One afternoon, I walked into a bookshop in Italy with my mother. I spotted a colourful, vivid book cover from afar and I immediately recognised it. It was Lee Mi-ye’s Dallergut Dream Department Store. I had seen it online and I had been earnestly looking forward to it. In the UK, the book was going to be released a few months from then but, in Italy, the book had already hit the bookshelves. I walked straight to it and decided at once to buy a copy for my mother, whose Italian is a million years better than mine.
When I reached the till and placed the book in front of the cashier, she smiled brightly and asked, “Have you read this one yet?”
I replied that I hadn’t, no.
She continued, “Oh, you’re in for a treat! I read this one in a heartbeat. You know these books that make you forget that reality exists? This book transported me to a completely different world. It’s just lovely.”
I thanked her and left the store. This time, I was the one smiling brightly.
After reading the book myself, I can tell you that she was absolutely right.
Dallergut Dream Department Store is healing fiction at its best, providing its readers with a dazzling, lively, and restful place for them to forget the world for a while.
This review is spoiler-free! Enjoy! But if you don’t have time to read it all, pin our summary at the bottom!
A Quick Synopsis Before We Start
Written by Lee Mi-ye (in the UK edition, “Miye Lee”) and translated by Sandy Joosun Lee, Dallergut Dream Department Store was originally published in 2020 through crowdfunding. Before long, the book became a best-seller in Korea and translations started popping up all over the world.
Narrated by an omniscient narrator, we mostly focus on the story of Penny, a bubbly and curious young woman who gets a job at the Dallergut Dream Department Store. The shop sells all sorts of dreams, from meeting a celebrity to flying as an eagle, and nightmares as well. It exists in a parallel universe within our collective subconscious, a place where we all go when we fall asleep but we always forget when we wake up. There, most of its native inhabitants work with dreams, producing and selling them to us every night. They take care of ourโฆ could we say “souls” or “sleeping bodies”, allowing dreams to be more than fancies and actually using them as tools to improve our waking lives.
Left: Cover of the UK edition of Dallergut Dream Department Store (Credit: Headline Publishing Group)
The World-Building of Dallergut Dream Department Store
The greatest strength of Lee Mi-ye’s debut novel is her awe-inspiring ability for world-building. Penny’s universe bustles with life and whimsy and it feels so organic that you automatically become a part of it from the very first page. Descriptions of places and people are never too long to be distracting but detailed enough for you to picture it in technicolour. As the novel progresses, Penny’s world expands beyond the store, and, slowly, Lee maps out an entire territory: from snow mountains to residential suburbs to the city centre. They all feel incredibly lived-in and you feel a pang in your heart every time you close the book and realise you aren’t there.
Funny story: I was reading the book one morning and that particular chapter was set on a Sunday. When I finished it and closed the book, I looked around thinking it was really Sunday. It took me a couple of minutes to realise it was actually Saturday, believe it or not. But this little anecdote bears testimony to the immersive world that Lee managed to create.
The Plot, The Themes, and How It All Comes Together
The plot itself is fairly simple. In a way, Dallergut Dream Department Story is nothing more, nothing less than a magical slice-of-life. However, thanks to a constellation of endearing characters, the narrative unravels at an entrancing pace and you keep looking forward to their next (everyday) adventure.
Every corner, every product, and every task in Penny’s daily life is fascinating. Since we start the tale with Penny as a newcomer to the shop, we learn about this “dream business” alongside her, looking at it all through her inquisitive and amazed eyes. That’s where the focus of the book lies, allowing it to explore themes of self-discovery, kindness, imagination, and the importance of the present moment.
Whether you experience once a good dream purchased from this department store or don’t dream at all, we all sleep to get closure on yesterday and prepare for tomorrow. In that sense, sleep is no longer a waste of time.
As we see Penny grow as an employee, we are introduced to the power that dreams (literally and figuratively) hold in our lives. We are reminded of how our dreams, despite fleeting, not only provide escape but also healing. It’s inspiring to see Dallergut, the store owner, teach and show Penny how dreams can offer us comfort, closure, and hope. Dallergut is a marvellous character, whose wisdom, wit, and generosity guide Penny (and, consequently, us) towards a better understanding of what can help us improve our own lives.
The Dallergut Dream Department Store’s Customers
The customers (people like us when we sleep) are few and far between in the overall narrative but they are perfectly placed and efficiently used to introduce us to an issue a dream might help solve โ “help” being the keyword here. Dallergut and the dreammakers (the characters who design the dreams they sell) can pinpoint their customers’ weaknesses and fears. And so, they can advise them on the best dream to buy โ not for solace or a miraculous solution. Dallergut uses dreams as tools for self-discovery: the answer has always been inside of us. We only need to find it.
But please remember โ you are all stronger than you think. You have achieved and overcome more things than you think you have. Once you realise that, things will get much better.
As readers, we might easily identify with Dallergut’s customers. They are people facing problems with their love life, careers, family, or even perception of self. Through the dreams that he sells, we’re told that we might need a change in perspective. We might need to gather courage, find confidence, put in the work to get to know ourselves a bit better โ and of course, a good night’s sleep. Dreams might offer temporary escape but they are there to remind us to bravely face reality and create the life we want to have.
The Role of Dreams and The Moral of the Story
In Lee’s universe, dreams are a door to our deepest thoughts, feelings, and desires, the ones that we don’t allow ourselves to explore while awake. Through a fanciful universe and adorable characters, she pushes us into exploring our own unresolved issues or fears and gives the human psyche a charming, creative facet that gives us hope and solace in and of itself. There, the work of our sleeping subconscious becomes an intricate, busy reality that lives within every single one of us and that we can all go to when we fall asleep.
“Inspiration” is a convenient word. It makes you feel like some grand ideas might come out of nowhere, as if from a blank slate. But in fact, a great idea hinges on how much time you spend agonising over it, and that’s what makes all the difference: whether you spent enough time searching for the answer or not. That’s the key. My friend, you stuck around and agonised until you found your answer.
That’s why Dallergut Dream Department Store works so well as healing fiction: the “moral of the story” is never on the nose and our everyday problems are never exploited for the sake of drama. The themes are seamlessly woven into the narrative, creating a mostly whimsical, entertaining tale with a meaningful undertone. The book focuses on its universe โ and that’s what we’re here for. Penny’s story does help us to (re-)shape our perception of ourselves and our lives but, most importantly, it gives us a place to go when reality feels like too much.
A Quick Note on The Characters Before We Wrap It Up!
From Penny to her fellow employees to Dallergut himself to all the dreammakers, there isn’t a single character in this story who isn’t absolutely lovable. They are all unique, with their qualities and flaws, and all make us feel welcomed into their lives. They felt like good friends I was always eager to see again and I often found myself wishing to have that kind of colleague at work too!
Dallergut Dream Department Store is the perfect book if you’re looking for a cosy place to go to after a long day. There, you’ll meet someone who will not only comfort you but encourage you to face your tomorrow with hope and courage. I can’t wait for the 1st of November when the sequel, Return to the Dallergut Dream Department Store, comes out. You’ll definitely find me at the bookshop as soon as it opens!
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Have you read Lee Mi-ye’s Dallergut Dream Department Store? What did you think of it? Share your own experiences with the book in the comments!
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