Seoul Man

May 16, 2016
Civilizations clash and learn from each other when an American joins a South Korean company in this fish-out-of-water memoir. Former Washington Post reporter Ahrens went to Seoul to become a PR executive for auto-maker Hyundai and found a nation of odd contrasts: a gleaming, futuristic democracy steeped in old-fashioned Confucian hierarchy; selfless teamwork paired with desperate competition for status; ubiquitous plastic surgery to attain a monotonous standard of beauty; densely crowded cities where people make few friends; and buttoned-down conformity that somehow works itself out in raucous drinking parties. Despite his baffled amusement at Korean idiosyncrasies, Ahrens finds the local ethos rubbing off as he tries to reconcile his lifelong individualism with his commitments as a new husband and father. Along the way, he explores Hyundai’s contrasting effort to shed its economy-car image and make its brand feel more upscale, and specifically more German, by building precision-engineered luxury models. Ahrens’s blend of personal memoir, reportage, and business history doesn’t always come together but the book is engagingly written and full of funny, intriguing probes into the quirks he discovers in his surroundings and himself. This is a nuanced look at a nation where an image of Western modernity is reflected and illuminated by an off-kilter mirror. Agent: Howard Yoon, Ross Yoon Agency.

June 15, 2016
The experiences of an American couple in South Korea underscore how little the West really knows about the country. A business journalist by profession who spent 18 years at the Washington Post, Ahrens landed a gig at the largest car company in Korea after he married a diplomat. Upon arrival, he had two main realizations: that he was rare in his new environment (the country is 97 percent Korean) and that he held "many of the classic white American stereotypes about Asians: hardworking, good students, quiet, and reserved." During his time as a Hyundai executive from 2010 to 2013, the author learned to admire the depth of the Korean people in many unique ways, delineated with humor and warmth in this book. Originally from Charleston, West Virginia, conservative and Christian by temperament, Ahrens married Rebekah, who received her first assignment overseas in 2009. With his early mechanical training, Ahrens was a natural at marketing Hyundai, especially in meeting with foreign journalists and in directing efforts at good English writing and editing. Initially, however, his American style was considered brash and even rude--e.g., asking colleagues to call him Frank (he thought it would be easier for them) when the workplace protocol called for a decisive hierarchical structure between the low- and higher-ranking officers, expressed in honorific addresses according to traditions in Confucianism. Moreover, the competitiveness among co-workers spilled over in official Saturday morning hiking sessions, which Ahrens despised, and intensive nighttime drinking bouts, all having the effect of creating an atmosphere of camaraderie without any one member standing out. Eventually, the author had to hone his skills at noonchi, "reading the air," a kind of subtle, complex sense of what was going on. Running alongside Ahrens's own personal "midlife crisis" were Hyundai's great efforts to elevate the middling brand into the luxury market, alongside German and Japanese cars. Amid the author's personal journey reside priceless cultural and professional insights.

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July 1, 2016
Where will libraries shelve this engaging memoir by former Washington Post reporter Ahrens? Like many contemporary memoirs, it is not all about the author. When finished with it, readers will remember as much or more about Korean history and culture and about management of Hyundai Motors as about Ahrens and his family. As a business reporter turned public relations exec for Hyundai, Ahrens adds a bit of drama to facts and figures in his account of the designing and marketing of Hyundai's top-selling cars. He also lightheartedly chronicles his mishaps as a lone American trying to work in a Korean corporation and intimately describes the challenges of living in the city of Seoul, where a North Korean attack is always only minutes away. So, where to shelve? Perhaps put this book with other descriptions of South Korea or in the business section. Seoul Man is a great read for business readers and for Americans-abroad memoir fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)