05/16/2016
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. (Aug.)
[Written] with humor and warmth… Amid the author’s personal journey reside priceless cultural and professional insights.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Like Mark Twain in The Innocents Abroad, Ahrens gets good mileage out of his many gaffes as a naïve American bred to act quickly, blunder through problems and disregard authority… Seoul Man also looks into the history, culture, politics and business of the remarkable success story of modern South Korea.” — Shelf Awareness
“If you have ever worked in a baffling alien culture or endured a family separation because of your job, you will probably enjoy this book... An entertaining read.” — Financial Times
“Hilarious” — Unshelved
“In this charming and affecting book, Ahrens finds out what makes this small but courageous country strive so relentlessly to be better. His portrait of Korea, the “shrimp between the two whales” of China and Japan, is filled with insights, youthful enthusiasm, and a zest for discovery.” — Tim Clissold, author of the international bestseller Mr. China
“Lively, engaging and deeply personal, Seoul Man is at once a fascinating primer on the auto industry, a perceptive and often hilarious ex-pat adventure into “Koreanness,” and the story of an ordinary man transformed through faith and the power of love.” — -Brigid Schulte, author of the New York Times bestselling Overwhelmed: Work, Love & Play when No One has the Time
“Engagingly written and full of funny, intriguing probes into the quirks [Ahrens] 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.” — Publishers Weekly
“Ahrens’s great strength is that he is sensitive to the people around him…. describing the young people with whom he worked in a Korea struggling to move on from a forced collective march of industrialization to a more individualistic and creative economy.” — Washington Post
“This important book undertakes three stories in one narrative about a local man’s brief sojourn in a bewildering new environment… With wit about his personal dilemmas and a keen reporter’s eye…Mr. Ahrens gives the reader an accessible primer.” — Washington Times
“A fun take on exactly what the subtitle promises.” — Tyler Cowen, Holbert C. Harris Chair of economics at George Mason University
Hilarious
Like Mark Twain in The Innocents Abroad, Ahrens gets good mileage out of his many gaffes as a naïve American bred to act quickly, blunder through problems and disregard authority… Seoul Man also looks into the history, culture, politics and business of the remarkable success story of modern South Korea.
Lively, engaging and deeply personal, Seoul Man is at once a fascinating primer on the auto industry, a perceptive and often hilarious ex-pat adventure into “Koreanness,” and the story of an ordinary man transformed through faith and the power of love.
If you have ever worked in a baffling alien culture or endured a family separation because of your job, you will probably enjoy this book... An entertaining read.
In this charming and affecting book, Ahrens finds out what makes this small but courageous country strive so relentlessly to be better. His portrait of Korea, the “shrimp between the two whales” of China and Japan, is filled with insights, youthful enthusiasm, and a zest for discovery.
Ahrens’s great strength is that he is sensitive to the people around him…. describing the young people with whom he worked in a Korea struggling to move on from a forced collective march of industrialization to a more individualistic and creative economy.
A fun take on exactly what the subtitle promises.
This important book undertakes three stories in one narrative about a local man’s brief sojourn in a bewildering new environment… With wit about his personal dilemmas and a keen reporter’s eye…Mr. Ahrens gives the reader an accessible primer.
Ahrens’s great strength is that he is sensitive to the people around him…. describing the young people with whom he worked in a Korea struggling to move on from a forced collective march of industrialization to a more individualistic and creative economy.
If you have ever worked in a baffling alien culture or endured a family separation because of your job, you will probably enjoy this book... An entertaining read.
2016-05-23
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.
