Cho Nam-joo - Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
4 ⭐
Genre: Fiction, Translated Fiction, East Asian Fiction, Asian Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Feminism
Original Title: 82년생 김지영 [82nyeonsaeng Gimjiyeong]
Original Language: South Korean
Translated by: Jamie Chang
Pages: 168
Format: Kindle
Publisher: Scribner UK
Date Published: 20th February 2020
Book Blurb:
Kim Jiyoung is a sister made to share a room while her brother gets one of his own.
Kim Jiyoung is a female preyed upon by male teachers at school. Kim Jiyoung is a daughter whose father blames her when she is harassed late at night.
Kim Jiyoung is a good student who doesn’t get put forward for internships. Kim Jiyoung is a model employee but gets overlooked for promotion. Kim Jiyoung is a wife who gives up her career and independence for a life of domesticity.
Kim Jiyoung has started acting strangely.
Kim Jiyoung is depressed.
Kim Jiyoung is mad.
Kim Jiyoung is her own woman.
Kim Jiyoung is every woman.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is the South Korean sensation that has got the whole world talking. The life story of one young woman born at the end of the twentieth century raises questions about endemic misogyny and institutional oppression that are relevant to us all.
Riveting, original and uncompromising, this is the most important book to have emerged from South Korea since Han Kang’s The Vegetarian.
My Review:
A very unusual book that made me
wonder whether I liked it or not. Yet, it explores topics that are so important
and not talked much about in different media channels. It sits in between that blurry
line of facts and fiction. Again, although not a big book, it packs so much.
The writing and flow are also very quick-paced. For me, it wasn’t a light-hearted
read, especially because it covers what is like to be a female in modern society
and that modern society still lives partly in the past and is restricted by
ingrained culture and traditions.
The story follows the life of Kim
Jiyoung, from her childhood to the present day when, whilst being a mother one
day she just loses her own true self, due to pressures that are prescribed to
her by South Korean societal norms. For her family, especially her husband, Kim’s
breakdown seemed very bizarre, but as we see her life from the very beginning,
realisation comes as to why it happened. Kim faced prejudice, abuse, sexism, misogyny,
and patriarchy at all points in her life until one day it was too much for her
to take.
This book also portrays women who
came before Kim, like her mother and her grandmother and doesn’t shy to show
how men are oblivious when it comes to gender inequality or misogyny or sexism.
Additionally, mental health and people’s oblivious attitude to issues like
postpartum depression, and pregnancy blues are also discussed. This book unpacks this
and so much more in such a short story.
Overall: It is a very unusual yet very important book that I think everyone should read, as it shines a light on gender inequalities that are ingrained in cultures and traditions.
About the Author:
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