'I wanted to strap a booster rocket to my back and get to my dreams already. I wanted to skip the tedium. I wanted to leap!'

Our narrator is Dahae who, together with her best work-friends Eun-sang and Jisong, are living the lives of so many women in modern Asia: long working hours for minimum wage, and a tiny one-room apartment to live in. Eun-sang is the go-getter of the group, and as she talks endlessly of the possibilities of cryptocurrency the others soon find themselves in a dilemma: take a leap into the unknown and aim for the moon, or continue the day-to-day struggles of modern working life.

This is a well-written and genuine work from a great Korean writer, wonderfully translated by Sean Lin Halbert. What is even more impressive is that this is a first novel, and I look forward to a promising career from this writer. There is now a wealth of superb Korean and Japanese fiction by women writers being made available in English, much of which brings a focus on a society and culture that can seem hard to understand. What 'To the Moon' brings is a realistic exploration of a work culture that rarely seems to reward women, and the hope and possibilities that can exist if they reach for their own goal.

Honest and enjoyable, there is no dream ending; rather, the quiet resolution is itself a realistic depiction of life, and all the more worthy for that. A really interesting and absorbing work of fiction, I genuinely loved it.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

This was a great look into the lives of three young women living in modern day Seoul. It captures the soul of a generation I think; the struggles of being absorbed into the corporate machine, and the dream of something more.

Through the characters of Dahae (the narrator) and her two friends Eun-Sang and Jisong, we see the trials of women in their early twenties desperately trying to survive life, love, and work in the big city,. The undercurrent of the book is the constant need to make more money, to improve the quality of life, to want better for themselves, and through the character of Eun-Sang, the author cleverly confronts us as the reader with our own discomfort and cultural expectations around the idea of being "money minded".

A short, yet very memorable book, with a beautiful cover and a conclusion that will have anyone wanting this for their personal collection.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the biggest fan of To The Moon. This book follows three women who work in a confectionary company and band together as they don't fit into their companies culture.

These women end up getting into cryptocurrency, and the book ends up feeling just like an advert for crypto. I kept reading because I'm stubborn and I felt mildly obliged to read the book as I got it via an ARC, it's also fairly short so I decided to just power through.

I did find some enjoyment in seeing the interpersonal relationships in the group develop and change throughout the course of the book and how finances have an impact on the group dynamic.

But it wasn't enough to redeem this book from being just an advert for crypto and this wasn't the book for me.

Simple plot, tremendous writing
—
Even as I write this, I don’t know what I think about this. Is it great? Is it terrible? In essence this is a new adult book set in South Korea, following three friends who happen to work in the same soul-destroying corporate culture. Eun-sang, the eldest and most entrepreneurial; Jisong, the only one of the three successful at romance, even though he lives in Taiwan; and the narrator Dahae, whose only desire in life is the perfect apartment for her solo life. When the three discover Ethereum, their lives begin to revolve around cryptocurrency, and their friendship faces ups and downs.

Such a simple plot but the writing is tremendous: you feel Dahae’s frustration with her imperfect life, her current apartment characterised by little niggles, her next apartment just tantalisingly out of reach, her job a frustration at every turn. Eun-sang’s a trier, her every effort stymied until she gets into Ethereum; Jisong’s romance is her driving force; I just want these women to succeed.

I wonder if it’s great for me because I know the South Korean context quite well so the frustrations that the women face are utterly of their milieu, and what they do about them is exactly what every generation of South Koreans does: consult shamans, play the long odds, work hard and still make impossible wishes.

Once I got into this book I really enjoyed it but it definitely took me a while to understand the story conceptions.

I was a little bit mislead by the blurb I think… I didn’t realise the book will be very heavily focused on friends navigating their journey in the cryptocurrency world - something that I really am not interested about. Also sometimes it felt like some of the plot was a bit unnecessary and I kept loosing myself.

Perhaps I am being a bit harsh because it’s not up to my taste. I’m sure that some people will love it.

This is a great book! The novel completely puts you right in the middle of a young woman's life - with her crappy job, irritating team leader, good but sometimes strange friends, and dire housing and financial situation.

Dahae works at a confectionary factory, and is trying to save enough to be able to live in a space where she doesn't have to see her bed and her toilet while she eats meals. In other words - an apartment that's more than just one room.

The first description of her job and the situations she finds herself in with her bosses is pretty hilarious. Stuck with her coffee-obsessed team leader waiting to try out a new cafe, they're going to be late for a meeting. Which he will blame Dahae for. Making her rush to get to the meeting, she ends up covered in coffee. It's a small vignette but one that shows up the class divide and power dynamics at play in her company. And this short scenario manages to get across Dahae's humour and intelligence, plus the character of her and her team leader.

There are lots of very funny parts to the book and dialogue, and particularly the scenarios relating to work. A 'work visit' to a fortune teller is particularly excruciating.

As someone who has worked a few dull office jobs, I could really relate to so much of the book's description of office life. The way that departments are referred to - Dahae is in Snacks - the grumbling over performance reviews and the resulting low wage rises, the mind games over who will brave getting up to leave for lunch first. It's all brilliantly done.

The book follows Dahae and her friends, Jisong and Eun-sang, who work in other departments at the company but stick together as young, female, fairly low-down employees. When Eun-sang starts investing in crypto-currency, Dahae sees a possibility of a way out of her mundane, poverty-stricken existence.

The three characters are all very convincing, with contradictions and flaws that will no doubt remind readers of themselves and others they know.

There's lots in the novel about class, poverty, position and status. Dahae's mother has driven the same bus for decades, but an injury means she's had to give up work. We see her stress about being able to support her mother financially and this kind of thing will resonate for a lot of people.

I really loved how the author played out the plot with the crypto-currency. I can't really give away how it unfolds, but bravo to her. And the ending, with Dahae's reflecting on her job, is quite moving and made me smile.

Jang Ryujin includes an interesting and touching postscript to the novel, about why she wrote it and her own experiences of work and not having much money. This novel felt very 'human' and relatable, and was incredibly easy to read. You kind of thing - at last! Someone writing about these kind of lives.

I highly recommend this book and thanks very much to Netgalley for the preview.

Three friends work in the same company, with very limited future prospects. One of them then proposes a solution to the others to improve their daily lives, which will not be without risk, and together, they promise to go to the moon...
Sometimes we don't have any particular expectations when discovering a novel, because we don't know the author and we haven't yet been inundated with reviews, and that was the case here. Add to that the fact that I don't read the back covers and I never really know what to expect with Korean literature, and you'll understand how much I enjoyed letting myself be carried away by this book, discovering its themes and getting caught up in the game. And everything was a pleasant surprise: the heroines' friendship, touching and honest, the cultural context of the country, the suspenseful atmosphere, and, the cherry on top, the trip to Jeju. But what particularly touched me was that the characters are ordinary young women, like me, with whom I can easily identify, young women who are aware that their lives are not a fairy tale and that no one is going to come and transform them with a magic wand. However, they want to improve their daily lives, and they deserve it.
The novel poses the question of what we are entitled to expect from life, in a very interesting way. I really enjoyed reading it, and I'm sure I'll think about it from time to time.


Trois amies travaillent dans la même compagnie, aves des perspectives d'avenir très limitées. L'une d'entre elles va alors proposer aux autres une solution pour améliorer leur quotidien qui ne sera pas sans risque et ensemble, elles vont se promettre d'aller jusqu'à la lune. To the Moon...
Il arrive parfois que l'on n'est pas d'attentes particulières en découvrant un roman, parce qu'on ne connaît pas l'auteur et qu'on n'a pas encore été inondé d'avis dessus et c'était le cas ici. Ajoutez à cela que je ne lis pas les quatrième de couvertures et que je ne sais jamais à quoi m'attendre vraiment avec la littérature coréenne et vous comprendrez à quel point j'ai pris plaisir à me laisser porter par cette lecture, à découvrir ses thèmes et à me prendre au jeu. Et tout fut une bonne surprise : l'amitié des héroïnes, touchante, honnête, le contexte culturel du pays, le suspense bien présent et, cerise sur le gâteau, le voyage à Jeju. Mais ce qui m'a particulièrement touchée, c'est que les personnages sont des jeunes femmes ordinaires, comme moi, auxquelles je peux facilement m'identifier, des jeunes femmes qui sont conscientes que leur vie n'est pas un conte de fées et que personne ne va venir la métamorphoser d'un coup de baguette magique. Pour autant, elles veulent améliorer leur quotidien et elles le méritent.
Le roman pose la question de ce qu'on est en droit d'attendre de la vie, de façon très interessante. J'ai beaucoup aimé cette lecture, vraiment, et je suis certaine que j'y repenserai de temps à autre.

A story based on female friendship in the workplace and a mutual goal to better their lives.
The three main characters come from a very similar background and work in the same company. The book starts with their ratings and then delves into the culture of working late and hard to improve these.
Then they discover cryptocurrency….

I found myself getting anxious alongside them with the highs and lows of their investments! I wanted them to cash out at times so I was fully invested in this story (pun intended!)

A lovely, cosy read that is full of the hope of three friends who want to reach the moon!

Slice of life book following three women who start exploring crypto investing. A very easy read, flows through and I found the story interesting as someone who has worked in corporate. Also interesting that the book briefly explored the way relationships might change due to finances. However I felt the ending was a bit hazardous potentially inviting people to just...try crypto. Something that left me from giving it a higher rating

The problem with a novel about workplace ennui is that the subject of boredom, unless jazzed up in some way, is, well... boring. And I am not sure that the introduction of an almost fairy tale like narrative about investing in cryptocurrency did the trick of jazzing it up. It felt like the female equivalent of a crypto bro's facebook message. The only parts I enjoyed were the parts were the three friends were interacting and NOT talking about crypto-currency.

‘To the Moon’ follows 3 women navigating the highs and lows of investing in crypto whilst surviving their days jobs and managing how crypto changes their friendship. It’s a decent enough little slice-of-life novel, I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of office politics in Korea, but I think there was just too much of a focus on crypto for me. Don’t get me wrong, I knew crypto would be a large part of the story but it felt like it was portrayed in too positive of a light and I think that’s what didn’t sit quite right- the characters do get ‘To the Moon’ but I’m not surprised the author had to include a disclaimer about the story not being intended as financial advice. That being said, I enjoyed how the psychology around investing was presented- the emotional turmoil of watching the numbers on the screen rise and fall, the complete lack of control our characters felt at times and the almost cult like behaviour used to pull others into investing were all written extremely well.

The author gets her wish that I came away from this thinking ‘not a bad book’ and I think if this was Maron, the book would get the ‘M’ rating- it met expectations but it was a bit mid.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

A slice-of-life type of book which also involves cryptocurrency talk. It was easy to follow and I understood a bit more about that. What I like of these type of books is to learn more about Korean culture so when I read more translated books I understand everything a but more. I was exoecting a different ending but it was somehow satisfying. I jist think the investment part of the story took too much and made it a bit slow.

I’ve very much enjoyed this book which was translated from the original Korean. It tells a story of. three women who work together in a big organisation in the city. One of the women is always thinking of ways to raise money and at one stage ran unofficial Shop from under her desk selling things like toothpaste and tights that the busy office workers didn’t have time to get out to buy during their workday. When this fails she goes onto to discover a Internet currency of its like bitcoin and is initially very successful in her purchasing of this currency. Predictably things go up and down but when things are going well, she convinces her more conservatively minded careful colleague to join her in the venture.
The predictable ups and downs of the story as we watch Ace from behind the sofa, the inevitable disaster which must surely face these women.
Although the book is such in Korea, there is a universality to the experiences of these young women that translates easily for British readers.
The authors writing style is sharp insightful and easy to read. This is a fun enjoyable novel.
Enjoyed her characterisations with these women. I can imagine people that I know who would behave in exactly the same way given the situations in the story.
Reading about Korea is interesting to a British audience and adds an additional interest to the novel
I read a copy of the novel on NetGalley UK in return for a unbiased review the book was published in the UK on the 19th of June 2025 by Bloomsbury publishing plc
This review will appear on that Gully UK, StoryGraph, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.wordpress.com. It will also appear on Amazon UK and Waterstones.

Very simple, easy and quick read with a slice of three women’s and lives. Thanks to the author, NetGalley and publisher for the arc.

Dahae, Eunhae and Jisong share some common problems and bond over crytocurrency (I would never imagine I would need to form such a sentence). The dynamics between them, the office setting in Korea, and the writing were the highlights for me.
3.5 stars

Three young women who work in confectionery company Maron are on the search of making it rich by investing into cryptocurrency. It's a dare or not to dare situation.

There were some suspenseful moments where I thought the friendship would collapse if their investing had failed, but the author expressed botj positivity and negativity in people's anxieties.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for letting me read this book!

I requested this arc from NetGalley as I completely got sucked in by the cover but by the time I got around to reading I had completely forgotten the synopsis so when I realised it was a slice-of-life book about investing in cryptocurrency I was somewhat taken aback.
My enjoyment whilst reading fluctuated a lot, there were parts I loved especially the writing style. I highlighted multiple quotations and I gelled with the humour. However it did take me a month to read as I didn't feel invested in these characters or their friendship. Overall I don't think there was a clear enough arc or plotline to bring this novel together. I felt let down by the ending and I was hoping we would have some different realisations along the way.
I have settled on a middle-of-the-road 3 stars because it was enjoyable for the most part to read, but sadly this story won't stay with me and I didn't get what I wanted out of it.
3 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing and Jang Ryujin for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy.

Review posted to Goodreads and StoryGraph.

"`There's no end to how good things can get. And now you know it!'
Eun-sang pointed her glow stick at the sky as she leaned into my ear and whispered to me: `Don't worry. We'll get there.'
Her yellow glow stick was pointing at the moon in the night sky. One half of the moon was shrouded in darkness, and the other half shone coolly. It was a perfect half-moon.

“세상에 좋은 게, 더 좋은 게, 더 더 더 좋은 게 존재하는데, 그걸 알아버렸는데 어떡해.”
은상 언니가 야광봉을 쥔 한쪽 팔을 허공에 쭉 뻗고서는 내 귀에 대고 속닥였다. “걱정 마. 우리 저기까지 갈 거잖아.”
노란 빛살을 내뿜는 야광봉의 끝이 밤하늘의 달을 가리키고 있었다. 반쪽은 캄캄한 어둠 속에 잠겨 있고 또다른 반쪽은 시원하게 빛나고 있는, 아주 정확한 반달이었다."

To the Moon is Sean Lin Halbert's translation of 달까지 가자 (more literally: Let's go to the moon) by 장류진. [I note in passing that the Korean original is separately listed, the different Romanisation of the author's name causing the issue]

The novel begins with an unusual but necessary disclaimer: “This book is not intended as financial or investment advice.”

The story is told by Dahae, in her late 20s. She works for a large confectionary company, Manon Confectionaries, but did not enter via the usual graduate program, but rather a non-conventional route, and is also from a less priviliged background that many of the employees.

She has formed an informer peer/friendship group - a 동기 (donngi) with two other women, who started on the same day and with similar age, socio-economic background and off-cycle entrance, each working in different departments but closer to each other than their immediate colleagues:

"In fact, I felt closer to Eun-sang and Jisong than I did my own childhood friends. I had much more to talk about with them and, in some respects, we understood each other better — a fact that never failed to surprise me when I sat down to think about it. But looking back at it now, it shouldn't have been a surprise. I only came home to sleep and spent the rest of my waking hours at the office. Everything that happened to me — the good, the bad, the funny, the infuriating, the joyous, the unbelievable — was directly or indirectly related to work. And because Eun-sang and Jisong already knew all the main characters and background stories, there was no need for me to give long explanations.

나는 은상 언니와 지송이를 어릴 때부터 오래 알고 지내던 친구들보다 더 가깝게 느꼈다. 오히려 ‘원래 친구들’보다 할 이야기도 훨씬 많고 잘 통하는 면이 있었고 가끔 그런 사실을 곱씹어보면서 신기해하기도 했다. 돌이켜보면 그럴 만도 했다. 우리는 잠자는 시간을 제외한 하루 대부분을 회사에서 보내고 있었고 그래서 내게 벌어지는 일들은 직접적이든 간접적이든 ‘회사 일’이었다. 기쁜 일도, 슬픈 일도, 웃기는 일도, 화나는 일도, 통쾌한 일도, 기가 막힌 일도. 은상 언니, 지송이와 그런 일들에 관해 이야기할 때는 주요인물과 선행 사건들을 공유하고 있어서 배경 설명을 따로 할 필요가 없었다."

The three share company gossip, and a certain sense of cynicism about their jobs, but also a sense of frustation at the difficulty of making ends meet, particularly as their status seems to hold them back from promotions and pay rises.

One day Eun-sang appears to be extra happy, particularly given she'd just received a weak performance review, and she eventually confides to Dahae and Jisong that she has been speculating in crypto, specifically (and this is early 2017) the relatively nascent Ethereum. She tries to persuade them to join her, and while Jisong resists, Dahae is sucked in, particularly when she sees the price graph: Never in my life had I wished for something so much and not known until I’ve seen it. This is what I’ve been dreaming of. The letter J.

The moral of the story here does seem to be that to get on in late 2010s Korea, the best thing to do is not to focus your effort on your work, or on starting a business (Eun-sang has an entreprenurial bent, even running an unofficial convenience store at the office, as well as buying hand-warmers an scarves to resell to anxious parents waiting outside on the day of the college entrance exams - but decides speculation is a surer route to riches). In terms of managing cyrpto - if it falls, buy as it's cheap; if it rises also buy as the price is going up; and if all else fails visit a fortune teller who combines Korean 사주 with Tarot cards. And hold (or hodl?) on with your diamond hands.

The biggest fear is the fear of missing out: "Strangely, the more money I made, the happier and angrier I became. I was happy for obvious reasons, but I was angry at myself, perhaps even furious, for not being more confident. I’d already put all my money into Ethereum, but I lamented the fact that I hadn’t done it sooner."

And even the cynical Jisong is eventually persuaded to join in when her friends take her on an all expenses paid visit to a luxury hotel in the admittedly idyllic Seogwipo in Jeju: ‘I used to think people were just being patriotic when they said it’s the most beautiful island in the world,’ Jisong said. ‘But now I know what they mean. I went to Bali recently, remember? Bali’s all right, but this is paradise.’

And the three manage to time their exit perfectly in January 2018, missing out on the near 90% crash in Ethereum during the rest of 2017 (although had they used their diamond hands and ridden the losses, they would have seen further large gains in 2020-end 2021):

Jisong, Dahae and Eun-sang ends with gains of KRW240m, KRW320m and KRW3300m respectively (divide by c1,500 for GBP, so Eun-sang becomes comfortably a millionaire), dwarfing what they earn from their day jobs.

In a sense though this is a less of a pro-cyptro tale (the three do realise it could have ended very differently) and more of another in the Korean 'healing fiction' genre as the real aim seems to be to show three lives transformed for the better.

The author says in an afterword that she herself used to buy lottery tickets in a similar way: "While waiting for the lottery to be drawn, I would daydream about the future. It’s hard to believe that at the time of writing this book, just six years ago, all I needed to buy the home of my dreams was a mere three hundred million won. How times have changed. I never won the lottery. I did, however, become a novelist. One perk of being a writer of fiction is that you can do your entire job with just a laptop. I’d always wanted to write a novel in which the main character was given three hundred million won, and so I decided to give Dahae and her friends three hundred million won each."

And Dahae does indeed use her gains to buy, if not exactly the house of her dreams, at least a more livable flat (when the novel opens she lives in a tiny studio where - a horror culturally for a Korean flat - there isn't even a 현관 area at the door where shoes can be left separate from the main floor).

Indeed as a portrayal of the realities of office life for Korean millenials this is effective, and it's an enjoyable read if one lacking any dramatic tension. Just don't look to it for financial, investment or indeed career advice.

I enjoyed this book, and I really enjoyed the authors note <3

It’s about three Korean women and their mundane office jobs, dreams and cryptocurrency. It’s not heavily story driven but more a slice-of-life kind of book where we get to know these characters for a little while with themes like work, relationships, money and capitalism. I loved the ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!