dive deep into one's mind: 7 korean psychological fiction books

The Fetishist by Katherine Min

Summary: In this posthumously published novel, a Korean American woman recounts her romantic relationship with a white man whose obsession with her Asian identity forces her to confront painful questions about race, love, and self-worth.

Themes: Racial fetishization, identity, relationships, cultural conflict, and self-perception.

Human Acts by Han Kang

Summary: Set around the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, the novel opens with the brutal death of a young boy, Dong-ho, and traces the rippling effects of state violence on those around him. Told through shifting perspectives, it examines memory, grief, and political trauma.

Themes: Trauma, politics, grief, survival, humanity, injustice

The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun

Summary: After a car accident leaves Oghi paralyzed and widowed, he’s placed in the care of his eerie mother-in-law. As his condition stagnates and his environment grows increasingly sinister, psychological horror mounts, questioning guilt, identity, and revenge.

Themes: Isolation, guilt, grief, psychological unraveling, domestic horror, marriage tensions

Kim Jiyoung, Birn 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Summary: Kim Jiyoung, an ordinary Korean woman, starts impersonating other women—living and dead. Through her story, the novel documents the sexism she’s faced from childhood to motherhood. It’s told through a pseudo-clinical lens, indicting societal norms.

Themes: Sexism, gender, female invisibility, social conditioning, motherhood, feminism

Sea Change by Gina Chung

Summary: After her father disappears on a marine expedition, a Korean American woman struggles with grief, isolation, and a dead-end job at an aquarium, finding solace in her bond with a giant Pacific octopus and the slow unraveling of her emotional landscape.

Themes: Grief, trauma, mental health, self-understanding, climate anxiety, and the Korean-American experience.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Summary: After a disturbing dream, Yeong-hye decides to stop eating meat, triggering a series of increasingly surreal and traumatic consequences in her family. Told from the perspectives of her husband, brother-in-law, and sister, the novel explores obsession, rebellion, and mental collapse.

Themes: Bodily autonomy, mental illness, gender, alientation, violence

Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin

Summary: Set in a quiet South Korean border town, this atmospheric novel follows a young Franco-Korean woman who works at a guesthouse and grows intrigued by a mysterious French graphic novelist, sparking reflections on identity and belonging.

Themes: Isolation, cultural hybridity, desire, identity, and the tension between East and West.