Busan-based author Chris Tharp is back with his third book, The Cuttlefish, a comic misadventure that many expats living abroad can relate to.
The Cuttlefish follows aspiring writer Zach Sullivan’s chaotic descent from carefree expat life in the fictional nation of Sukhan to incarceration in its toughest prison, delivering a sharp, comedic take on misadventure, culture shock, and the pitfalls of behaving badly abroad.
Tharp, an award-winning travel, food, and culture writer originally from Olympia, Washington, has lived in South Korea since 2004.
After moving to Busan, he carved out a niche writing for top-tier outlets including National Geographic Traveller (UK), The Telegraph, CNN Travel, Condé Nast Traveler, Asia Times, Fodor’s, and including the early days of the formerly named Busan Haps.
He is also the author of two travel memoirs published by Signal 8 Press: Dispatches from the Peninsula: Six Years in South Korea and The Worst Motorcycle in Laos: Rough Travels in Asia.
Tharp also contributes opinion and analysis pieces on East Asian culture and politics for platforms like Asia Times and Korea Pro and has regularly appeared on Arirang TV as a guest offering analysis on Busan and Korean culture.
His writing has garnered awards, including the Solas Gold Award and a shortlisting for Specialist Travel Writer of the Year at the Travel Media Awards.
He also now works as a food crawl guide in Busan, offering private offerings and open tours through Seoul-based Zen Kimchi.
Ahead of his book release party at HQ Bar in Gwangalli this Saturday evening, I caught up with Chris to talk about his newest book.
What inspired you to write The Cuttlefish? Was there a specific moment or idea that sparked it? Watching too many episodes of “Locked Up Abroad”?
I’ve certainly watched a lot of those Locked Up Abroad kind of shows (they’re inherently dramatic), so while that was part of it, the idea from the book comes more from the literary side than any TV. I had noticed (and later read) a number of prison memoirs from people who had been busted for drugs in Southeast Asia during my travels there.
They used to sell loads of these pirated books on the streets that backpackers would buy and then read during long bus rides or afternoons chilling in the guesthouse. But what really caught my attention was when a writer named Cullen Thomas had his Korean prison memoir, Brother One Cell, published by a big New York publisher in the mid-2000s. He was an ESL teacher (and aspiring writer) who got busted for smuggling weed here, spent a couple of years in prison, and then returned to NY, where he landed this plum book deal. This — plus all of the other prison books — got me thinking: What if a Western writer living abroad purposely tried to get banged up in order to write the prison memoir that would make his career?
How did you come up with the title? Does it have a symbolic or metaphorical meaning in the story?
Well, “the Cuttlefish” is the name of the big prison in the story. It was built by the Japanese and is said to resemble the squid-like creature. Also, food — seafood in particular — plays a big part in the book — especially tentacled delicacies that some Westerners consider to be “exotic” fare. When I think of East Asian cuisine, I think of seafood that I never ate back in the States – dishes like nakji bokkum or grilled eel here in Korea — so I suppose naming the book after such a critter is an attempt to conjure the region and culture. There also used to be an excellent band in Busan with that name who surely planted a seed or two in my psyche.
Who is your favorite character in the novel and why?
I particularly love Gani Tao. He’s an ex-MLB slugger who has returned to his homeland to play out one final season before perhaps getting into politics. The thing is – despite his multimillionaire status – he grew up dirt poor and is a committed Marxist who is also the enemy of the country’s right-wing president. He is a key figure in the story and a character who was just too much fun to write.
Why did you choose the fictional country of Sukhan? I’m assuming you didn’t want any embassy come knocking on your door?
Haha, sure, part of it was to create a veneer of plausible deniability, but I also didn’t want to make the story tied to a specific place. Yes, Sukhan is a partial stand-in for Korea, but there are also elements of Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and more. I was actually inspired by Absurdistan, a really funny novel by a great writer named Gary Shteyngart that is set in an invented (and incredibly corrupt) ex-Soviet country awash in oil money (perhaps Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan). That’s what made the lightbulb click for me. What if I used the same conceit, but instead created a fake East Asian country? Creating a country (and history) from scratch was one of the most gratifying and entertaining things about writing this thing.
How long did it take to complete the book from start to finish? And be honest—how much Beer Lai Lai was consumed during the writing of this book?
Ah man, a while. I started writing it 8 years ago when I holed up in a tiny village on an island near Tongyeong with a laptop and yes, a grip of beer. Within three days, I had 3 chapters and knew where it was going, but it took 5 years to get a draft done, and then another 3 of wrangling with two publishers and the editing process. These things can move at a glacial pace.
I’m almost afraid to ask this question. Did you base any of the characters on real people or yourself? Have any expat friends called to ask, “Hey… am I that character?”
Obviously, Zach, the protagonist, has parts of me in his DNA, but otherwise, the characters are either completely invented or composites of many people. Oh… except a certain couple that runs one of the bars. They were straight-up written as remembered.
Having lived abroad for about 20 years, how accurate would you say a scenario such as this book could take place?
I think most everything in the book is plausible, but I will freely admit to blowing things up for dramatic and comedic effect. Things are a bit over the top at times, but my overriding goal was to make this entertaining, while also mooring the story in a believable world with plenty of heart. I’m a big fan of heart in the stories I read, so hopefully I’ve delivered some of the same here.
How do you think readers who’ve never lived abroad will relate to Zach’s story?
That’s the big question, isn’t it? And probably why agents ignored most of my queries when I first started writing this thing, haha. So far, people who aren’t in the immigrant/émigré/expat bubble seem to be enjoying this book, but I’ll be honest and say that my main target audience are people who have personal experience living abroad.
If The Cuttlefish were adapted for film or TV, who would you cast in the lead roles?
Ah man, I am so out of the loop with younger actors these days, I can’t even pretend to answer this, though I think Ma Dong-seok (Don Lee), the tough-guy Korean-American actor, would make a killer Gani Tao.
Lastly, what’s next for you as a writer—another comedic novel, or something completely different?
While it looks like I’ll actually be penning a full-on travel guidebook for my next project (details TBA), after that, it will surely be time to finish my memoir about surviving the ’90s grunge years in Seattle, which I’ve been chipping away at for years now. This is a story I’ve wanted to tell for years, but may only be ready to do now.
You can find more of Chris Tharp’s writing on his Substack.
