In today’s world, nothing can surprise us anymore. So, when Inji is offered a job at Wedding and Life (W&L), South Korea’s biggest matchmaking agency, she accepts the job, as it means escaping her family and starting a new life in the city. But what she doesn’t know is that she is draughted as a field wife for NM, W&L’s secret division which offers spouses on rent to their elite clientele. Just like a real marriage, her assignments involve a wedding, some intimacy and a spot of housework, specifically catered to the clients’ needs and desires.
Troubled by her own past, Inji seeks refuge in NM and her work. She is not interested in finding real love. But when one of her old husbands requests her back for another year of marriage, Inji’s dark past will come catching up, and she will experience the sinister workings of NM management, who will do anything to protect their and their clients’ reputation.
In Korean society, women are subjected to harsh levels of misogyny. They are expected to be modern but act according to the conservative idea of being a woman. Books like Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo and Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka have gained popularity for perfectly showcasing the struggles Korean and Japanese women go through in their lives.
In The Trunk, Kim Ryeo-Ryeong uses Inji to show the readers what navigating a world that doesn’t work in their favour looks like.
As the book progresses, Kim Ryeo-Ryeong tackles issues like intergenerational conflict, sexuality, mental health, and more. We follow Inji as she goes on with this assignment and also get to see her strained relationship with her mother, her high school friendships which ended up in a tragedy and her navigating relationships with a job that has monetised that aspect of her private life.
What makes The Trunk stand out is the honest discussions and depictions it does around the reality of relationships and marriages in South Korea. Most men in South Korea treat women as inferior and just as a means to an end. Be it to have food at the table or as an outlet for intimacy, women are viewed as objects.
On the whole, The Trunk is an engaging story which blends romance, mild suspense and social commentary to create a riveting narrative about the lives of Korean women. It questions the landscape of relationships and connections and the evolution of the institution of marriage.