Snowglobe by Soyoung Park (skillfully translated from the Korean by Joungmin Lee Comfort) is an austere, thrilling, and endlessly surprising YA dystopian novel reminiscent of Black Mirror and Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer.
Sixteen-year-old Jeon Chobahm lives on a frozen, post-climate-shift Earth, where most people make their living by walking on human-sized hamster wheels that generate electricity. The power they produce is used by the Snowglobe, a temperate domed superstructure, entirely populated by reality TV show actors who provide entertainment in exchange for a life of luxury. After the sudden death of Snowglobe megastar Goh Haeri, the enigmatic and ambitious Director Cha offers Chobahm (a near-exact physical match for Haeri) the chance to escape her life of "punishing monotony" by posing as Haeri and helping to hide her untimely death. But life in the Snowglobe is not as glamorous as it seems on screen. Chobahm is resilient and resolves to "pinch... off any unhappiness that trie[s] to sprout." Until, that is, she receives a mysterious phone call: it's Haeri, and she wants her life back.
Snowglobe is a biting and thought-provoking examination of the contemporary obsession with fame, attention, and luxury. Throughout the novel, Park engages deeply with issues of class and social status, contrasting the bleak and sparse lives of settlement dwellers with the lavish and ostentatious lives of Snowglobe citizens. Compelling in its narration and unflinching in its social critique, Snowglobe is a captivating cautionary tale for the influencer age. --Cade Williams, freelance reviewer