Should you dive into the labyrinthine and entertaining 'Same Bed Different Dream'?

Ed Park's labyrinthine latest, "Same Bed Different Dreams," is an imperfect moonshot of a novel. Centered around the last century of Korean history, this rangy work of speculative fiction displays a vibrant creativity that is extremely impressive and impressively extreme.

The novel's contemporary plot, in the fall of 2015, follows erstwhile Korean American author Soon Sheen who, after a night drinking with friends and colleagues, acquires an advance copy of a new novel by a "rabble-rousing South Korean poet" writing under the nom de plume Echo. That novel, titled "Same Bed, Different Dreams" (note the comma), comprises five "dreams" about the history of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG), a leadership-in-exile established in 1919 and disbanded — in the real-world timeline — after World War II ended. Between parenting his daughter Story and working at tech behemoth GLOAT, Sheen reads Echo and we read along with him.

These episodic dreams cover a lot of ground: the life of South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee, the Japanese takeover of Korea, the outbreak of the Korean War, the rise of Kim Il Sung, the cinephilia of Kim Jong Il and the founding of the Unification Church (colloquially known as the Moonies), among much more. Echo's novel reveals that the KPG never went away and counts among its members the likes of Ronald Reagan, Marilyn Monroe, Hawkeye Pierce and others, according to vague criteria that seem to involve interacting with Korean history in some way, however tangential.

A third narrative tracks the back stories of those Sheen is partying with in 2015, many of whom are tied to a Black Air Force ace named Parker Jotter, who wrote a series of sci-fi novels that crop up throughout "Same Bed." During the war, Jotter shares a North Korean prison cell with a South Korean soldier going by Ko Pan-gu, who relays to Jotter the proverb that becomes the title of Echo's (and Park's) novel and that laments the division of Korea.

The fact that the captive's initials are the same as those of the KPG is no coincidence because there are no coincidences in Park's novel. Or, rather, everything is coincidental. Countless times, Park had me marveling at some plot twist or bit of lexical wit, at a historical anecdote he unspools or pop-culture icon he evokes. And yet I never felt terribly invested in any of his dozens and dozens of characters.

Partly that is down to logistics. Even at 500-plus pages, such a sprawling cast means limited face time. And partly it's due to the low stakes in two of the novel's three narratives: Echo's, which involves foregone historical conclusions, and Sheen's, which is essentially a dad going to work and reading.

Not every epic needs some grand unifying message or edge-of-your-seat tension — and, strictly in terms of entertainment value, "Same Bed Different Dreams" is an unqualified success. (Plus, you learn loads of history.) But in the end, I found myself admiring the creator more than the creation, appreciating Park's whimsy, erudition and daring more than this manifestation of his many talents.

Cory Oldweiler is a freelance writer.

Same Bed Different Dreams

By: Ed Park.

Publisher: Random House, 544 pages, $30.