Snowglobe

on

Snowglobe by Soyoung Park


Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller

Reviewed by Julia W., 12th Grade

Rating: 7/10



The entire world has become covered in snow with temperatures never rising above freezing. That is, everywhere except for Snowglobe. Snowglobe is an area that is encompassed by a large dome. Inside, the weather can be regulated and temperatures remain warm. Those lucky enough to live in Snowglobe get to enjoy all the luxuries life has to offer. However, it does come at a price as residents are required to either be actors or work for a television show. These shows are meant to capture the everyday lives of Snowglobe residents to show the outside world what it’s like inside and provide them entertainment. 

Seventeen year old Chobahm lives in the outside world and is an avid viewer of Snowglobe TV shows. Her favorite show, Goh Around, follows the life of Goh Haeri, Snowglobe’s biggest star. Chobahm also happens to look a lot like Haeri, and she dreams of joining her in Snowglobe to be a director of a show. However, it is incredibly hard to enter Snowglobe because it is so small and can only hold so many people. 


One day, the director of Goh Around travels to Chobahm’s hometown and brings news that Haeri has died. The director asks Chobahm to pretend to be Haeri so that the show can continue on. In return, the director will make sure that Chobahm gets to fulfill her wish of being a director in the future. Chobahm agrees but she quickly finds out that life in Snowglobe is nothing like what the outside world sees it. 


The concept of this novel was amazing! The whole idea of Snowglobe was very creative and made for a book nothing like anything I have read before. With that being said, I do think the novel fell short in a lot of ways. The way that the chapters are organized can be a bit confusing and it is sometimes hard to tell who is narrating or who a character is talking about. I wonder if because this book was written in Korean and then translated to English, if the way things were originally written got changed around. 


Besides that, I really didn’t like the route the novel took in general. I feel like the author did an excellent job of creating a great setting and frame work for the novel, leading to so many ways the novel could have then gone. The author ultimately went in a direction I personally would have stayed away from. If you asked me to rate the book when I was halfway through, I would have said it was ten out of ten. However, after reading it in its entirety, I can only give it a seven as it went downhill from there. I do not mean to say that it was terrible by any means, I just think there was so much potential, but that it fell short, which is such a shame.


However, I do want to commend the author for the way she developed the characters as the novel went on. Chobahm in particular started out somewhat shy and unsure of herself but gained a lot of confidence by the end. Her inner thoughts and values changed a lot, which I think is very relatable to how a real human being would be. 

As a whole, I think Snowglobe is worth a read. It may not have been my favorite book ever, but I enjoyed reading something different!