A review by whittaker
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo

emotional informative fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book was amazing. Truly. I think something I adored about this isn't just us exploring Jiyoung's life - all the hardships she has to endure on a daily basis since her birth just by merit of being a woman in South Korea, but that the author had statistics to show how Jiyoung's story is not fictional - it is in the sense that this isn't biographical - but it's truthful in how it is what women go through. Just because Jiyoung is in a book doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of other women walking around who have lived Jiyoung's life. The ending also shocked me in a way that didn't shock me. I know people talk about a book having a twist at the end, and its always some shocking, often psychologically scary hidden truth. This book ended with the sad truth, right when it got you to feel angry and righteous and frankly upset for Jiyoung - we were reminded again that despite someone listening to her whole life, her trauma, if that person is a man, he will never understand or even remember a woman's inherent trauma, no matter how hard he pretends he is woke or well-educated. 
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