers into another dimension—one in which utopia is possible.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2023
About the author
Ed Park
47 books36.1k followersI'm the author of the novel SAME BED DIFFERENT DREAMS (2023). I started writing it in 2014, but the inspiration for parts of it reach even further back. I hope you like it.
My first novel, PERSONAL DAYS (2008), was named a top 10 fiction book by Time Magazine and one of the decade's top 10 pop culture moments by The Atlantic. It was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Asian American Literary Award, and the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize.
My story WEIRD MENACE is available as an Audible Original. A short story collection is forthcoming.
What else? I'm a founding editor of THE BELIEVER, and I've written for The Atlantic, Harper's, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and many other places. (Check out ed-park.com or https://linktr.ee/edpark for some recent pieces.)
NB, I am *not* the author of THE WORLD OF THE OTTER, by the late nature writer Ed Park, but it's worth picking up if you see a copy (and like otters).
My first novel, PERSONAL DAYS (2008), was named a top 10 fiction book by Time Magazine and one of the decade's top 10 pop culture moments by The Atlantic. It was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Asian American Literary Award, and the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize.
My story WEIRD MENACE is available as an Audible Original. A short story collection is forthcoming.
What else? I'm a founding editor of THE BELIEVER, and I've written for The Atlantic, Harper's, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and many other places. (Check out ed-park.com or https://linktr.ee/edpark for some recent pieces.)
NB, I am *not* the author of THE WORLD OF THE OTTER, by the late nature writer Ed Park, but it's worth picking up if you see a copy (and like otters).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
May 23, 2023
Ed Park spins historical fact into brilliant literary fiction with Same Bed Different Dreams. His gripping prose and flair for unconventional storytelling makes even the most opaque sections completely engrossing. This book will coast onto yearly Best-of lists (including my own) and it should be in contention for major literary awards. I was simply blown away.
It’s a mesmerizing fever dream of a novel, with an expansive story that contracts on a whim. It’s sprawling, yet intimate. The subtle interconnections between its nested layers are a joy to puzzle out and it begs to be re-read. Starting over with more enlightened eyes (and maybe a character web to track the broad cast of players and their connections) would certainly yield a different, yet still satisfying, experience.
While it’s difficult to describe the book in terms of plot, if you’re an enjoyer of secret societies, doomsday cults, alternate histories, coded messages, spies, double agents, artificial intelligence, and the history of Korea – give this book a go. If you bristle at the thought of an unconventional narrative structure without much hand-holding, perhaps skip it. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was certainly mine.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf and follow @specshelf on Twitter.
It’s a mesmerizing fever dream of a novel, with an expansive story that contracts on a whim. It’s sprawling, yet intimate. The subtle interconnections between its nested layers are a joy to puzzle out and it begs to be re-read. Starting over with more enlightened eyes (and maybe a character web to track the broad cast of players and their connections) would certainly yield a different, yet still satisfying, experience.
While it’s difficult to describe the book in terms of plot, if you’re an enjoyer of secret societies, doomsday cults, alternate histories, coded messages, spies, double agents, artificial intelligence, and the history of Korea – give this book a go. If you bristle at the thought of an unconventional narrative structure without much hand-holding, perhaps skip it. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was certainly mine.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf and follow @specshelf on Twitter.
July 26, 2023
My favorite book of 2023 has arrived. Or, will officially arrive in November. I’m not lying when I say it has all the makings of a great novel… big, expansive, written like DeLillo, hockey references and it is so meticulously and brilliantly crafted. It’s the type of book that you will want to pick back up and reread immediately. I can’t think of a book I’ve read in recent years that I had so much fun with. Please. Preorder!!!
Read
October 12, 2023Expansive, ambitious, impressive — do I think it was a little chaotic? Maybe. But I still had a very good time
Charles Yu + Emily St. John Mandel + Trust by Hernan Diaz + Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida
Charles Yu + Emily St. John Mandel + Trust by Hernan Diaz + Seven Moons Of Maali Almeida
November 7, 2023
Now available.
At first glance, you might think that this is a book of short stories, but it's more like interconnected intervals. This is a very complex story, with Korea at its center, written in circles from the outside in. It's a lot like trying to unlock a puzzle box from the inside. I spent part of my time fascinated and part of it frustrated. You cannot imagine how these characters and concepts are going to cross paths or connect, but they all do, eventually. The alternate history of Korea requires the most close-reading, and not coincidentally, the most patience.
The book is divided into three separate unfolding styles of storytelling, mostly rotating in order. It takes a minute to get used to, but soon you settle into the three main voices: Soon Sheen, a frustrated Korean-American writer who works for a tech giant, a manuscript of an alternate Korean history, written by the Korean Provisional Government, which apparently has never disbanded and has remained in secret exile, and Parker Jotter, a Korean War vet and former POW who has written science fiction novels that are now mostly forgotten. It is Soon Sheen who comes into possession of the manuscript.
The overall narrative interrogates the nature of history, our relationship with technology, racism, the lure of cults, and about a thousand pop culture references along the way. Trying to summarize this in a somewhat cohesive way is like trying to carry oil in your hands.
The story opens with an introduction which doesn't particularly fit into the three POV. Modern day scholars on a panel discussion consider the nature of history. Is it a shared set of facts, an important field of study, or perhaps no more useful than today's algorithmic data? What the academics forget is the simplest aspect of all: that history requires two things: an observer and someone to live it.
Park seems to do two things consistently in these story segments: leave the conclusions up to the reader, and bash the hell out of anything that might deem itself overimportant or too precious. The intro intends to teach the reader something, and maybe all the installments have that goal in common. One thread I noticed throughout the stories is that success isn't usually due to talent or level of skill, but rather to the twin advantages of money and opportunity.
With the first POV, that of Soon Sheen at a literary event he doesn't particularly want to attend, we discover Park's penchant for the satirical and the absurd. It is a comedy of the present day ill-mannered, and though it's supposed to be over-the-top, it somehow tries too hard, or maybe that's merely reflective of the characters. A couple of the jokes are pretty good. I will admit that the plethora of terrible and often tasteless groaners do perfectly illustrate the pain that is semi-forced camaraderie. It's also about twice as long as it should be, to create the kind of punch the author intends. At any rate, having very little knowledge of Korean-American culture, I was fascinated by all the culinary references.
In the second POV, the manuscript, we have a fun blend of satire, a mix of real and alternate history, and good humor. I like that the author plays with format. Even the font changes.
By far, I enjoyed the POV of Parker Jotter the most. From the very first fragmentary segment, his story is funny, poignant, well-written, thought-provoking, and very entertaining. The author does a great send-up of 60s paranoia, early mass-market sci-fi novels, and burgeoning cults. By this point, we recognize certain oft repeated phrases endemic to all the installments of the overall story.
How much the reader enjoys the iteration of each POV depends on how much one enjoys experimental fiction. By far, I enjoyed the "2333" (Parker Jotter) series of installments, the first to ask "What is history?" The 2333 stories (named after Jotter's sci-fi series novels) are engaging, clever, and funny.
"The Sins" series follows the modern-day insecure and paranoid writer (Soon Sheen) who has only seen one minor publishing success. Those story installments greatly improved after the first one, which was a relief, and gave the overall story a lot of strength and structure. As much as I didn't enjoy the first story in "The Sins" series, the second one was better, and the third was perfect.
The "Dream" series (the manuscript written by the KPG) is good, but a little dry, detailing Korean political history and the lack of respect Korea has endured for generations, having been abused by more powerful nations. Dream One has the best storytelling, with a little blessed humor thrown in here and there. To be sure, it's a heavy subject. It's not poorly told, just surprising, so much nonfiction juxtaposed by a little alternate history. Sometimes you have to look up events to see what is true and what isn't. For instance, Douglas MacArthur really did want to drop 26 atom bombs on Manchuria.
If the entirety of the collection had been stories like "2333: Extradition to Gambrinus (1966)" I would have been much happier, but truly, as everything began to connect, it really became something much greater than the sum of its parts. I still had mixed feelings, but good ones overall.
As mentioned, the manuscript is a blend of actual history with fictional alternate history, which affects events in the lives of the other characters. This is most interesting to me in the stories of Parker Jotter, who may have seen a real UFO during the Korean war, and whose wife is caught up in the Moonies called "The Divine Precepts."
Along the way, there are techbros, poets, celebrities, writers, game developers, and every aspect of culture. There's a lot here.
The alternate and secret history of Korea is presented in all of its complexity, which is a prodigous feat, but it does not make it altogether engaging. We get bogged down in so much detail.
I suspect that readers who really really loved David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas will appreciate the level of detail it takes to craft a story of near-endless concentric circles, anchored by a place. Overall, I would say that I really enjoyed most of the book, but I wish the Dream series had been a little more compact.
Thank you to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House for providing an early copy of this book for review.
At first glance, you might think that this is a book of short stories, but it's more like interconnected intervals. This is a very complex story, with Korea at its center, written in circles from the outside in. It's a lot like trying to unlock a puzzle box from the inside. I spent part of my time fascinated and part of it frustrated. You cannot imagine how these characters and concepts are going to cross paths or connect, but they all do, eventually. The alternate history of Korea requires the most close-reading, and not coincidentally, the most patience.
The book is divided into three separate unfolding styles of storytelling, mostly rotating in order. It takes a minute to get used to, but soon you settle into the three main voices: Soon Sheen, a frustrated Korean-American writer who works for a tech giant, a manuscript of an alternate Korean history, written by the Korean Provisional Government, which apparently has never disbanded and has remained in secret exile, and Parker Jotter, a Korean War vet and former POW who has written science fiction novels that are now mostly forgotten. It is Soon Sheen who comes into possession of the manuscript.
The overall narrative interrogates the nature of history, our relationship with technology, racism, the lure of cults, and about a thousand pop culture references along the way. Trying to summarize this in a somewhat cohesive way is like trying to carry oil in your hands.
The story opens with an introduction which doesn't particularly fit into the three POV. Modern day scholars on a panel discussion consider the nature of history. Is it a shared set of facts, an important field of study, or perhaps no more useful than today's algorithmic data? What the academics forget is the simplest aspect of all: that history requires two things: an observer and someone to live it.
Park seems to do two things consistently in these story segments: leave the conclusions up to the reader, and bash the hell out of anything that might deem itself overimportant or too precious. The intro intends to teach the reader something, and maybe all the installments have that goal in common. One thread I noticed throughout the stories is that success isn't usually due to talent or level of skill, but rather to the twin advantages of money and opportunity.
With the first POV, that of Soon Sheen at a literary event he doesn't particularly want to attend, we discover Park's penchant for the satirical and the absurd. It is a comedy of the present day ill-mannered, and though it's supposed to be over-the-top, it somehow tries too hard, or maybe that's merely reflective of the characters. A couple of the jokes are pretty good. I will admit that the plethora of terrible and often tasteless groaners do perfectly illustrate the pain that is semi-forced camaraderie. It's also about twice as long as it should be, to create the kind of punch the author intends. At any rate, having very little knowledge of Korean-American culture, I was fascinated by all the culinary references.
In the second POV, the manuscript, we have a fun blend of satire, a mix of real and alternate history, and good humor. I like that the author plays with format. Even the font changes.
By far, I enjoyed the POV of Parker Jotter the most. From the very first fragmentary segment, his story is funny, poignant, well-written, thought-provoking, and very entertaining. The author does a great send-up of 60s paranoia, early mass-market sci-fi novels, and burgeoning cults. By this point, we recognize certain oft repeated phrases endemic to all the installments of the overall story.
How much the reader enjoys the iteration of each POV depends on how much one enjoys experimental fiction. By far, I enjoyed the "2333" (Parker Jotter) series of installments, the first to ask "What is history?" The 2333 stories (named after Jotter's sci-fi series novels) are engaging, clever, and funny.
"The Sins" series follows the modern-day insecure and paranoid writer (Soon Sheen) who has only seen one minor publishing success. Those story installments greatly improved after the first one, which was a relief, and gave the overall story a lot of strength and structure. As much as I didn't enjoy the first story in "The Sins" series, the second one was better, and the third was perfect.
The "Dream" series (the manuscript written by the KPG) is good, but a little dry, detailing Korean political history and the lack of respect Korea has endured for generations, having been abused by more powerful nations. Dream One has the best storytelling, with a little blessed humor thrown in here and there. To be sure, it's a heavy subject. It's not poorly told, just surprising, so much nonfiction juxtaposed by a little alternate history. Sometimes you have to look up events to see what is true and what isn't. For instance, Douglas MacArthur really did want to drop 26 atom bombs on Manchuria.
If the entirety of the collection had been stories like "2333: Extradition to Gambrinus (1966)" I would have been much happier, but truly, as everything began to connect, it really became something much greater than the sum of its parts. I still had mixed feelings, but good ones overall.
As mentioned, the manuscript is a blend of actual history with fictional alternate history, which affects events in the lives of the other characters. This is most interesting to me in the stories of Parker Jotter, who may have seen a real UFO during the Korean war, and whose wife is caught up in the Moonies called "The Divine Precepts."
Along the way, there are techbros, poets, celebrities, writers, game developers, and every aspect of culture. There's a lot here.
The alternate and secret history of Korea is presented in all of its complexity, which is a prodigous feat, but it does not make it altogether engaging. We get bogged down in so much detail.
I suspect that readers who really really loved David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas will appreciate the level of detail it takes to craft a story of near-endless concentric circles, anchored by a place. Overall, I would say that I really enjoyed most of the book, but I wish the Dream series had been a little more compact.
Thank you to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House for providing an early copy of this book for review.
November 13, 2023
This is it people, this is it right here… the book you all need to read right now. Ed Park’s ‘Same Bed Different Dreams’. And it’s wild.
A work of speculative fiction spanning the entire 20th Century and beyond, this is nothing short of spectacular. Honestly, I feel so excited about this book! I could easily go in for round two, there really is something entirely addictive about it.
Comparisons to Pynchon, DeLillo and the likes of have been made, and it certainly sits comfortably on the shelf next to them and writers/works of that calibre. (Needless to say, if you enjoy Pynchon, DeLillo, Bolaño, Roth, Adam Levin then you’re gonna be right in with this one.)
It��s an epic for sure. The plot, scale and scope are staggering, with a cast list that would make George RR Martin wince.
But that’s the thing… There is so much in this book that it’s mind boggling when you take a step back and consider it all; but Ed Park has done an amazing job of keeping it accessible at all times. It’s really easy to read. The prose is razor sharp, clear, clean and well edited. How Park has managed it is nothing short of genius.
I’m not going to write much about the plot, as you should find that out for yourself, other than to ask, what could possibly link Dangun (from Korean mythology), Oddjob from 007, Syngman Rhee, Picasso’s Massacre en Corée, Ronald Reagan, Friday The 13th the movie, Marilyn Monroe and Kim Jong II?! Well, I couldn’t possibly say…
A work of speculative fiction spanning the entire 20th Century and beyond, this is nothing short of spectacular. Honestly, I feel so excited about this book! I could easily go in for round two, there really is something entirely addictive about it.
Comparisons to Pynchon, DeLillo and the likes of have been made, and it certainly sits comfortably on the shelf next to them and writers/works of that calibre. (Needless to say, if you enjoy Pynchon, DeLillo, Bolaño, Roth, Adam Levin then you’re gonna be right in with this one.)
It��s an epic for sure. The plot, scale and scope are staggering, with a cast list that would make George RR Martin wince.
But that’s the thing… There is so much in this book that it’s mind boggling when you take a step back and consider it all; but Ed Park has done an amazing job of keeping it accessible at all times. It’s really easy to read. The prose is razor sharp, clear, clean and well edited. How Park has managed it is nothing short of genius.
I’m not going to write much about the plot, as you should find that out for yourself, other than to ask, what could possibly link Dangun (from Korean mythology), Oddjob from 007, Syngman Rhee, Picasso’s Massacre en Corée, Ronald Reagan, Friday The 13th the movie, Marilyn Monroe and Kim Jong II?! Well, I couldn’t possibly say…
March 11, 2023
Hats off to a book that's both super-duper complicated and a comfy(-wumfy) read. It can't be easy to do or my home library would be exclusively stocked high with books only written so. And and and historical conspiracy fiction is so easily sloshed and spilled, leaving g'awful stains if not handled with utmost care! For me, this was the ultimate fun read, with large portions doled via pop-culture-factoid nuggets, a la Reed's Mumbo Jumbo and Bowman's Big Bang, throwing around genres as smokescreens to keep you constantly guessing at just what exactly you're experiencing (yeah, this book's a magic show). Be prepared to second guess your own memory and/or kickstart bizarre connective arcs between fictional/real characters/events, as for every card that is flipped to reveal an answer, you'll find yourself going "oh but what was on the top side of the card again?" (I mean, if you hate magic, you've probably only run into bad magicians).
It's March and this comes out in November. I will surely forget EVERYTHING about it by then. Sigh. And don't "run into" bad magicians.
It's March and this comes out in November. I will surely forget EVERYTHING about it by then. Sigh. And don't "run into" bad magicians.
November 12, 2023
Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park is a dark comedic work of speculative fiction that weaves together fact and fiction in a tangled web of immaculate beauty. The writing and story felt as to me like Delillo and Roth had a baby whose weird uncle was Pynchon. Never have I experienced a novel of this size that upon completion I flip right back to page one and go again. There is a subtle hunger brimming within these pages, it begs and pleads to be revisited like an old friend catching up after a brief hiatus. Following the past century of Koreas history and war Park tight rope walks across the 38th parallel intertwining four main stories with thousands of subplots and anecdotes we witness the rebirth or rather the underground continuance of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) that supposedly perished after the Korean War, but did the war ever end? And if not, then wouldn’t the KPG still be around today? Park explores this beyond the pale
.
The sheer magnitude of information to unpack with this novel is impossible, I have to first praise Ed Park for his genius in the way he melds together every character in this book, big or small, everyone counts. Littered with strange anecdotes, anagrams flying left and right, the number 2333, strange Sci-Fi cult novels, McKinley’s assassination, UFO’s, Buffalo Sabres lore and history ( damn you Brett Hull) and the many odd relations to the ever persistent KPG. Friday the 13th ( the movie) Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Regan, Philip Roth, Jesus Christ ( all members of the KPG) I could literally go on for pages about the many plots and subplots, the facts and the fictions that dance around this rollercoaster of a ride but then you wouldn’t get the same experience I did, or maybe we would, who knows ( Same bed different dream right?) Whether you enjoy a puzzling work of literary art, or a multifaceted interwoven network of bullet point facts this book is for you, an arduous task at times with some of the oddest things you’ll ever experience but you know what they say, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and Ed Park has created the most remarkably bizarre novel that will single handily keep Wikipedia afloat ( my top read of 2023)
.
The sheer magnitude of information to unpack with this novel is impossible, I have to first praise Ed Park for his genius in the way he melds together every character in this book, big or small, everyone counts. Littered with strange anecdotes, anagrams flying left and right, the number 2333, strange Sci-Fi cult novels, McKinley’s assassination, UFO’s, Buffalo Sabres lore and history ( damn you Brett Hull) and the many odd relations to the ever persistent KPG. Friday the 13th ( the movie) Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Regan, Philip Roth, Jesus Christ ( all members of the KPG) I could literally go on for pages about the many plots and subplots, the facts and the fictions that dance around this rollercoaster of a ride but then you wouldn’t get the same experience I did, or maybe we would, who knows ( Same bed different dream right?) Whether you enjoy a puzzling work of literary art, or a multifaceted interwoven network of bullet point facts this book is for you, an arduous task at times with some of the oddest things you’ll ever experience but you know what they say, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and Ed Park has created the most remarkably bizarre novel that will single handily keep Wikipedia afloat ( my top read of 2023)
November 7, 2023
This highly imaginative story is, at its core, a quirky and frankly vertiginous lesson in how foreign governments shaped the fate of Korea and one group’s secret struggle to undo the damage. It is infused with sci-fi elements, real and invented history, and a concocted account of the Korean Provisional Government formed in 1919 when Japan occupied Korea.
The novel opens with a scholarly discussion about the nature of history. One scholar claims history to be the message from a genius, ruined by the rain. This is the warning shot for readers, as the adventure unfolds through three intersecting storylines with a host of characters and some wacky cameos. The main points of view are that of tech worker Soon Sheen, Korean War veteran and sci-fi novelist Parker Jotter, and, most challenging, the text of a book—Same Bed Different Dreams—written by the “Scourge of Seoul” Echo.
This wonderful book requires more tracking and juggling skills than I possess, but for those who enjoy puzzles, escape rooms, and treasure hunts, it might be your book.
“In 1904, as war erupts between Japan and Russia, Syngman is granted an early release. The conflict spells a death sentence for Korea. The two neighbors want her, each for its own purpose: Japan for a foothold on the continent, Russia for access to warm-water ports. Horace or Homer sermonizes: Same bed, different dreams.”
The novel opens with a scholarly discussion about the nature of history. One scholar claims history to be the message from a genius, ruined by the rain. This is the warning shot for readers, as the adventure unfolds through three intersecting storylines with a host of characters and some wacky cameos. The main points of view are that of tech worker Soon Sheen, Korean War veteran and sci-fi novelist Parker Jotter, and, most challenging, the text of a book—Same Bed Different Dreams—written by the “Scourge of Seoul” Echo.
This wonderful book requires more tracking and juggling skills than I possess, but for those who enjoy puzzles, escape rooms, and treasure hunts, it might be your book.
“In 1904, as war erupts between Japan and Russia, Syngman is granted an early release. The conflict spells a death sentence for Korea. The two neighbors want her, each for its own purpose: Japan for a foothold on the continent, Russia for access to warm-water ports. Horace or Homer sermonizes: Same bed, different dreams.”
Shelved as 'began-may-finish'
December 6, 2023Stopped because it is a complex book that will take more concentration than I can give it right now. So many characters introduced so fast at the beginnings of both the ‘current’ and Korean history tales that I couldn’t keep them straight. But I liked the writing and the structure.
Read
November 6, 2023It took me months to read this book. I was so intrigued by the blurb, but I kept coming up against my ignorance of Korean history, which I've been reading around the edges of for the past nearly ten years. Not enough.
Reading this book was like peering through a sliver in a curtain, just to find that there was a kaleidoscope right up against that sliver, and as soon as I made some sense of a pattern, the writer would give it a crank and all the pieces would gyrate wildly into a new pattern. Maybe this is a book that, despite being written in English, is about Asians, for Asians?
Anyway, there is a lot of glimpses into Korean history here, but a lot of it is alternate history. Science fiction, metafiction, satire (it's shot through with humor) and speculation abound. It's a remarkable book, about which one can say, truly, that publishers do NOT publish "the same old thing." There is nothing like this one out there!
But as for evaluating, it's this kind of book that makes me really glad I don't do stars here on Goodreads.
Reading this book was like peering through a sliver in a curtain, just to find that there was a kaleidoscope right up against that sliver, and as soon as I made some sense of a pattern, the writer would give it a crank and all the pieces would gyrate wildly into a new pattern. Maybe this is a book that, despite being written in English, is about Asians, for Asians?
Anyway, there is a lot of glimpses into Korean history here, but a lot of it is alternate history. Science fiction, metafiction, satire (it's shot through with humor) and speculation abound. It's a remarkable book, about which one can say, truly, that publishers do NOT publish "the same old thing." There is nothing like this one out there!
But as for evaluating, it's this kind of book that makes me really glad I don't do stars here on Goodreads.
August 24, 2023
Only a masterful writer can pull off a slapstick parody cum geopolitical sci-fi thriller, wrapped around a singular telling of Korean-American history, heavily infused with genius-level wordplay and nerd pop easter eggs. Browsing the back cover, I was initially skeptical that a book like this could ever make sense. However, the novel drew me in with its comedic intro, followed by fascinating snippets of Korean history and an oddball pulp sci-fi story. From beginning to end, I was thoroughly entertained, educated and enlightened. Defying the odds, Mr. Park takes modern Korean history and fleshes out certain moments, connecting invisible threads across time zones and cultures, creating a masterwork.
Between bouts of laughter and reflection, I found that the time I spent reading SBDD would soon be matched by the time I spent researching the various characters and events presented by Mr. Park throughout his novel (thank you, Internet!). Did such things happen? Were these people real? More often than not, my curiosity sent me down several rabbit holes: the poet Yi Sang, the tragic story of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, the Moon-funded movie Inchon!, the Sabres/Flyers playoff bat-fog, on and on...
As a 2nd generation Korean-American, I felt like the novel was directly relevant to my life and the awkward ways in which my Korean heritage intersected with my 1980's suburban upbringing. That said, I've never read anything quite like this book, and I do think its uniqueness will appeal to a wide audience. The mind of Mr. Park is expansive, and he ultimately challenges us to see where we, the readers, fit in to the multi-generational narrative of history. SBDD was one of the best novels I've read in recent memory, and I'm wishing I had more.
Between bouts of laughter and reflection, I found that the time I spent reading SBDD would soon be matched by the time I spent researching the various characters and events presented by Mr. Park throughout his novel (thank you, Internet!). Did such things happen? Were these people real? More often than not, my curiosity sent me down several rabbit holes: the poet Yi Sang, the tragic story of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, the Moon-funded movie Inchon!, the Sabres/Flyers playoff bat-fog, on and on...
As a 2nd generation Korean-American, I felt like the novel was directly relevant to my life and the awkward ways in which my Korean heritage intersected with my 1980's suburban upbringing. That said, I've never read anything quite like this book, and I do think its uniqueness will appeal to a wide audience. The mind of Mr. Park is expansive, and he ultimately challenges us to see where we, the readers, fit in to the multi-generational narrative of history. SBDD was one of the best novels I've read in recent memory, and I'm wishing I had more.
October 24, 2023
Months later, I am still thinking about Ed Park's delightfully dizzying novel. There's a lot in the book that naturally tickles my game-obsessed brain, from the straightforward, as with the entire chapter dedicated to the lives of a pair of tabletop game developers in the late '70s, to the more obscure, as in the way the three seemingly separate narratives diverge and intertwine in ways that beg exploration, like a maze. As much as I felt instinctively compelled to dive into the puzzle elements (the interconnectivity of which often reminded me of Milorad Pavic's Khazar Dictionary), it was the characters that grabbed me and refused to let me get lost among the novel's more abstract delights. I can't think of another novel I've read that features such compellingly rendered strangers on a train, who I got to know for a short while and will never spend more time with. That means, in a lot of ways, the mysteries of the their lives go unsolved, but that's life, right? I wouldn't turn down a sequel, or a twice-the-size director's cut, though.
June 5, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Ed Park weaves Korean and American history with science fiction and speculative fiction in this masterpiece. I learned a lot about Korean, Japanese and US presidential history. He masterfully changes the narrative from history to fiction, in a way that left me in a dream-like state wondering whether things really happened or were just a dream. There were a lot of narratives and characters, and changes in voice throughout. In the end I was heartened to experience the return of some of the main characters from the beginning.
Ed Park weaves Korean and American history with science fiction and speculative fiction in this masterpiece. I learned a lot about Korean, Japanese and US presidential history. He masterfully changes the narrative from history to fiction, in a way that left me in a dream-like state wondering whether things really happened or were just a dream. There were a lot of narratives and characters, and changes in voice throughout. In the end I was heartened to experience the return of some of the main characters from the beginning.
May 27, 2023
I cannot make heads or tails of this book. It's boring, there's no character development, the plot is non-existent, and the book the character Soon is reading (this is supposed to be the main point of the book) is one of the dumbest things I have ever read. It's not even a story, just a list of people/events that are nonsensical and read like it was written by someone was drunk or high.
November 14, 2023
This book may clock in at 577 pages, but it feels like it’s so much longer. I don’t mean that as an insult. I mean that as a compliment. This book is not a trifling thing–it’s a deep, dense, carefully-constructed, intricately-woven, and ineffably magical text that takes little to no time at all to sink a hook in you before reeling you into a story of an alternative history where Korea has had a shadow government at work behind the scenes since the 19th century. All of its members work to keep Korea unified, but not all of them agree as to how to do so. Some members don’t even know they’re members. Some become members posthumously. Some are tapped to be members, unwittingly, since birth. Cogs become sprockets that move the chain along the track.
To tell you the truth, it’s difficult to describe this book, because it’s not a singular book. There’s essentially four “books” inside Same Bed Different Dreams.
1.The present-day story of our main protagonist, Soon Sheen, a sometimes-author who works for a tech conglomerate called GLOAT;
2. The five “Dreams” that make up the “book” within the book, called “Same Bed Different Dreams”;
3. The story of Parker Jotter, a Korean War veteran/POW and author of a series of sci-fi novels;
4. A handful of miscellaneous stories about historical events that are tied to fiction and fact by tenuous yet absolutely fascinating strings, like absurd Reddit conspiracy theories or internet train wrecks you just can’t look away from;
There are two phrases repeated throughout the text, like magic, ritual, or religion. One’s a riddle and one’s evocative of an axiom or a proverb.
“Did the straight line murder the circle?” (Or variations on this riddle.)
“Same bed, different dreams.”
The first? Well, that you’ll have to figure out yourself, just like I did.
The second? Korea is the same bed. Everyone: the Koreans (North, South, or otherwise), Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Americans? They all have different dreams for that same bed. None of them involve unifying Korea as Korea. They all involve molding Korea into some kind of vision of what they think Korea should be.
This entire book is about the shadow government known as the KPG and their intergenerational efforts to bring about the unification of Korea no matter what. Kick everyone out of the bed. Same bed, same dream. No matter how delusional the vision, no matter how tenuous the ties. No matter how far-fetched the plans or how desperate the hope.
The research that must have gone into this book has to have been insane and had to have taken ages. From obscure film references to real and imagined Korean authors to real-life cults like the Moonies to American games shows to slapstick silent films to the assassination of President McKinley to the fate of KAL flight 007. The list could go on and on. What matters is that not only is the Korean War extensively researched for the purposes of this book (since a great deal of this book centers around the division of Korea), but that every real-life event and/or person has been extensively researched for the matter of this book so that when Park inevitably twists the narrative to fit his alternative history spin on matters, everything that needs to connect does so seamlessly, as if it was always meant to be that way.
Ed Park is an extremely talented author, deftly writing four books in one, all with different tones, tenors, and modes. Soon Sheen’s story of working at GLOAT and reading “Same Bed Different Dreams” in pieces is written like a contemporary fiction novel, with Soon playing the part of a beleaguered father and corporate drone that has become enraptured with a secret book that fell into his hands seemingly by accident. “Same Bed Different Dreams” has a harsh tone and clipped economy of words that reminds one of both a confession and a manifesto. The story of Parker Jotter, Korean War vet, POW, and sci-fi author is written almost like a psychological fiction novel where the protagonist is a psychologically-compromised war vet whose thoughts and ideas might not all be his own. All the miscellaneous stories about historical events and people sprinkled throughout the book here and there vary in tone and complexity but never vary in interest.
This book is a wonder, and one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s barely got a plot. It’s barely got a vibe. It’s barely got atmosphere. So what does it have? Beauty. The beauty of words. That’s all. It’s just a book that’s made up of beautiful words made into beautiful sentences made into beautiful pages made into a beautiful book.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review was written without any offer or acceptance of compensation.
File Under: 5 Star Review/AAPI Fiction/Alternative Earth Fiction/Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction/Meta Fiction/OwnVoices/Satire/Secret Society/Speculative Fiction
To tell you the truth, it’s difficult to describe this book, because it’s not a singular book. There’s essentially four “books” inside Same Bed Different Dreams.
1.The present-day story of our main protagonist, Soon Sheen, a sometimes-author who works for a tech conglomerate called GLOAT;
2. The five “Dreams” that make up the “book” within the book, called “Same Bed Different Dreams”;
3. The story of Parker Jotter, a Korean War veteran/POW and author of a series of sci-fi novels;
4. A handful of miscellaneous stories about historical events that are tied to fiction and fact by tenuous yet absolutely fascinating strings, like absurd Reddit conspiracy theories or internet train wrecks you just can’t look away from;
There are two phrases repeated throughout the text, like magic, ritual, or religion. One’s a riddle and one’s evocative of an axiom or a proverb.
“Did the straight line murder the circle?” (Or variations on this riddle.)
“Same bed, different dreams.”
The first? Well, that you’ll have to figure out yourself, just like I did.
The second? Korea is the same bed. Everyone: the Koreans (North, South, or otherwise), Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Americans? They all have different dreams for that same bed. None of them involve unifying Korea as Korea. They all involve molding Korea into some kind of vision of what they think Korea should be.
This entire book is about the shadow government known as the KPG and their intergenerational efforts to bring about the unification of Korea no matter what. Kick everyone out of the bed. Same bed, same dream. No matter how delusional the vision, no matter how tenuous the ties. No matter how far-fetched the plans or how desperate the hope.
The research that must have gone into this book has to have been insane and had to have taken ages. From obscure film references to real and imagined Korean authors to real-life cults like the Moonies to American games shows to slapstick silent films to the assassination of President McKinley to the fate of KAL flight 007. The list could go on and on. What matters is that not only is the Korean War extensively researched for the purposes of this book (since a great deal of this book centers around the division of Korea), but that every real-life event and/or person has been extensively researched for the matter of this book so that when Park inevitably twists the narrative to fit his alternative history spin on matters, everything that needs to connect does so seamlessly, as if it was always meant to be that way.
Ed Park is an extremely talented author, deftly writing four books in one, all with different tones, tenors, and modes. Soon Sheen’s story of working at GLOAT and reading “Same Bed Different Dreams” in pieces is written like a contemporary fiction novel, with Soon playing the part of a beleaguered father and corporate drone that has become enraptured with a secret book that fell into his hands seemingly by accident. “Same Bed Different Dreams” has a harsh tone and clipped economy of words that reminds one of both a confession and a manifesto. The story of Parker Jotter, Korean War vet, POW, and sci-fi author is written almost like a psychological fiction novel where the protagonist is a psychologically-compromised war vet whose thoughts and ideas might not all be his own. All the miscellaneous stories about historical events and people sprinkled throughout the book here and there vary in tone and complexity but never vary in interest.
This book is a wonder, and one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s barely got a plot. It’s barely got a vibe. It’s barely got atmosphere. So what does it have? Beauty. The beauty of words. That’s all. It’s just a book that’s made up of beautiful words made into beautiful sentences made into beautiful pages made into a beautiful book.
I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. This review was written without any offer or acceptance of compensation.
File Under: 5 Star Review/AAPI Fiction/Alternative Earth Fiction/Historical Fiction/Literary Fiction/Meta Fiction/OwnVoices/Satire/Secret Society/Speculative Fiction
September 15, 2023
One of those books that feels impossible to give a star rating for.
This book is not for me. I am not the reader for this book. First, do we call it a book.? There are no plurals in Korean language. However, this is a books. Very early on I got the feeling the number of genres, settings, eras, narrators and shifts in style would be too hard to follow. I decided to try to let it flow over me, Jack Kerouac-style (also wondering if Mr. Park was on any mind-altering substances). Pulling some words from the book blurb itself: wild, outrageous premise, sprawling, and “…weaves together three distinct narrative voices and an archive of mysterious images and twists reality like a kaleidoscope..”. Yes, I agree, but very difficult to follow. Like playing Baduk with an expert and you don’t know any of the rules, and then the room changes and you have a different player? No, the room changes and you are now in a single person submersible at midnight zone. Is that an anglerfish? Fish, ish, sh. Are these metaphors confounded and confusing or enjoyable? If enjoyable, then check out this books where the metaphor is at a higher level.
For me, trying to let it flow didn’t work. Trying to attend closely didn’t work. Nonetheless I found enjoyable passages, some humorous, some poignant. I wish I could make it less difficult to get through. He started it in 2014. Maybe I’ll take several years to finish it as well.
This book is not for me. I am not the reader for this book. First, do we call it a book.? There are no plurals in Korean language. However, this is a books. Very early on I got the feeling the number of genres, settings, eras, narrators and shifts in style would be too hard to follow. I decided to try to let it flow over me, Jack Kerouac-style (also wondering if Mr. Park was on any mind-altering substances). Pulling some words from the book blurb itself: wild, outrageous premise, sprawling, and “…weaves together three distinct narrative voices and an archive of mysterious images and twists reality like a kaleidoscope..”. Yes, I agree, but very difficult to follow. Like playing Baduk with an expert and you don’t know any of the rules, and then the room changes and you have a different player? No, the room changes and you are now in a single person submersible at midnight zone. Is that an anglerfish? Fish, ish, sh. Are these metaphors confounded and confusing or enjoyable? If enjoyable, then check out this books where the metaphor is at a higher level.
For me, trying to let it flow didn’t work. Trying to attend closely didn’t work. Nonetheless I found enjoyable passages, some humorous, some poignant. I wish I could make it less difficult to get through. He started it in 2014. Maybe I’ll take several years to finish it as well.
November 17, 2023
What is history?
I've noticed that one of the themes found in my reading this year has been the twisting of history and the mixture of fact with fiction. No one quite does it like Ed Park though and not many books have made me want to reread it immediately like SBDD did (still debating when I'll do this....soon!)
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how Park juggled all these storylines, characters, and 100 years of history without it ever feeling bogged down. Part of it is that he trusts you as a reader, which makes you trust him and the plot. I felt like he used Soon Sheen as a way to talk to you directly - Sheen is reading SBDD along with you and sometimes comments how there are so many characters and name changes to keep track of. Once I looked up a character and couldn't find much; a few pages later Sheen mentions looking up the same person and not finding much 🤯🤣
I was swept away by Park's command and enthusiasm for history. The dreams section does start off a little dry, but you do want to know more. As they expanded and blended more with the plot I found myself racing to see how it all connects with the other story lines- ending with the beautiful dream five.
Dreams? What am I talking about? Sheen is reading a book by Echo that is the history and the future of both Korea and America and how the Korean Provisional Government has always (and still is?) there. This is divided into five dreams, which are mixed in with Sheen's storyline and that of Parker Jotter, a Korean War vet who became a sci-fi writer after the war. These were some of my favorite parts, with all the timelines, totems, and characters crossing paths. I'm still wondering why the one chapter switched to second person 👀
You're going to hear that this book is complicated, it's not. It is a lot of information and he's working on so many levels that I'm sure I haven't found them all. But the book always makes sense and there's enough within the pages to just get it at that level. Be ready to have your political and pop culture history tested and enjoy the ride. It will all (or almost all) make sense in the end. And then read it again.
I've noticed that one of the themes found in my reading this year has been the twisting of history and the mixture of fact with fiction. No one quite does it like Ed Park though and not many books have made me want to reread it immediately like SBDD did (still debating when I'll do this....soon!)
I'm still trying to wrap my head around how Park juggled all these storylines, characters, and 100 years of history without it ever feeling bogged down. Part of it is that he trusts you as a reader, which makes you trust him and the plot. I felt like he used Soon Sheen as a way to talk to you directly - Sheen is reading SBDD along with you and sometimes comments how there are so many characters and name changes to keep track of. Once I looked up a character and couldn't find much; a few pages later Sheen mentions looking up the same person and not finding much 🤯🤣
I was swept away by Park's command and enthusiasm for history. The dreams section does start off a little dry, but you do want to know more. As they expanded and blended more with the plot I found myself racing to see how it all connects with the other story lines- ending with the beautiful dream five.
Dreams? What am I talking about? Sheen is reading a book by Echo that is the history and the future of both Korea and America and how the Korean Provisional Government has always (and still is?) there. This is divided into five dreams, which are mixed in with Sheen's storyline and that of Parker Jotter, a Korean War vet who became a sci-fi writer after the war. These were some of my favorite parts, with all the timelines, totems, and characters crossing paths. I'm still wondering why the one chapter switched to second person 👀
You're going to hear that this book is complicated, it's not. It is a lot of information and he's working on so many levels that I'm sure I haven't found them all. But the book always makes sense and there's enough within the pages to just get it at that level. Be ready to have your political and pop culture history tested and enjoy the ride. It will all (or almost all) make sense in the end. And then read it again.
October 30, 2023
Simply fantastic
Read
December 7, 2023READING VLOG
Major thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts:
*DNF @ 30%
Book opens up with the air of someone who reads too much of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳 and writes for writers (and, to my surprise, found that he had written for the New Yorker on several occasions).
A shift occurs. Mixing Korean history recontextualized, historical fiction with sci fi elements that feels refreshing. I enjoyed this aspect at first because I feel like my APUSH textbook covered the Korean War in a single paragraph and the west has little to no knowledge of Korean history.
But then it devolved into pure confusion. There isn't enough to ground readers to understand the scope of what feels like a few different novels happening all at once (sentiments similar to that of The Fraud).
What you end up with is a bad magic trick, too technical in its execution with very little pay off. With little impression. So, for Ed Park, I suggest he review this scene here.
Major thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts:
*DNF @ 30%
Book opens up with the air of someone who reads too much of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳 and writes for writers (and, to my surprise, found that he had written for the New Yorker on several occasions).
A shift occurs. Mixing Korean history recontextualized, historical fiction with sci fi elements that feels refreshing. I enjoyed this aspect at first because I feel like my APUSH textbook covered the Korean War in a single paragraph and the west has little to no knowledge of Korean history.
But then it devolved into pure confusion. There isn't enough to ground readers to understand the scope of what feels like a few different novels happening all at once (sentiments similar to that of The Fraud).
What you end up with is a bad magic trick, too technical in its execution with very little pay off. With little impression. So, for Ed Park, I suggest he review this scene here.
April 10, 2023
This book reads like a vivid fever dream, almost similar to Bae Suah’s Untold Night and Day. And I LOVED Untold Night and Day so you know I loved this book. There were many moments of confusion but the confusion made sense in its own way. This book isn’t meant to give you all the answers, and I think it’s because the Korean War isn’t technically over. Of course there are no cut-and-dry answers when this conflict hasn’t even concluded yet.
I really, really liked how everything connected in the end and while I’m not usually a fan of open-ended endings, this one was PERFECT. But I’ll admit, when I finished this book I ended up staring at the wall because I felt so empty inside.
I really, really liked how everything connected in the end and while I’m not usually a fan of open-ended endings, this one was PERFECT. But I’ll admit, when I finished this book I ended up staring at the wall because I felt so empty inside.
May 28, 2023
I just finished this book and loved every bit of it. From the beginning I was drawn into this world and it kept me interested and reading all the way through. The mix of fiction and non fiction. The other story lines that are intertwined as well are all masterfully done. I can’t recommend this book enough. I really don’t know how to explain it but it is fabulous. I got this as a NetGalley copy.
May 16, 2023
And five stars get awarded to Ed Park’s whopping Head F__k of a novel, #Same Bed, Different Dreams, a stream of unconsciousness tome that proves Kaiser Soze is a member of the Korean Provisional Government. Mind Blowing in the best sense !
November 11, 2023
One of those rare books I want to read again right after finishing, in this case just to allow all the puzzle pieces to fall into place. The blurb from Jonathan Lethem, which describes this book as “a Gravity’s Rainbow for another war, an unfinished war,” makes the easy Pynchon comparison given the surfeit of secret societies, mysterious symbols, anagrams, acronyms, alternate identities, and invented histories. There are also shades of DeLillo and other postmodern influences, though it has more in common with contemporary multiple-narrative works. (No, I won’t compare it to the beloved book that every ambitious novel of the last 20 years lazily gets compared to, but this one actually rises to the occasion.) Park’s prose is notable for its subtle beauty and lack of pretension despite the complex and disjointed plot. While a supplementary reader isn’t required to parse or elucidate the text, a working knowledge of Korean history in the immediate pre- and post-war(s) eras, will help immensely. The story is peppered with so many real-life names and events that readers will probably want to keep a Wikipedia window open anyway, as I fell into research tangents on disparate things like the film Inchon and the death of Tim Horton. Park folds these real people and events into his multi-layered fiction to challenge the idea of Korea as simply a place on a map, its history as an immutable story, and even the nature of history itself. This is a tale about cultural inheritance and diaspora, where nations exist inside hearts and minds, the past is malleable, and unity isn’t just possible, but essential.
November 30, 2023
Same Bed Different Dreams might find its way into my "Jacobim Mugatu - I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!" Hall of Fame. There is a lot of serious praise at the front of this book's hype train, including the most irresponsible of them all, Jonathan Lethem's comps to Bolaño and Gravity's Rainbow - an author and a book it's obvious he must've never read
The experience of reading Same Bed Different Dreams is akin to watching an early 90's MTV music video - all quick zooms and cuts, with the music teleported in from somewhere unrelated to the flashing images. Or to "Nosferatu" but where the cut pieces of film(pages) in SBDD steal half the story - I remembered names as I read them (most of the time, I think) but never knew who they were or who they were connected to, or what their back story had been. Each time a section presented me a character, it was like the flashing, color-soaked, freakout intercuts from "Natural Born Killers." I was always caught off-guard, "...wait, was that...? How do I remember that character...? Was she the daughter of...? Did he write the book on...?"
On the whole the experience of reading SBDD was splashy, disorienting, frustrating, and ultimately left me feeling cheated
Gravity's Rainbow is a masterwork of erudition and craft. Bolaño at his best created kaleidoscopic Rubik's Cubes which he spun into place, interlocking the reader without tricks or distortion
SBDD is a rushed, mess
The experience of reading Same Bed Different Dreams is akin to watching an early 90's MTV music video - all quick zooms and cuts, with the music teleported in from somewhere unrelated to the flashing images. Or to "Nosferatu" but where the cut pieces of film(pages) in SBDD steal half the story - I remembered names as I read them (most of the time, I think) but never knew who they were or who they were connected to, or what their back story had been. Each time a section presented me a character, it was like the flashing, color-soaked, freakout intercuts from "Natural Born Killers." I was always caught off-guard, "...wait, was that...? How do I remember that character...? Was she the daughter of...? Did he write the book on...?"
On the whole the experience of reading SBDD was splashy, disorienting, frustrating, and ultimately left me feeling cheated
Gravity's Rainbow is a masterwork of erudition and craft. Bolaño at his best created kaleidoscopic Rubik's Cubes which he spun into place, interlocking the reader without tricks or distortion
SBDD is a rushed, mess
July 5, 2023
Same Bed, Different Dreams has a lot going for it: an imaginative, daring writer with a distinctive and original voice; a great premise (what if the Korean Provisional Government, established in 1919 to protest Japanese occupation, still existed?); wild characters including assassins, spies, a mysterious avant-garde novelist, American icons with surprising links to the KPG; the use of Korean words that echo the way Junot Díaz uses Dominicanisms whose meaning is revealed in context rather than explicit definition; the interweaving of history (extra points for a history little known to most Americans) and fiction; vivid situational depictions, and more. A lazy reviewer would probably use a well worn phrase like "dazzling prose." (btw, the novel is completely different from the K-Drama of the same name.) On those grounds I'd rate this novel a 5.
But...
Even though there was so much I liked about this novel, I had a hard time connecting with the characters and plot. Part of this was because there was so much going on it was hard to keep up (and I say this as someone who gets impatient when things are too slow). But the crucial issue was that Park doesn't spend enough time with any of the characters for readers to really relate to their emotions and care about what happens to them. I wanted to know more about the mysterious novelist whose lost and unfinished manuscript is a plot device; I also wanted to know what happened to the manuscript. I'd rate the novel a 2 based on these shortcomings.
If there were a half-star option I'd probably give this a 3.5. I'm rounding up to 4 and looking forward to Ed Park's next book which hopefully focuses more on connecting the reader with the characters.
But...
Even though there was so much I liked about this novel, I had a hard time connecting with the characters and plot. Part of this was because there was so much going on it was hard to keep up (and I say this as someone who gets impatient when things are too slow). But the crucial issue was that Park doesn't spend enough time with any of the characters for readers to really relate to their emotions and care about what happens to them. I wanted to know more about the mysterious novelist whose lost and unfinished manuscript is a plot device; I also wanted to know what happened to the manuscript. I'd rate the novel a 2 based on these shortcomings.
If there were a half-star option I'd probably give this a 3.5. I'm rounding up to 4 and looking forward to Ed Park's next book which hopefully focuses more on connecting the reader with the characters.
November 14, 2023
A beguiling amalgamation of fact and fiction, retracing the steps of the Korean diaspora to create a history of its own. Park takes the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) and explodes it into the future, greatly expanding its membership to people in all walks of life and maintaining its presence at a simmer into the modern day.
With a Mitchell/Mandeleqsue sensibility, Park takes three disparate narratives and through circuitous references and a natural feeling repetition, connects the story into one multi-layered but easy to follow novel. SBDD tracks the stories of failed NYC novelist turned copywriter(ish?) in a large technocorporation Soon Sheen, a Korean war vet named Parker Jotter who wrote a series of largely unknown pulp sci-fi stories in the 1960's, and finally the overall modern history of the KPG and Korea as depicted through history books and pop culture. Each character is given plenty of room to breathe and are filled with a lively cast of family members, writers, and presidents.
I think there is a version of this novel that would not cohere so beautifully, but SBDD succeeds at everything it is trying to do and by the end of the novel, you too, might just be a member of the KPG.
With a Mitchell/Mandeleqsue sensibility, Park takes three disparate narratives and through circuitous references and a natural feeling repetition, connects the story into one multi-layered but easy to follow novel. SBDD tracks the stories of failed NYC novelist turned copywriter(ish?) in a large technocorporation Soon Sheen, a Korean war vet named Parker Jotter who wrote a series of largely unknown pulp sci-fi stories in the 1960's, and finally the overall modern history of the KPG and Korea as depicted through history books and pop culture. Each character is given plenty of room to breathe and are filled with a lively cast of family members, writers, and presidents.
I think there is a version of this novel that would not cohere so beautifully, but SBDD succeeds at everything it is trying to do and by the end of the novel, you too, might just be a member of the KPG.
November 6, 2023
Thank you to Random House for the gifted ARC
A Korean-American writer-turned-tech worker, Soon Shin, comes across a manuscript translated from Korean at a party. Titled "Same Bed Different Dreams," the novel reimagines a parallel universe in which the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) never dissolves after WW2.
SAME BED weaves together three distinct narratives into one trippy chonker. The first layer is Soon's personal life and career. The second narrative is the novel Soon is reading about KPG's covert operations. And the third is a Black sci-fi writer and his extraordinary life. Park brilliantly integrates these three narratives, and I was blown away by how everything comes together in the end 🤯
SAME BED is wry, offbeat, and witty I'm sure I didn't get everything. The book within a book structure is so clever and had me wondering the lines between historical events and stories we tell ourselves. I also appreciate how Park explores Korean history and diaspora through ingenious storytelling without relying on trauma.
Clocking at 500+ pages, the writing took me a while to get used to with many big words (I was struggling in the beginning as an ESL reader 🤣). In the first chapter, Park introduces multiple characters that will likely require the readers to take notes. Regardless, I adore how Park doesn't handhold the readers and is unapologetically Asian/Korean. He expects the readers to do the necessary homework to tease out what is "forgotten" vs. "alternative" history, and I find myself googling so much (and enjoying learning more about Korean history) while reading SAME BED.
This is an experimental novel that probably won't be for everyone. Fans of the structures of BLACKOUTS (Justin Torres) and WHEN WE WERE SISTERS (Fatimah Asghar) will enjoy this book. While SAME BED can be a bit chaotic at times, I had a blast reading it; I'm especially excited for the future of Asian literature after reading this captivating & unhinged novel.
A Korean-American writer-turned-tech worker, Soon Shin, comes across a manuscript translated from Korean at a party. Titled "Same Bed Different Dreams," the novel reimagines a parallel universe in which the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) never dissolves after WW2.
SAME BED weaves together three distinct narratives into one trippy chonker. The first layer is Soon's personal life and career. The second narrative is the novel Soon is reading about KPG's covert operations. And the third is a Black sci-fi writer and his extraordinary life. Park brilliantly integrates these three narratives, and I was blown away by how everything comes together in the end 🤯
SAME BED is wry, offbeat, and witty I'm sure I didn't get everything. The book within a book structure is so clever and had me wondering the lines between historical events and stories we tell ourselves. I also appreciate how Park explores Korean history and diaspora through ingenious storytelling without relying on trauma.
Clocking at 500+ pages, the writing took me a while to get used to with many big words (I was struggling in the beginning as an ESL reader 🤣). In the first chapter, Park introduces multiple characters that will likely require the readers to take notes. Regardless, I adore how Park doesn't handhold the readers and is unapologetically Asian/Korean. He expects the readers to do the necessary homework to tease out what is "forgotten" vs. "alternative" history, and I find myself googling so much (and enjoying learning more about Korean history) while reading SAME BED.
This is an experimental novel that probably won't be for everyone. Fans of the structures of BLACKOUTS (Justin Torres) and WHEN WE WERE SISTERS (Fatimah Asghar) will enjoy this book. While SAME BED can be a bit chaotic at times, I had a blast reading it; I'm especially excited for the future of Asian literature after reading this captivating & unhinged novel.
November 27, 2023
you ever read something so jaw-droppingly creative you don't know what to do with yourself???? i am in awe of what ed park managed to pull off in this book. just an exquisitely crafted wild ride & i already want to read it again
November 8, 2023
Soon Sheen works at the international technology company GLOAT, and finds an unfinished book detailing a revisionist history. Famous people and bit players are all interconnected, working to bring Korea together.
The Korean Provisional Government had formed to protest the Japanese occupation of their country and had been dissolved after Japan's defeat in World War II. In this novel, however, the KPG remained intact, working toward a unified Korea. The three main POVs of this novel are interconnected, which isn't immediately obvious when you begin the story. We start with Soon and other Korean literary types discussing books and history, and in a very meta point, Soon begins to read Echo's book "Same Bed Different Dreams." KPG members were part of the resistance, and there were "secret members" apparently so secret they didn't know they were members. Or "founding members" that had died before the KPG was even formed. This book is written in a microessay format, going through history and tying figures together with the goal of gaining Korean independence. There is another thread of a different author writing a sci-fi series of novels and his family life, then the people working to make it into a game.
This literary novel has multiple nested books and plots, which admittedly made it harder for me to get attached to any of the characters. We find them in the middle of their problems and dreams, then cut to the book. Then at the end of a book section, we move to different characters and their problems. With the threads weaving in and out of each other, it starts getting more interconnected as the manuscript pushes forward to the present. The microessays start relating the history of figures with multiple names, and some of them we start to recognize. The connections are layered, with meaning given to each one in code, until we get to the conclusion of the book. I'm not sure if I like the characters, because it feels more like a history text than a novel, and often we don't get insight into how they feel. Korean history is the core of the story and the unifying component underlying it all. The different meanings people give it are the different dreams for Korea and heritage.
The Korean Provisional Government had formed to protest the Japanese occupation of their country and had been dissolved after Japan's defeat in World War II. In this novel, however, the KPG remained intact, working toward a unified Korea. The three main POVs of this novel are interconnected, which isn't immediately obvious when you begin the story. We start with Soon and other Korean literary types discussing books and history, and in a very meta point, Soon begins to read Echo's book "Same Bed Different Dreams." KPG members were part of the resistance, and there were "secret members" apparently so secret they didn't know they were members. Or "founding members" that had died before the KPG was even formed. This book is written in a microessay format, going through history and tying figures together with the goal of gaining Korean independence. There is another thread of a different author writing a sci-fi series of novels and his family life, then the people working to make it into a game.
This literary novel has multiple nested books and plots, which admittedly made it harder for me to get attached to any of the characters. We find them in the middle of their problems and dreams, then cut to the book. Then at the end of a book section, we move to different characters and their problems. With the threads weaving in and out of each other, it starts getting more interconnected as the manuscript pushes forward to the present. The microessays start relating the history of figures with multiple names, and some of them we start to recognize. The connections are layered, with meaning given to each one in code, until we get to the conclusion of the book. I'm not sure if I like the characters, because it feels more like a history text than a novel, and often we don't get insight into how they feel. Korean history is the core of the story and the unifying component underlying it all. The different meanings people give it are the different dreams for Korea and heritage.
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