Jang Ryujin’s ‘To the Moon’: Unrealistic portrayal of realistic aspirations

Korean author Jang Ryujin’s novel ‘To the Moon’ explores the idea of class mobility and materialism in an increasingly competitive modern society where the protagonist, Dahae, delves into investment in cryptocurrency in order to fulfil her ambitious dreams. Does the novel offer a realistic picture of the complexities faced by urban middle class workers looking for an escape from the mundane and stagnant life that the corporate world offers? The answer seems short and simple, and is seemingly portrayed through the inarticulate writing of the novel, wherein Dahae and her friends — Eun-sang and Jisong — invest in ethereum, a digital currency similar to bitcoin.

The novel fails to provide an engaging or explanatory narrative regarding the dangers of investment in cryptocurrency, nor does it provide a realistic portrayal of how decentralised currency operates. The author seems to provide only a very basic understanding of digital blockchains through the main character, who invests her savings based upon this extremely limited understanding after witnessing her friend Eun Sang’s success. An attempt at showcasing the anxiety faced by the three friends after investing their entire life savings (while surviving on their meagre corporate income) is through their constant checking of ethereum prices on their mobile phones, constituting, perhaps, the only realistic portrayal of the complex digital monetary currency that the author chose to write a novel on.

The novel abounds in the repetitive material obsession the main character portrays. At the beginning of the book, Dahae is presented as a 26-year-old woman working at a company named ‘Maron Confectionaries’, dreaming of purchasing a more spacious home than the “one-room studio apartment with an improperly sectioned bathroom” that she resides in. Long showers lead to a devastating flood of soapy water to soak the carpets lining the area where Dahae eats and sleeps; the same is repeated throughout the first four or five chapters, perhaps to indicate Dahae’s daily struggle of short showers to limit this ordeal.

The lack of proper character development is evident as the three friends begin to unrealistically procure huge amounts of ethereum, and furthermore real currency, after investing without apparently no losses at all, using it on purchasing expensive travel bags, a trip to Jeju island at a seven-star hotel and expensive BMWs. The repetition of Dahae’s thoughts regarding Eun-sang’s Rimowa suitcase is stated as an “aura that could not be expressed”.

The novel almost seems to romanticise the main character’s desire for extra finances, constantly referring to herself and her friends as “people like us” in reference to her lower middle class aspiration for moving upward on the economic and class ladder, where intrinsic happiness is almost non-existent and is instead based on the possession of materialistic objects.

Dahae’s aspiration is not achieved through a realistic lens. The novel thrives on its sugar-coated narrative, which deviates from encapsulating the realities faced by young investors. ‘To the Moon’ by Jang Ryujin must remain in the ‘young adult fiction’ section of a bookstore as a chimeric work for daydreamers.

Book Review