K-LIT REVIEW 'The Proposal' lands between space opera, romance

Cover of "The Proposal" by Bae Myung-hoon / Courtesy of Honford Star

The inside flap of Bae Myung-hoon’s “The Proposal” says it is “a space opera romance set against the backdrop of a looming war between Earth and a mysterious entity,” promising English-language readers a sci-fi epic in the form of a slim novelette of just over 100 pages. In smooth prose, the book does indeed tell the story of a looming space war — but can it also fulfill the promises of space opera and romance?

Readers looking for a heartrending love story or fantastical saga in the stars will probably come away a bit confused, since neither manifests in ways genre enthusiasts would expect. The slim volume offers little that would be recognizable to international fans of either style, but a great deal to readers interested in a literary take on speculative fiction with a Korean spin.

The epistolary work is presented as a series of communications from a young man born in space to his “Earthian” girlfriend, detailing his life in a military force riddled with distrust, religious influence, internal politics, cultural conflicts between Earth- and space-born humans, and perhaps a brewing insurrection. This would be more than enough stress, but humanity as a whole is facing an attack from a mysterious alien force armed with technology that always seems a step ahead of the human fleet’s capabilities.

Communication between the lovers, presented only from the man’s point of view, is limited and delayed, reinforcing and amplifying the physical and emotional distances involved. The young man bemoans the time spent waiting for a response and the long journeys required to be together — but their few meetings in person do not resolve their problems. Physical limitations in the other’s environment and the cultural gaps emerging between people who are born and live in zero gravity and those who are bound by Earth’s mass become a source of division for the sweethearts even when they are together.

The two lovers are not very distinct characters, and Bae seems uninterested in developing them as unique personalities, instead letting them stay allegorical. They’re stand-ins, especially the girlfriend, whose appearances are slight and indirect, always rendered through the voice and words of her gravity-eschewing lover and narrator. This is both a weakness and a strength of the novel, leading us to think about the philosophical questions of the situation rather than the specifics of the characters experiencing it, but also sometimes making the story feel slighter and less substantial. Some of the more peripheral characters stand out, drawn sharply compared to some of the more central figures.

The writing is often evocative and sprinkled with interesting details, carefully rendered into straighforward, readable prose by Stella Kim and bound attractively with gorgeous cover art by Jisu Choi. At a mere 137 pages, it is a quick read, if not always an easy one. In some parts, the pace can lag and even start to feel a bit like sitting in on a midlevel planning meeting on the Starship Enterprise, but others flow swiftly, packed with flurries of action. The thing the story never loses is its keen observational position, putting us in the shoes of a main character both familiar and alien, examining the universe from new perspectives.

"The Proposal" is available through dbbooks.co.kr.